Wildlife Photography at Home_ Part 3

Macro Photography at Home

Introduction

Taking time to look at nature in your own garden is overlooked by many, instead choosing to go further a field to various nature reserves. It maybe surprising to some but if you take the time to look in your garden there is always something worth looking at. I have found many interesting and sometime surprising things in my very small garden within the confines of a large city, which we will explore in this series of posts of "Wildlife Photography at Home".

In my last post we looked at camera trapping. In this post we will be looking at the small things and how we can use macro photography in our garden.

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Reasons for using Macro Photography

Recording

There are many different reasons for using macro photography in your garden. The first reason is to record wildlife that visit your garden. Me and my partner started recording wildlife in our garden when we first moved to our current home 12 years ago. Over this period we have recorded 898 species in our small 5 by 12 metre garden.

Common Blue Butterfly

Table of Species courtesy of Dan Newton

Above: Inspiration and gaining knowledge from published authors

I have trasformed the garden from a lawn to a more diverse garden by planting wildlife friendly plants and the addtion of a small pond. This has helped attract local wildlife to the garden.

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  The Wildlife Garden

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  Moth Trapping

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  Red Valerian

Above: Photos of Garden

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Learning About Nature

Another reason for using macro photography in your garden is it helps your see and notice things that you would otherwise wouldn't notice. Which then helps you learn about nature all convenience of your own home.

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Above: From left Ruby Tiger Caterpillar, Thistle Tortoise Beetle Larvae

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Improving Your Photography Skills

A third reason for learning macro photography in your garden is it allows you to practice and improve your skills. Some techniques and things to try are:-

1. Use The Right Equipment

   There are many different pieces of equipment for shooting macro. Two of my favorites are extension tubes and and my macro lens. Experiment and see what works for you.

   
   
   
   

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   Above: Extension Tubes in three different sizes and Canon 100mm Macro Lens

   
   

2. Use a Artificial Backgrounds

   Using different coloured backgrounds can show off your subject better and make them standout more.

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Above: Moths shown on coloured card. From left Ruby Tiger, Cloaked Minor and Canary-shouldered Thorn.

3. Use Natural Backgrounds

   Using a natural background can made you subject fit better into its background than a artificial one. Checking for any background clutter will help your image look cleaner and avoid a twig ruining your image.

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Above: from left Red-legged Sheildbug, Field Grasshopper, Early Thorn and Hairy footed Flower Bee.

4. Use Flash

Using flash can help freeze a fast moving you subject, provide extra light or fill in the shadows if you are shooting in a dim lit environment.

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Above: from left Green-veined White, Double Square Spot and a Harlequin Ladybird Larva.

5. Capture Behaviour

   Capturing interesting or unusual behaviour can make your images stand out. You could try capturing images of an insect hatching, mating, or eating prey rather than a simple portrait.

   Below: Holly Blue laying eggs on Pyracantha buds