I spent a couple of hours sat in the garden waiting to see what critters came along, and I was able to get some macro shots that put you in their world. I didn’t get anything award winning, but I haven’t been out with my camera in months, so it felt good to finally get back out.
If you have ever been to University (or lucky enough to visit it in person) you will know exactly what I mean when I say that my current house in Bristol is very ‘studenty’. Loose cupboard doors, a faulty hob, floors that feel like they could give way…etc etc. But one benefit of this is that when they were considering what to provide us with, a lawn mower was far from the top.
Not having a lawn mower and being in a house with a garden for four months over spring meant one thing – growth! The change in vegetation in our garden has been amazing, multiple species of plant growing alongside one another to produce a beautiful meadow(ish). During the past few days of good weather and with no motion graphics to tend to, I decided to get out into the garden with my macro lens to see what I could get.
First up I gave my attention to the flowers, a great subject to help you get to grips with macro; mainly because they don’t move (unless it’s windy of course, and then any macro is a bit of a challenge!). I got myself low to the ground and tried to choose single flowers that I could isolate in an image using the long grass as a natural green frame. The thing I love most about these shots is how it immediately places you in a different world, you feel tiny, lost in a jungle of grasses.
Always shoot low!
Use that low f number where you can!
Whilst I was down in the grass, I noticed some insects jumping from blade to blade and after a few moments of waiting to see some movement from the corner of my eye I managed to track one down - a little shield bug. These guys are small and understandably jumpy when a big monster aims a big camera at them, but with slow, smooth movements I was able to get close enough to capture a couple of shots that I am relatively happy with! I love the fact that getting down to their level makes it feel like another world again, almost like Jurassic Park!
I love this shot.
Look at the beautiful colouration and patterns!
It will amaze you how much we miss by not looking in the grass and the flowers around our feet. It was only when scanning slowly that I noticed this spotted wolf spider carrying an egg sac. I haven’t ever really tried my hand properly at spider photography, so it felt pretty good when this one came back sharp despite the fact I was shooting hand held.
The spotted wolf!
After a couple of hours shooting, my battery was on the verge of dying, so before it ran out completely I decided to capture some shots of the dandelions. Just by changing the focus a tiny bit I was able to capture two very different perspectives, one which people rarely get to see. It was as I was taking these that I saw movement on a flowering dandelion nearby - upon inspection, it was a beautiful male thick legged flower beetle, a gorgeous shiny green beetle.
Snapping away between periods of movement as this little guy grazed the dandelion banquet enabled me to get this shot. I will never tire of macro photography, the ability to up-scale a tiny little subject is so exciting!
How beautiful is this guy?!
Here is a selection of other shots that I thought were pretty cool, enjoy!
Thanks for reading,
Sam.