Free-styling: The Devil’s in the Details
Welcome back in! I thought I would take you on a specific photo journey today and not by using a wide angle lens. Curious are we? Well, step inside and see the wonders of detail that can be seen beyond that of the naked eye.
So, you can look up the definition of, Macro or Macro-photography and it may or may not make sense to you. I simplified it for myself and determined that a macro shot is one that demonstrates more detail in a subject, or subjects, than the naked eye can produce. Especially in most circumstances where one can’t get close enough to the subject to give the naked eye a chance to root out more detail.
The photo to the left of donations given by visitors to Butchart Gardens in British Columbia, Canada, were tossed, ceremoniously, into a babbling brook for luck. I thought the shininess of the coins contrasted nicely with the darkness of the rock and stone, coupled with the colors of the lichen and other debris to make an interesting macro shot.
Nature has always fascinated me on one level or another. Animals great and small, fungi and moss, wood and its many textures, etc. When I can pop off a photo that emphasizes any detail in the nature I find fascinating, then I feel completely gratified. The photo to the right, an American Goldfinch, I was able to zoom right up on him/her, they were kind enough to pose for a few seconds, and captured detail that neither one of my naked eyes would have picked-up. But I also brought out detail in the branches and the blanketing from the lichen and moss. I just love those intimate little details that really bring a photo to life.
If you incorporate a little bit of macro and a different perspective, well then, you can achieve a much different feel, a feel of grand, massive daisies, towering over you, as if you were in Gulliver’s Travels. That and a 10-24mm lens will also help with that goal. There is so much you can do to alter the look of a photograph, both in the field and in post-processing, to make it your own. But what I really want to achieve is raising the curiosity level of those who view my work. Curiosity and the willingness to go and explore, to seek out those details that give us a broader range of emotion in how we view the world.
Well friends, that does it for me. I hope that I’ve inspired you to seek out your own details in nature and wherever you go. I cannot emphasize enough that there is so much to see, if you allow yourself, moments to just stand, look and listen. An abundance of natural things will occur and you will see them. But can you get more detail than what you actually see? You won’t know until you try, that’s for sure! I will be on a elongated shoot starting next week and I’m going to try really hard to post from my phone. But if I cannot, then I will see you in about 2 weeks with some. I hope, outstanding photos. Until then, everyone, be and travel well!
