Discovering the Joys of Macro Photography

TODAYS POST IS ABOUT DISCOVERING THE JOYS OF MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY, TALK ABOUT FUN WOW!

Earlier this month I had a chance to meet up with a photographer buddy of my Mr. Greg Farley who is a professional photographer and someone I really look up too as I learn you can check out some of Greg’s books at Blurb.com. Earlier in May I attended one of Greg’s beginners classes as a refresher and as a chance to catch up with him and shot the shit.

Last week I visited one of my favorite local spots the Nisqually Wildlife Refuse in Lacey WA, this is a beautiful natural sanctuary; its not uncommon to see Bald Eagles perched high in the tree tops (normally just out of the range of my most powerful lens), this is a great place to practice macro photography.

I happened to run across Greg again after one of his classes so I decided to tag along with the group to see what I could glean from Greg. After the class we headed out and he’s talking about “seeing in photograph” and how many of us are in too much of a hurry and miss great shots, I always to try to heed this advice. He started talking about Macro photography and pulled out some extension tubes, and a bellows and was showing us just how close you could focus in on small flowers, insects, etc. As the class continued I sort of laid back from the group and started trying to practice what I was hearing from Greg using my brand new shinny Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens (that’s a mouth full).

So I pulled out my first big ass lens and focused on a spider that was perched on a dandelion. Thank goodness this little guy was patient because it took me a while to set up my tripod which i discovered was a piece of junk, and then it took me even longer to figure out how to properly use the lens, I spent most of the day just out exploring and taking pictures. I was pleasantly surprised with the results when I got home and started processing the shots in Lightroom to my amazement I actually had captured some awesome shots!

The next day I attended a free class specifically on macro photography and then proceeded to spend about 5 hours exploring the nature refuse and capturing some great macro shots. Enjoy!