Macro Photography

One of my favourite avenues of photography is close up and macro. For many years I had marvelled at amazing images of butterflies, insects and flowers published in wildlife magazines and nature books, and thought I would have a go myself. At first I used a Sigma 70-300mm lens which was okay, but lacked true 1:1 magnification capability. Over the next year or so I tried several different macro lenses before settling on the Nikkor 105mm F2.8. This is an amazing lens. Fast, sharp, with the added bonus of a vibration reduction function just in case a tripod is out of the question. I started practising the art of macro photography and studied the books of Robert Thompson, www.robertthompsonphotography.com , and used his images as a benchmark for my own. It took many months before I felt my images were of a high enough quality to enter competitions. I have had the most success with indoor flower photography where I have set up small studios and used reflectors or flash to add supplementary light. There are two very important lessons I have learned that particularly apply to macro photography. The first is making sure a small enough aperture is selected as depth of field is almost non existent when shooting so close to the subject. The second, and one which is often overlooked by many photographers, is making sure the camera is on the same focal plane as the subject. Failure to do this can easily result in parts of the image becoming soft or out of focus, something that is crucial to avoid when shooting subjects for identification purposes. I try to use a tripod where possible, only switching to a monopod where necessary, ( this is where vibration reduction becomes so handy ) and I will always try to use a cable release or failing that, the camera's self timer.



Blue Thistle. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 105mm F2.8 macro. ISO 100, F5.6 @ 1/2sec, -1.7 E.V. with off camera flash. Tripod and cable release. 



Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 105mm F2.8 macro. ISO 200, F7.1 @ 1/250sec. Tripod and cable release. 



Marsh Fritillary - Euphydryas aurinia. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 105mm F2.8 macro ISO 200, F9 @ 1/20sec. Tripod and cable release.