Macro
My first love is macro photography. I use a Nikon D500 camera with a Nikon 105mm lens plus a Nikon 1.4X teleconverter, which equates to a 150mm lens. I also use a Laowa 2.5-5x Ultra Macro lens to get extreme close-ups.
My favourite subjects are butterflies and odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), because I find them the most beautiful of minibeasts. However there are many other small subjects worth photographing, such as moths, beetles, bees and wasps, spiders, flies, hoverflies, flowers, fungi and leaves.
My goal is to portray the beauty of the natural world. To this end I seek to ensure the subjects are sharp and well lit, well positioned in the frame, and all the wonderful details such as wing patterns and eyes are clear. I also try to create a pleasingly out of focus background, known as 'bokeh' - a Japanese word meaning blur.
Large Red and Common Blue Damselflies
Butterflies & Moths
Dragonflies and Damselflies
Other Invertebrates
Fungi
Flowers and Leaves
Croatia 2024
In early June 2024 I visited the Plitvice area of Croatia once again with the aim of doing some macro photography. This time I was joined by two friends, Nick and Raheela. We stayed in a rural cottage surrounded by lush meadows and plenty of wonmderful insects and flowers.
As with Bulgaria the year before and Greece in 2022, I had a fabulous time shooting the creatures you see below.
Bulgaria 2023
In early June 2023 I visited Bulgaria with the aim of doing some macro photography. As with Greece the previous year, I was amazed by both the number of species and of individual creatures.
Areas such as this are a different world from my sadly impoverished home country, the UK, where habitat destruction and intensive agricultural methods have reduced invertebrate populations to less than 10% of what they once were.
Greece 2022
In late June and early July 2022 I visited the region around Mt. Parnassos in central Greece for some macro photography, as well as a visit to the ancient ruins at Delphi.
I stayed in a lovely rural apartment surrounded by fields full of butterflies, grasshoppers, beetles and other insects, as you can see below.
Ultra Macro
In 2023 I acquired a Laowa 2.5-5x 25mm Ultra Macro lens. This allows extreme close-ups, revealing even tinier details of flora and fauna than a regular macro lens. Mostly these are taken indoors with a light tent, flash, and a focus rail (Nisi NM180).
Most of these subjects are only 1-2mm in size!
