Bravery Under Duty
Feb, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken in my backyard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was actually one of my earliest shots that a I took, when I started getting back into photography.Time
It has been a while since I thought of how I took this photo, though, if I remember correctly, it was some time closer to noon. I do remember that I was trying out, for the first time, trying to do micro shots. I didn’t, and still don’t, have any of those fancy bits of equipment that some photographers use, and, at that time, all I had were kit lenses. One of which I had to buy, because I had gotten my camera second hand, at a pawn store.Lighting
Lighting for this photo was one of the hardest for me to work out. Since I didn’t have a reverse ring to hook the lens to the camera, backwards, and I didn’t have any macro lenses, I had to manually adjust the aperture and get just the right shutter speed. I also decided to use the built-in camera flash at the lowest setting available, to help illuminate the wings, without too much risk of over exposure.Equipment
As I may have hinted at, earlier, I don’t have many of the fancy gear that many other photographers have accumulated over their careers. All I had, at the time, to use was my Nikon d60, an 18mm-55mm lens, and my ingenuity. Tripod not included.Inspiration
Well, it started off with me just purely trying to take macro shots of flowers, just as experiments. I did, though, think to challenge myself to take it as though I were still trying to sell it. I had went into my backyard, just looking for some photos. While I was taking a closeup of a flower, a bee just happened to land on it, very much so startaling me. But, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I made every adjustment that I thought was needed and started shooting. It must have stayed still for about 15-20 shots, and I am glad I managed to find such a brave subject.Editing
If you mean, by post-processing, any bit of editing, then yes, though very little. I personally try to use as little processing as possible, so I get the most natural feel I can from a particular subject, so the most I did was a small bit of color correcting, and brightened up a bit. Though, I can say that I wished that I had paid a bit more attention to the pedals of the flower. I could have seen that it was becoming over-exposed, and could have fixed that.In my camera bag
At the moment I travel very light, as I ride around in the Florida sun, on a bicycle looking for the next thing that catches my eye. I use a Nikon D5500, a kit 18mm-55mm lens, and my currently prized 50mm fixed lens. I used to have a 70mm-300mm lens, but, sadly that was on my Nikon d60, when it was stolen.Feedback
As I am still learning how to fully make macro-photography my own, I honestly don’t feel qualified to give much advice, but, I do know this: KNOW YOUR LIGHTING. This may seem like very basic advice, but macros, well, at least my macros, come out darker than planned, and are very hard to to get properly lit, as, when you have to manually adjust your positioning to get that perfect clarity, you are changing your lighting as well. It helps to know how you want your subject lot, in your mind, and where that light is coming from, in your eyes. Besides that, be creative. Any good photographers will tell you, it’s not the camera that takes good photos, it’s the photographer. That means that you have to look for the best way to get the results you are looking for, regardless of what tools you have.
