Another early start with the camera today, this time on the lookout for some of the smaller creatures – specifically butterflies. I joined Tony North on a small patch of land covered in grasses and wildflowers, an ideal environment for the species that I had in mind. Tony is an expert in photographing and creating wonderful images of our UK butterflies and I was hoping that I could pick up some tips and tricks that would improve my macro photography. The butterflies were a little sparse but we did manage to photograph a pair of Small Whites and also a Green-Veined White and as the temperature hovered around 11°C it gave us time to position the butterflies on a number of wildflowers and grasses creating some pleasant images. Once we had ample photographs of the butterflies we decided to go on a bit of a bug hunt, down on all fours looking for the tiniest of creatures. We did manage to find a range of insects and flies, some of which I’m still trying to identify. Once back home at the PC the images were uploaded into Photoshop where the focus stacking began, some of the finished images comprised of up to 15 individual images each with a very shallow depth of field. You can see more of Tony’s work on his website – The Art of Macro – he creates some truly outstanding images and I was really pleased that he agreed to support and mentor me as I try to develop my own macro skills.
Steve Proctor 