A Scenic World

Disclaimer: Everything you find below is my take on the subject of shooting macros. I have a different style than others, and I don’t mean to profess that “my way” is the right way or the only way – this is more just the thinking behind my way. I’m going to try to approach this from a variety of fronts: from focusing on the subject to focusing on the background and the technical aspects of shooting macro. I’m going to limit the subject to floral and leaf photography for the purposes of keeping it simple (bugs and animals are another story altogether). Questions and comments are always welcome.

What Makes a Good Subject?
I think that one of the most difficult aspects of shooting macro is find a good subject for a good photograph. Good subjects themselves abound – the problem is incorporating them into a good photo. A breathtaking macro is rarely just a photo of a perfect flower. Macro shooters shouldn’t forget the adage that a photo should tell a story – even if it’s the story of a flower. The photo, at its core, has to be interesting. Yes, this can come from an unexpected pop of color or perfect curves of a leaf, but there should be something new and exciting for the photo to rise above the level of documentation into art. Photos of flowers can make people feel emotions just as strongly as other types of photography; the key is to tap into those.

“Lean on Me”

This approach doesn’t always have to be literal. For instance, in the following shot, the curvature of the leaves and the way they interact tell a much more subtle story. What I wanted to capture was the frivolity inherent in this interaction – it looks almost as if the leaves are enjoying their act of growing and twisting and playing. If the photo above is analogous to a couple sitting on a bench with one leaning against the other, then the one below is more like two little kids dancing for the sheer fun of dancing:

“Joie de Vivre”

So we have our objective – now we have to find the subject. A lot of people seem to think that perfect flowers with no tears or specks or missing petals are the only ones that deserve attention from a camera. I wholeheartedly disagree. Just as the wrinkles on a face can add depth and texture to a portrait, the imperfect bits of a flower can give character and meaning to a photo that you’d otherwise never stop to look at. In fact, those imperfections can BE the subject of the photo. For instance, I think that’s it’s the missing bit of this leaf that really makes this photo for me (and makes it much easier to title):

“Torn”

Of course, perfect flowers and perfect leaves can make fine subjects as well, provided that they have a key element for ALL good photos: great lighting. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a fantastic potential subject, walked around it a few times, and realized that the lighting was so bland or dark or non-dynamic that it wasn’t worth shooting. Sometimes I try anyway; most times I fail. Just like a person standing angled toward a large window with wondrous sunlight flooding in makes for a better photo than a head-on portrait taken with the on-board flash, the way the flower is lit is often the single most important component of the photo.

There are a number of ways that you can control this yourself with external flashes, brackets, and bounce cards, and I’ve tried a few of those myself, but I realized early on that the way a subject is naturally lit will affect my approach, so I now use only natural lighting. The problem for me is that I don’t “see” a potential shot unless it’s already lit. In a way, I see the shot by seeing the light. There’s a paradox here, though: the sun is almost as much an enemy to your shot as the wind is. What I mean is that direct sun causes weird shadows and harsh conditions and rarely brings out the subtleties and shades that make for a multi-dimensional shot. Just like with a good portrait, diffused directional light is your friend. That’s why cloudy days are perfect days for shooting. There is one big exception to this, though: backlighting.

I have to admit a weakness for the backlit shot here; it’s my crutch,  but it makes everything else involved – framing, exposing, controlling the background, etc – so much easier for me. For instance, this little bud was glowing as I walked down a path, and to me that’s a signal of “Take my picture please!”

“Just a Little Bit More”

So many of my shots fall into the backlit category that it’s almost embarrassing. But I do have some shots that represent other kinds of lighting. For instance, in the following shot, the tulip was to one side in a garden. Cloudy light lit up one side, but the rest fell back into the shadows.

“Tulip in Autumn Colors”

And then sometimes you see a flower that almost seems to glow from within because the way the light is hitting it. This is usually the case for light coming directly from overhead, but occasionally you’ll find it in other pockets of light, usually if there’s lots of random shadows (like a flower growing in the shadows of a large tree). The shot below was taken at 5:52 am. The flower happened to be in the perfect spot to be hit by the rays of the rising sun while the rest of the area was cast in shadows from trees. Once again, it was the light that caught my attention. Had I come upon it even ten minutes later, this shot wouldn’t have been there:

“Early Morning Poppy”

That concludes the “Choosing a Subject” portion. Next up: “Focusing on the Background.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 6:10 am and is filed under Photography Tutorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.