Macro shoot, Bruny Island
Bruny Island is a short drive and ferry ride away from Hobart. I spent a couple of days there this week and found abundant opportunities for macro. Spring has well and truly sprung in Tasmania, and besides the monster winds, rain, sun and snow we’ve been having lately, it also means flowers are blooming and ferns are uncurling. The days are getting quite long now so getting up close and personal with some of these subjects is a great way to spend the long hours between dawn and dusk.
Here are a selection of macro shots from Bruny Island.
Macro photography, Bruny Island. Lichen on rocks near Adventure Bay.
Forget me nots on Bruny Island are a delight at the moment. Literally carpeting the ground, these flowers are wonderful subjects for macro photography and it is worth experimenting with depth of field when getting close up with this eye-catching flower.
Given the sheer number of these tiny little flowers, it is interesting to try and position your subject between other flowers. Then if you select a wide open aperture for minimum depth of field you can create a literal palette of colour with only your subject in clear, sharp focus.
There is also a short rainforest trail on Bruny Island which is a treat at the moment (apart from the leeches that is). Quite wet, and the new green fern fronds are slowly uncurling.
Finally, the “piece de resistance”: I spent a LOT of time on this one. Macro photography obviously requires a very still subject, as the shallow depth of field is very unforgiving. I shot this at high ISO’s (eg 1250) and gradually brought the ISO right back to 200 to ensure a nice clean image when printed large – as this one will soon be 🙂
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