Macro Skills

I’m still working on my macro technique in preparation for offering macro and close up photography workshops through Going Digital.

These tiny butterflies are coming to the end of the flight period now and so I’m taking every opportunity to grab a few shots of them.  I particularly like to try and isolate them from underneath, which gives a slightly different perspective than the usual side on or top down image more usually seen.  This composition requires a different technique and some ‘field craft’ to get.  Finding the butterfly is no different, but the approach has to be slow and low. I start to approach by getting very low, I look for a bank which allows me to get much lower and to approach without the butterfly seeing me.  Then I use a mono-pod to slowly move any grass or foliage which is in the foreground or background. Set the flash to -2.3 or -2.6 stops and start the creep in.  Using the 180mm macro lens I need to be about 2 ft from the butterfly to get a decent image.  The butterflies tend not to be as flighty when approached in this manner, if you try to get this close from above then you will have great difficulty.

Hope you like the result.

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