This month started with a macro photography challenge from Greg, one of the other Petruzzo Photography members. I had quite a lot of fun with it. It’s a very nice change of pace from photographing people. I decided to keep with it throughout the month and give that some portion of my creative focus.
Macro photography, at least the abstract variety I am so fond of right now, is best created with headphones and the time to zone out on a very small patch of earth. The most interesting things are hidden everywhere you look, you just have to notice them and find the angle or catch of light that gives them totally new dimension.
These images were all created with my standard 50mm 1.4 lens. The trick to getting images this close up is to bump the f/stop way up around f/10. Press and hold the f/stop preview button, and remove the lens. This will lock in the f/stop. Then, just flip the lens around and shoot through the wrong way. You’ll be shocked how close you can get. Of course, it’s much too short to photograph anxious insects or small animals, but it’s great for wedding ring shots and other inanimate objects you need a freakishly close look at. You can even buy a lens reversal adapter which makes this whole process a lot easier.
