The art of macro and close-up photography allows us to capture the intricate details of small objects that are typically invisible to the naked eye. In this technique, the background is blurred to provide a greater focus on the tiny object – in this case, a young green shield bug on an Eryngium thistle leaf.
Macro photography also offers the chance to create a fantasy world of colours and shapes, which is what Netherlands-based photographer Angelo Richardson has attempted here. “This photo was taken as part of my ‘plausibo’ collection – a close-up and macro series of mostly insects that I found in our garden,” Angelo says.
“I’ve always wondered what the sky would look like if you lived on a planet within a globular cluster, a group of tens of thousands of stars tightly bound by gravity and orbiting together around the cores of galaxies. Would there be day and night? This image is a concept of what I think it could look like. No insects were hurt making this shot.”
“Lighting in macro photography is often a challenge. Your body and camera are many times larger than the subjects and block a lot of the ambient light. Because
of the wafer-thin depth of field, I used a smaller aperture in this series. This also requires a lot of light, so I used a studio flash with a softbox and a speedlight and reflector to fill in the shadows and painted craft cardboard was used for the background. The RAW file was edited in Lightroom and, apart from the basic adjustments, I used the Lightroom brush to draw a few extra stars.”
Tech details
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Accessories: Tripod, Canon Speedlight 430 EX, 200Ws Studio flash with softbox
Aperture: f/9
Shutter speed: 1/125 sec
ISO: 100
- "On this shoot, the rain and the strong wind were my biggest enemies”
- Photographer tells story of getting up close and personal with a python
- “I chose the ND filter to avoid overexposure and control the powerful glow"
- Urban street photographer reveals his candid capture secrets
- "I don't use any external flash, this image is shot purely with natural light"
- Photographer tells story of his amazing shot of wallabies fighting
- The 4 photographic decisions that take this motorsport shot to the next level
