Learning Macro Skills

As you might have guessed this blog post is not going to contain landscape photographs but is instead going to be focused on the wonderful world of macro photography. Regular readers of this blog will know that I’ve been dabbling in macro photography for a while now. It started last year when I went out with a friend to photograph some butterflies and continued when I bought my macro lens a few months ago.

I promised myself that when I purchased a macro lens, I would also spend some money on getting myself some 1-2-1 tuition as well. You can learn a lot from fellow photographers, books and YouTube videos, but it’s hard to beat the value you can get from a 1-2-1 session with a professional.

For 1-2-1 tuition I’ve always valued the services of Ross Hoddinott. Ross has been paramount in my development as a landscape photographer and fortunately for me, he is also a highly-skilled, award-winning, close-up photographer as well. I had no hesitation in booking a 1-2-1 session with him.

Though I had some basic skills already, there was much for me to learn. Not only were there specific camera techniques to learn, but I also needed to learn how to find and identify insect species. And then when I found them, not scare them off with sudden movements!

It was a wonderful day, and even though I know my camera well, learning a whole new set of camera skills with was demanding. I managed to capture some images that I was happy with. They aren’t particularly unique or outstanding, but that wasn’t the point of the day. The point was that I learnt loads, got some images I was happy with, and I had a great day out.

I now feel I at least have the fundamental knowledge to head out into the wilderness myself and capture macro photographs.