1811_0801 Delicate Ice
In the summer it's muddy and slow; in winter it freezes over and is covered by snow. Only in the transition seasons, early spring and late fall, does its surface become truly interesting. At those times I often stop and get out the macro lens. The Frenchman River is my fallback subject when conditions are right, and has salvaged many a day when the wildlife would not co-operate.
The three key tech points: (1) a good quality macro lens. I use Nikon's 105mm, often with a teleconverter to increase working distance a little; (2) a tripod, to allow the full range of exposure options; and (3) a cable release to lock up the mirror just before exposure and thereby prevent mirror slap vibration.
Plane of focus is also critical. There are many ways to shoot macro, but when I'm dealing with a more or less flat subject, lining up the subject's plane of focus with that of the sensor - ie. parallel plane focusing - and then stopping down the aperture will ensure that I don't have sharpness falloff toward the edges. How much to stop down the lens is debatable. Ideally I'd never shoot smaller than f/16, but often I want just a little more depth of field. Usually I'm willing to sacrifice a tiny bit of sharpness for better DOF. I don't hesitate to go to f/32 or even f/36 with this lens; any smaller and the loss of sharpness becomes apparent. There's no set rule about this. If I acquire another macro lens, I'll just run some tests until I find out what works best.
The trick is to learn the technical part so well that you no longer have to think about it; then it will never get in the way of seeing. When you have a photo idea, a subject and light that you like, your attention is all on how to frame your subject - or better, on how to allocate space within the frame. The hands fly to the camera controls without conscious effort. You spend the next few moments visualizing, not fussing.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2018 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
1811_0801 Delicate Ice
In the summer it's muddy and slow; in winter it freezes over and is covered by snow. Only in the transition seasons, early spring and late fall, does its surface become truly interesting. At those times I often stop and get out the macro lens. The Frenchman River is my fallback subject when conditions are right, and has salvaged many a day when the wildlife would not co-operate.
The three key tech points: (1) a good quality macro lens. I use Nikon's 105mm, often with a teleconverter to increase working distance a little; (2) a tripod, to allow the full range of exposure options; and (3) a cable release to lock up the mirror just before exposure and thereby prevent mirror slap vibration.
Plane of focus is also critical. There are many ways to shoot macro, but when I'm dealing with a more or less flat subject, lining up the subject's plane of focus with that of the sensor - ie. parallel plane focusing - and then stopping down the aperture will ensure that I don't have sharpness falloff toward the edges. How much to stop down the lens is debatable. Ideally I'd never shoot smaller than f/16, but often I want just a little more depth of field. Usually I'm willing to sacrifice a tiny bit of sharpness for better DOF. I don't hesitate to go to f/32 or even f/36 with this lens; any smaller and the loss of sharpness becomes apparent. There's no set rule about this. If I acquire another macro lens, I'll just run some tests until I find out what works best.
The trick is to learn the technical part so well that you no longer have to think about it; then it will never get in the way of seeing. When you have a photo idea, a subject and light that you like, your attention is all on how to frame your subject - or better, on how to allocate space within the frame. The hands fly to the camera controls without conscious effort. You spend the next few moments visualizing, not fussing.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2018 James R. Page - all rights reserved.