No picture. Hope that is OK. Google "Five rules of macro photography and when to break them". May be useful. Bill
Interesting. I have never been trained in photography, and so I have happily made up my own rules. Some of them happen to coincide with the rules that are at times to be broken.
1. Try to get the subject (likely an insect) in sharp focus from end to end & top to bottom. I suppose I should consider deliberately not doing this by using wider apertures. It might be interesting to break this rule.
2. Keep the background as simple as possible so it is not distracting. Best if the background is well out of focus. I pretty much never break this one since my photography seems to always be about a subject and the subject (likely an insect) is paramount. But maybe I should broaden my horizons.
Corollary to rule #1: If you can't keep the entire insect in focus, be sure the eye(s) are in focus.
That sounds reasonable but I think there is a difference in the parameters for 'record' macro and 'artistic' macro.
Second that. The ambiguity of the line baffles me. I keep working on it.
Bill
gym
Loc: Athens, Georgia
Clearly the author of the article is PRIMARILY interested in "artistic macro". This is illustrated by the fact that he doesn't use an aperture smaller than 7.1. I would guess that most of the exceptional photographers on this board don't use an aperture larger than f/11. Also, there is an amazing amount of artistic effort in those images that are here designated as "record".
Let's all raise a glass to diversity of style!
I can second that. But I think most of us here are 'recorders' of arthropods while also trying to impose certain aesthetics. Consider the great effort we go through to get good diffusion to cut out shadows, fill in nooks and crannies with light, and reduce the strength of specular highlights. Strong diffusion of light is generally seen as one of the most essential aesthetic goals in this hobby. I for one have become fairly obsessed with it and that is why I am now on my 5th or 6th diffuser design.
When light diffusion is done maximally the universal reaction is to say how especially great is the picture. But when you think about it, the resulting image is often significantly different from what the subject really looked like in natural lighting! So we may be recorders, but we also use light to apply a little bit of abstraction to our subjects.
Mark Sturtevant wrote:
I can second that. But I think most of us here are 'recorders' of arthropods while also trying to impose certain aesthetics. Consider the great effort we go through to get good diffusion to cut out shadows, fill in nooks and crannies with light, and reduce the strength of specular highlights. Strong diffusion of light is generally seen as one of the most essential aesthetic goals in this hobby. I for one have become fairly obsessed with it and that is why I am now on my 5th or 6th diffuser design.
When light diffusion is done maximally the universal reaction is to say how especially great is the picture. But when you think about it, the resulting image is often significantly different from what the subject really looked like in natural lighting! So we may be recorders, but we also use light to apply a little bit of abstraction to our subjects.
I can second that. But I think most of us here are... (
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Yes, this is what I work toward.
to quote one of our photographic hero's.....Ansel Adams.......“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”
and after saying that I do like to artsy ........... I vote for Brenda to start an artsy thread
With a name like "Sippyjug" I'm all for raising a glass....or better yet, a jug! I enjoy seeing all spectrums of macro photography ranging from the artistic through the abstract as well as that of highly detailed specimens that I most often see here which are fascinating and educational of a world seldom seen. As often said, "there's something for everyone".
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