Lilahpops

Well, it’s all over now. I had loads of fun participating in the April Challenge and learned quite a lot about macro photography in the process. I’m still in entropy mode and finding many things to photograph - I’ll have to do a series of ‘the ones that didn’t make it to the challenge.’

Here are my 30 entries: I created this image using Mosaic Maker. The links underneath the image take you to the individual images on Flickr or you can view them here at my Photo Gallery.

I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did photographing them.

1. A brick taking a bath in a field, 2. Old leather, 3. Boarded window, 4. Worn through, 5. Armless beauty, 6. Rusted latch, 7. Blue rust, 8. A cracking driveway, 9. Unwired, 10. Undelivered, 11. End of the life cycle, 12. Just a bit crooked, 13. Peeling paint, 14. Rusty paperclip, 15. Rusted latch, 16. Clips of old, 17. Old books, 18. More rust, 19. Mixed entropy, 20. Entropy in the cemetery, 21. Entropic barbed wire, 22. Old maps, 23. Old wood, 24. End of the road, 25. Rusted fence, 26. Dappled, 27. You’ve got mail, 28. A flawed floor, 29. Colourful copper, 30. Last of the old leather

This is my entry in the Iron Chef Photography - Fork project

Neil creek is running a series of projects:

The purpose of the Iron Chef Photography projects is to make you think about different ways of artistically interpreting the subject.

These projects are a good way to stretch your imagination and test your photography skills. If you haven’t entered Neil’s project yet, I urge you to get creative with your camera. There’s still time.

Get forked by 24 March 2008!

Now, I’m not a Star Wars fan but when I saw the result of this photo, all I could think of was the inner darkness (voice) taking over and The Dark Side of the Fork was created.

Click the image below for a large size in Flickr … and may the fork be with you.

Related posts

• Flickr is the key to my social photography

Tip for the point-and-shoot digital camera: In macro mode use the digital zoom function to get closer to the subject

Now that may be quite an obvious statement but it is one photography tip which this amateur photographer discovered quite by chance while taking some macro shots of a lady beetle.

My digital camera is of the simple point-and-shoot variety and I was honestly surprised to find it has this capability. DSLR photographers, who have a huge array of tools and accessories to use on their cameras, may or may not find this relevant…oh, for a DSLR of my own!

Discovering the zoom in macro

I was clearing out some dying spinach from its pot in the garden when I spotted two ladybugs crawling around the stems of the plants. Any further thoughts of gardening went to the back of my mind and all I could think about was capturing those bugs as ’still life’. I got out my digital camera (making sure it was set to a high resolution), sat it on a tripod and set the mode to macro. Of course, the ladybirds decided this was the perfect time to hide behind the spinach leaves. I felt I wasn’t getting in close enough, even on the super macro setting.

For some reason I hit the zoom button and found that the digital zoom function kicked in and I could focus in tightly on the ladybugs. The camera zoomed straight in passed the spinach leaves that were hiding my little subjects. Eureka!

Make a difference with the digital zoom

Using the zoom made the ladybirds enormous. The trick is knowing how far to zoom in. If you zoom too far then the photo might end up with a grainy look (which, by the way, can still be a nice effect). I tried out different zoom lengths and waited until I downloaded the photos to my computer before selecting the best results (the back-screen of the camera is just too small to tell for sure if your photo is a Nobel prize winner or a miserable failure. I think I managed to shoot something in between).

It wasn’t until I was in the post-production phase that I noticed the spider in the top right corner.

Use a tripod when taking macro shots

The tripod came in extremely handy while I was taking these photos. In fact, with the digital zoom on, I don’t think I would have been able to keep the camera steady enough without one. It’s worthwhile investing in a tripod if you don’t have one. I used my new favourite Gorillapod Tripod for these shots.

Know your camera

One thing I have learned about photography is that it really pays to know how your camera works. It was only this weekend that I finally read my camera manual cover to cover. I have owned this camera for over two years and only ever dipped into the manual it to read about a specific setting here and there. Actually, there is a great article over at idigitalphoto about getting to know your camera to improve your camera technique.

