I had promised myself that if I got through the editing and uploaded the working files for the upcoming book (Postcards from Foolz, due out from Raconteur Press this coming Friday) that I’d put a macro lens on the camera and go prowl the garden for a while.
The thing about the lens I chose for this little expedition is that it’s my manual macro lens. A vintage FD 100mm 1:4, made in Japan, it’s so smooth and fun to use, it’s easy to forgive it the difficulty of shooting in manual focus.
The thing is, I only shoot freehand, and out in the garden. What I have to do is dance with the bugs I’m using as my models. Lean in, balancing my weight, steady, then press the button. Do it again, adjusting by a fraction of an inch, to try and get a crisp exposure. Maybe a third or fourth time if there’s a breeze. Rocking back and forth, feeling my weight shift and the camera balance. It’s a very small, slow dance, but it’s good when it all comes together.
Why do I like the manual lens? Because I’m bringing the focus to the insect. I can set the lens where I want (I’m also using auto-adjust to set ISO and shutter speed, as I don’t have time to set those every exposure) in terms of ‘close’ and then I lean towards my subject until it pops into focus and can instantly take my shot. With practice, this is much faster than waiting for autofocus to do it’s thing (and arguing with it when it doesn’t want to focus on the subject I have centered).
The manual macro is fun, fast, and frustrating. I’ll think I have a beautiful shot, and then I load the images onto the big screen and I missed it by that much. Nor can I go back out and try for it again. This is why I take multiple shots when I can.
Sometimes, I can’t get more than one shot. If I fail at that exposure, it’s maddening. It’s life as a macro photographer. You don’t get all of them.
But then, that’s the sport of it. I can have really great days where I get my shots. And I can have days where the sun hides, and with it’s receding warmth, so do the bugs. Or days my hands have enough tremble I can’t focus. But the days where I get something amazing make it all worth while and get me to do it again and again.
Other than bugs and flowers, it’s really fun to use the macro lens for creating abstract images. Like the shading colors of the tropical hibiscus blossom.
When I’m shooting on a bug safari, the world both shrinks and expands. I become aware of the tiny movements, like the panicked flurries of lacewings from under the hackberry leaves, or the flitting hoverfly who poses on a nearby leaf before vanishing in search of a flower. I’m not looking at the big picture any more.
