Slowly, quietly, I crawled on my knees over the rocky desert pavement in
the Eastern Mojave Preserve in Southern California, trying not to disturb any
wildlife.
I was decked out in my signature hunting gear (stained, tacky khaki pants
and a decrepit T-shirt), and the latest in knee pads from Wal-Mart (because the
key word in "rocky desert pavement" is "rocky").
I set up my gear and tried not to breathe as I slowly fired off a shot.
Darn. The wind blew and the flower moved out of focus.
I bent again to focus on the minuscule bloom and tried again and again and
yet again, until a good image was created.
"Why?" you might ask.
Is it the hunt for the unknown? The uncertainty of finding what one is looking
for? The exhilaration on the capture of the prey? The bug's eye view?
All of the above and more - to see what is obvious and yet hidden - because
deep within each flower bloom is another world.
People like Linda Cooley and Steve Hampson, of the Kern County chapter of
the California Native Plant Society, loved hunting wildflowers.
"Wildflowering is a great excuse to go hiking and camping in interesting
places," said Steve, who had degrees in botany and computer science. "Every
trip is a big Easter egg hunt."
Linda, who teaches junior high school science, is an advanced amateur botanist. "Once
I went to the Osoyoos area of Canada just to see the cactus that grows there!" she
said.
Before Steve's untimely death in 2007, they would spend happy hours sitting
in a meadow determining a plant's species or exploring the remote Poison Canyon
in the eastern part of Kern County. Even in a dry year, there are some annuals
and perennials that surprise us with tiny blooms emerging from the canyon's desert
sand.
Ron Parsons and Brad Cotten of Daly City also travel thousands of miles looking
for particular wildflowers. Ron has journeyed as far as Australia.
Brad loves the hunt, but especially the find.
"It doesn't even have to be rare," Cotten said. "It is just
the beauty."
(Personally, I prefer the rare ones.)
Parson's love of flowers extends to his job - a gardener for the city of San
Francisco. He also has two botany books that were published recently - one on
orchids and one on the North American native lily, Calochortus.
"I hunt wildflowers because I like plants, and we have amazing flora
in this state," said Parsons. "We have incredible diversity here with
many extremely beautiful species, ones that people in other places wish they
could see. When I look in a flower, I look at the beauty, wonder why, and feel
lucky."
These are the folks who look beyond the grand floral vista of a spectacular
spring into the deeper beauty of an individual blossom, exploring the intimate
landscape inside a flower that most people never see.
One does not have to journey long distances in order to appreciate this unique
avocation. What is great about this hobby is that anyone can do it, almost any
time, any place.
One of my favorite spots to trek looking for new flowers is the Mojave Desert,
close to where I live. But when it dries, turning brown and red, I move my hunting
grounds up into the nearby mountains, where there are flowers long into the summer.
Sometimes I travel looking for a particular flower and other times I go just
to see what is up and blooming. Usually a short walk from the car leads to something
new, like orchids in the San Bernardino Mountains or Spanish needles near Dumont
Dunes in Death Valley.
Even late in the summer, there always seems to be flowers in bloom somewhere.
The most common, like a lotus or cactus, which are usually the most overlooked,
can reveal some beautiful details when examined with a magnifying glass.
On the photography site www.fredmiranda.com,
there is a forum called "Macro," which is just a fancy way of saying "really
close up."
Moderator Tom Hicks makes macro photography into an art form. When asked "why
macro?" he replied, "In macro, you not only see the beauty in your
smaller subject but the essence of life itself, and how all the little parts
fit together and how well they function and survive. It will cause you to look
at the world in a whole different light."
A simple, magnifying lens can be the key to unlocking the curiosity of a child
and a short walk from your car can be the beginning of a new way of looking at
the world.
MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY
You don't need a fancy Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera in order to
shoot effective close-ups. Most digital point-and-shoot cameras have a macro
function - usually symbolized by the icon of a little flower. When you turn on
that function, you allow your camera to get closer to the subject, looking into
a flower for example. Or getting up close and personal with a bug.
To find the minimum focusing distance on your camera check the manual - you
know, that little booklet that came with your camera that you either left in
the box or stuffed in a drawer.
To make good macro images you need lots of light and a tripod to eliminate
camera shake. Your camera may have a warning light that lets you know when you
are trying to hand hold the camera at too slow a shutter speed. A tripod is a
good investment even for a point-and-shoot camera as it allows you to shoot in
low light conditions.
