The Scenic Route--First Time Shooting Macro

My first venture was a failure, but that's not such a bad thing.

(ISO 200 F/4.5 1/60 sec)

I used to think macro photography was relatively simple. Find some bugs or flora, walk up close to your subject, focus, then take the shot. Voila! A wonderful macro picture that reveals the hidden world of shapes and textures that usually escape the naked eye. Yea, then I tried taking my first macro shots. I could not have been more wrong.

I recently visited Japan (post with pictures on that coming soon) and naturally wanted to purchase something for my camera in one of the world renown photography emporiums located in Tokyo or Osaka. I went straight to Yoshina and Bic camera in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. It was the best and worst decision of the trip (impulse purchase). I walked out with Fujifilm’s new 80mm (120mm equivalent) F/2.8 OIS WR Macro lens (bought with Bitcoin :D, so cool that you can do that there). I had already done some research previously on the lens and was amazed at the image quality of the exposures produced with it. After a few test shots on my camera, I was sold.

Fast-forward a month and I am back in Shanghai, gleefully taking as many shots with my new piece of camera equipment as possible. However, I soon realized that the vast majority of the shots I captured were not utilizing the lens’s macro capabilities. As it turns out, the lens is also superb for portraiture. The 80mm creates pleasant bokeh, handles well, and is quite possibly the sharpest lens I have shot with. (A full review of the lens, including macro and portraits is forthcoming 😊)

(ISO 400 F/2.8 1/30sec)

While all that is true, those qualities that make the lens such an amazing piece of camera equipment become much more difficult to achieve when trying to create decent macro images with no prior experience in macro. I have a newfound respect for macro photographers. The genre is highly technical, and so many things can go wrong in the process of shooting.

(ISO 400 F/2.8 1/8 sec: with only one hand, little blurry, but still VERY impressed with the OIS)

I decided that I had waited long enough and set off to the park near my apartment in Jing’an District, Shanghai. I noticed some yellow flowers (not sure what kind) in the pond the day before with numerous bees swarming around them, hard at work. First thing I learned: trying to focus on an insect that is moving on the macro level is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT, especially considering that even at F/8, you focus range is about 1-2 cm.

(While I wanted the ants in focus, I only got about 1cm of the flower petal)

You need to stop down enough to make sure as much of the subject is in focus as possible, because at wider apertures you’re likely to only get a leg or antenna in focus while the rest of the shot is immediately obliterated in a sea of bokeh. This often means a slower shutter speed is required to let in enough light, which makes moving insects even MORE difficult to shoot because they will turn out blurry in the photo from the slightest movement.

(ISO 400 F/8 1/125sec)

Below are a few more of my first attempts at macro photography. Some are not as sharp as they should be, others aren’t properly exposed, and others are just plain bad. However, I learned a great deal during this first outing and already have some ideas of what I could do differently in the future.

Things that are easy to fix:
-The flowers were in the pond and I was on the deck next to it, making it difficult for me to actually get as close as I wanted.
-I was impatient, chasing bees from flower to flower. I should instead wait patiently by a single flower, ready to strike if a bee lands within my frame.
-The flowers I was near had closed petals, so when the bees landed on them, I only had about 1 second to take the shot before they disappeared into the flower.

Things that can be fixed with money:
-I had to crank up the ISO with some of these shots to use an appropriate shutter-speed, making some of the shots somewhat grainy. So, I went ahead an purchased an LED ring-flash for my camera, which will allow me to shoot at much quicker shutter speeds.

I have a hell of a lot to learn, but man, this is so damn fun! Interesting to look at the world on a completely different scale. It takes a very different creative approach.

Feel free to comment however you like! Whether it's a lightroom tip, a composition suggestion, or just what picture you like the most. Always love to hear feedback. :) Don't forget to click that upvote or follow button if you enjoy the content. Hope you all have a wonderful day! Go out there and get some good shots.

(ISO 800 F/8 1/250sec)