The camera manual didn’t mention zooming in while in macro mode. I guess that’s why I haven’t read through the entire manual before because while it explains what the functions are, it doesn’t tell you the most effective way to use them. It would probably spoil the fun of learning photography through trial by error anyway, don’t you think?

Experiment with camera settings

So, if reading the camera manual didn’t teach me about combining the macro setting with the digital zoom function it might have been the nudge I needed to experiment with the camera more than I have and try out new ideas.

You might already know about using the macro setting and the digital zoom together on your point-and-shoot camera. To me, this insight into photography felt like I had discovered something as amazing the earth not being flat!

I’d love to know the accidental photography tips you have learned along the way.

• See other related macro posts

External links

• Macro Photography Tips for Point and Shoot Compact Digital Cameras
• Extreme Macro Photography on a budget

I took some photographs this afternoon using the macro setting on my digital camera. The macro still remains one of my favourite camera settings. I used a fairly high resolution so that when I downloaded/uploaded them to my computer, I was able to zoom in further and crop the shots with iPhoto. Can you guess what it is that I photographed?

Could this be a spider’s web, perhaps?

Or an alien from outer-space?

A tribal totem?

By the way, I’ve been experimenting with the new iPhoto on my computer. You can do so much with this version.

Have you guessed what the images are?

It’s a dragonfly! Sadly, the dragonfly was either injured or at the end of its life span. It was beautiful…

A dragonfly in macro

Click the images below to view the larger size.

Similar to a helicopter. I gave this one a colour-boost.

Here you can see the “alien from outer-space” on the shoulders, the upside down “tribal totem” at the base of the tail and the “spider’s web” wings.

It looks like the dragonfly wears a helmet.

My cats were quite enthralled to watch me take photos of this dragonfly.

Adding effects to your photos

Adding effects to photos with the new iPhoto is incredibly easy. I blurred the edges slightly in the photo directly above. To the other photos, I added a vignette (Edit photo -> Effects -> Vignette).

I find the vignette boosts the macro effect, drawing the eye towards the centre of the photo away from the corners.

The colour boost also emphasises the splashes of blue on the dragonfly’s body.

Shooting with a higher resolution

Taking detailed photos using a higher number of pixels gives you more room to play with and manipulate them during post-production.

I don’t know how common it is these days, what with the massive storage space available on memory cards, but it seemed to be common practice, for us amateur photographers, to change the digital camera settings to take lower resolution photos in order to get more onto a memory card. While this approach allows you to take masses of photos, it doesn’t give you a lot to work with at the other end. As I said, this is probably not much of an issue anymore.

If you are still using the lower resolution setting on your digital camera, try a higher setting and see the difference.

Related post:

• Using the zoom function in macro mode

Flowers make great photographs and are a popular subject for many photographers. The hoya plant is the perfect subject to experiment with the macro setting on your digital camera.

I don’t recall ever seeing a hoya plant until a few months ago, when I discovered it on a visit to my parents’ house. Hoya is a new addition to their garden and completely compliments the home-made pergola (reminder: I will get a photo of that on my next visit).

There are many species of hoya, some are climbers and some are more shrub-like. They have shiny deep-green foliage and beautiful flowers which look amazing close up.

Try the macro setting on your flowers

The photos below show two varieties of hoya plant, one grows well in a hanging pot and one grows as a climber. The macro setting on your digital camera is usually identified by a flower image (like a tulip). Just get up nice and close to your subject - the camera won’t focus if you are not close enough. Your digital camera my also have a ‘flower’ setting which you can combine with the macro setting and is used to accentuate the bright colors of the petals.

The hoya flower up close

When magnified (or macro-fied) the hoya flower petals are furry and detailed and look similar to the ‘hair effect’ in a 3D animated movie. I only took a couple of photos at the time and am keen to get back and take some more macro shots.

Check out the photos below (links take you to larger Flickr photos) - there are ants crawling around on one of the flowers.

Have you photographed hoya plants using the macro setting?