My struggle with Macro Photography.

[@ronsmith8340]

Get yourself a couple of beanbags, they're great for resting the camera/lens on at ground level. I do both landscape and macro, and you're right in that macro is a departure from landscape but macro is just a different landscape. There's a great pleasure in setting up a macro shot - there's a great pleasure in finding the shot in the first place and often that effort is rewarded in ways you might not initially imagine. Macro isn't a quick fix for satisfaction but the long game goes deeper and stays longer. That kind of intimacy can be very emotional. Keep up the good work, and you know you'll regret selling that lens. Something made you buy it in the first place.

[@diaryofcreation582]

Macro Photographer here: As a Landscape photographer you need learn to think in terms of scale Macro Photography is not so much "getting up close" and detailed but scaling down. Try to imagine yourself more like a tiny photographer entering into a vast Land full of strange other worldly landscapes and amazing new life forms. Or you know, just give up and gift me that lens :D It'd love to have it.

[@LeeHallphotography]

Fantastic video and some cracking shots. The only thing that limits you with macro photography is your imagination. So glad you are keeping it

[@BenMcDonaldPhotography]

Yeah absolutely Lee, the macro lens is just one of those items I always leave behind, but love it when I use it. 👍 Thank you so much Lee and all the best.

[@melissam731]

I'm amazed at what you could find to shoot in the winter. The images were lovely. Shooting macro is like being on a scavenger hunt for the unknown. Thanks for the tutorial.

[@BenMcDonaldPhotography]

Thank you so much, really appreciated. 👍

[@paulmcwilliams8641]

On a rainy day go to a electric lamp retailer. They are an incredible source of abstract imagery and you get free lighting. I also remember a nice hour or so in a car dealership car park taking detailed close ups of vehicle air vents and other bits, whilst I was waiting for my car to finish its service.

[@BenMcDonaldPhotography]

Such a good idea Paul, I’ve seen a few shots of things like electrical dealers but the car dealers is such a great idea. Thanks Paul and all the best.

[@markwaddington6402]

Love the shots, great for woodland studies. Thanks.

[@BenMcDonaldPhotography]

Thank you so much, really appreciated.

[@whispofwild]

Ben, you've captured why I love macro. It makes me slow down and really look at the details in the world around me. I love photographing wildflowers in the spring. Because no two are alike. So I'm always looking for that really special pattern or color. And it's always a special photo if you can find a spider or bug on the flower. Thanks.

[@BenMcDonaldPhotography]

Thank you so much, yeah you’ve put that really well and I have to completely agree with you. All the best. 👍

[@sarahwood2823]

Love the images you have captured 😍 you always manage to find something beautiful to capture! xxx

[@BenMcDonaldPhotography]

Thank you so much honey. Xxx

[@NightShooter87]

To me there's two genres of photography that are the most difficult, macro and astrophotography. You never really master it, but it's about improving and standing on other shoulders, with ideas they have. The macro World, is a new World and way of seeing things. You can see different insects all the time, if you look, in the same garden. Looking under branches, bricks and it's great fun.

[@the_rat_run]

Some nice shots, given the wonderful UK weather recently! Next time you are out near woodland, see if you can find some lichen growing on a tree / fence, that is a world of its own, plenty of variety in just a square inch, and it doesn't try to escape. (just a hobby photographer here)

[@BenMcDonaldPhotography]

Yeah funnily I was thinking about lichen and I know an amazing place where it grows so well, so I might head over there for a future shoot and do that. Thank you so much, all the best. 👍

[@laxcdn]

Sometimes when I go out I pull back from macro to closeup and that helps too. When I go to the beach I find rocks, driftwood, shells, dead fish, etc. Sometimes I'm 6" sometimes 18" but with a macro 90mm it still gives a macro/closeup effect.

[@LuciaHewitt]

Great video, thank you! I have a macro lens but have never mastered the art. Use it mostly for portraits *cheeky grin*

[@dianneandres3770]

Keep it! Your macro images are wonderful. I love macro and close-up photography or as I like to say, "tiny landscapes".

[@BenMcDonaldPhotography]

Thank you so much for your kind comment.

[@catherineslater5952]

great vlog 😀

[@5RustyBin]

its a win for me. I love macro and you obviously have talent - persevere and the world will open up. You will have hundreds of things to photograph that you haven't even thought of yet. The other trick to consider is that the best macro shots are often of something that looks ugly from a distance. Equally something that looks pretty from a distance doesn't always make a good macro shot. So consider everything a subject - guaranteed pleasant surprises and happy accidents await you :) One thing I did to focus my mind onto macro was Macro Monday. I would force myself to take a macro shot every Monday. Habit.

[@sylvesterotiato792]

as an emerging Mobile Macro Photographer, I realized you have a broken shirt button. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 i Really loved your photos though. keep on getting more. ...I just subscribed

[@tuftyhill]

I have the stunning Fuji 80mm but like you have considered selling it as stays in my camera storage case for months on end. Some do make great portrait lenses as they are generally fast lenses but I'm not a portrait shooter. I'm sure I've recommended another channel to you before Simon Booth Photography he's fantastic and shoots almost entirely with a macro lens. He gets amazing images and I'd definitely say check him out as it may get your head into macro mode. To be honest, he can spot a composition that most of us would walk past but unlike you and me he spends a long time in one area looking for a composition. I'm the same as you when out and about, eyes always looking for the next image and I end up giving up after 10-15 mins

[@BenMcDonaldPhotography]

Yeah Ive watched a lot of Simons channel ad he has some great points.It's certainly something need to practice more of staying in the same place but I also feel there is a lot to explore in all areas too.

[@billingalls1940]

I've got the same lens and I probably use it about as frequently as you use yours. I just looked on MPB and they're going for $444 here in the US which means I might expect half that amount or less if I tried to sell it. For that, I'll keep it for occasional use because the minute I let it go, I know I'd regret it. For me, as primarily a birds-in-flight shooter, macro photography, or for that matter, landscape, is an avenue to try different things and refresh my interest. I'm even contemplating giving "street photography" a try just for the hell of it. I like having the means to try other things. That, alone, is reason enough to keep the macro lens. Try the 850's "focus shift" for macros. It's a sort of interesting technique.

[@BenMcDonaldPhotography]

Thanks Bill, yeah it’s certainly something I’m going to use more often, selling at that price isn’t the best idea. Yeah street photography is something I’ve dipped my toe into and don’t really like the feeling! 😂 although never say never. Thanks again mate, hope you’re well? All the best. 👍

[@billingalls1940]

Thanks to you, as well. I was so busy writing about myself that I neglected complimenting you on the textures, especially the old tree. I liked the video of your footstep refilling with water, too. Well, thanks for asking.@@BenMcDonaldPhotography

[@hjones451]

Why on earth would you want to sell that 105mm macro lens when it is producing such great images and enjoyment? An auto Macro lens can could cost you £1,000+ but a Manual lens producing a similar picture standard about £400 and it's half the weight to carry. That's the only reason that I could come up with.

[@BenMcDonaldPhotography]

Thank you so much. Yeah it is a bit of a weight but generally a very good lens.

[@pleclere]

Macro photography is more than only insects and flowers. Look around your home, and you see things that can be used in macro. Take a picture of someone's eye to see the details. Further, small things can look huge in a wider landscape. So many things to do. That doesn't mean you need to like it, we can't do everything, but it is more than two subjects.

[@richardmccreery]

If your still on the cusp about what to shoot using macro, check out Andrew Lanxon, if you haven't come across him already. I am looking at getting into macro photography and I have been watching a lot of his vids, which has me excited about macro and the images that can be captured with it.