You may ask "why macro?"
There is something so very special about looking into a flower, seeing things
that most people don't see. No matter how tiny the blossom, all the parts are
there-all those wonderful botanical bits and pieces that are needed for procreation
and propagation.
I asked professional photographer and fellow flickr.com member Ron Wolf, "Do you prefer macros of specific species or great fields
of blooms."
"So far, I've been more interested in macro work. It has the quality
of taking me (and other viewers) deeper into realms that we don't otherwise see.
"There's also a practical matter. We post our flower pix to Flickr and
CalPhotos [a botanical web site hosted by the University of California.] They're
usually displayed in small sizes on computers at the resolution available on
very ordinary screens and monitors. Great fields [of flowers] don't display well
under those conditions. But macro shots display extremely well," he said.
LILLIPUTIAN JOURNEY
So how do you begin this journey into smallness?
It is the same as with any photographic trip. You start by seeing. Not just
looking, but seeing. What is the light like? What special aspect
of your subject demands your attention? Is it the color? The detail on a petal
perhaps? Or maybe the way a fly's eyes are multifaceted or how a dragonfly's
delicate veins support gossamer wings.
Macro shooting can open up new worlds of photographic opportunities.
TOOLS, TIPS OF THE TRADE
Don't stop me just because you've heard it before. Photography is all about
the light, right? Controlling light is essential in macro photography. Often,
there is too much or not enough.
Perhaps you are trying to photograph your grandmother's jewelry for insurance
purposes or to sell on eBay. Bright shiny objects reflect so much light they
can look black in an image. Flowers in direct sunlight can be so bright that
the camera can't capture the color correctly - the highlights are blown out and
the color is over-saturated.
The light is perfect on a slightly overcast day as the cloud cover diffuses
the harsh sunlight. But if you don't have an overcast day handy, you need to
create that type of light yourself.
In example A, the image of the desert calico looks as if it was shot on a
nice cloudy day. But in reality it was shot near high noon on a very sunny day.
I used a homemade diffusion device to soften the light on the flower (example
B). "Homemade diffusion device" is a fancy name for a gallon milk container
with the top and side cut out for the flower and camera. It works perfectly for
small flowers close to the ground.
This same kind of tool can be used to soften light falling on jewelry or other
shiny objects like coins when direct light is too harsh. Nice thing about the
homemade brand is it's free after you drink the milk.
I use this same little milk-jug-tent thingy when the wind is blowing even
the smallest flowers around, making focusing hard, if not impossible. Wind is
the bane of flower photographers everywhere (unless you are going for the fuzzy-arty
look to your blooms).
Wolf carries half a dozen bamboo barbecue skewers in his pack (available in
any supermarket). "I use 'em for bracing stems, staking out the subject
in a better position, damping wind motion, etc."
Another trick he uses is to position his backpack to cast a dark shadow onto
an overly bright and distracting background, he said.
That's a trick I use also.
Example C shows a lightweight fabric tent that I use over taller flowers.
There are holes in the top and on the side for the camera to see through. Yes,
it says "laundry" on the side. That's because it started life as a
laundry basket from a Target store. But why pay big bucks for a fancy wind tent
when $14 bought the same thing-and I could put the holes where I wanted them
to be.
I also use a large disc made of diffusion material to hold between the sun
and the flower being photographed. Two kids stretching a white garbage bag over
the blossom has the same effect. The trick is having the diffuser as close as
possible to the object being photographed. That allows the maximum amount of
great light in without creating blue shade, which is what would happen if you
just stood in front of the plant. You want to diffuse the sunlight, not block
it.
Another wind-blocking, light-softening tip is to make a three-sided "tent" out
of poster board with diffusion material on top. I use black so that I can have
a lovely black background with soft light illuminating my subject, example D.
This works best when the sun is directly overhead, which is considered terrible
light when shooting scenics or landscapes. But if you can manipulate the light,
then you can shoot macros at any time of the day.
If you are already using a digital SLR camera you can get into macro relatively
inexpensively by purchasing extension tubes. These are a series of empty tubes
with electronic connections, that go between your camera and your lens letting
you focus closer than the lens can do alone. If you still love the macro aspect
of photography after playing with extension tubes, then look into a dedicated
macro lens which can focus both close and to infinity - something you cannot
do with just the tubes.
I don't want to finish up without mentioning a tripod again. It is almost
impossible to shoot a decent macro in focus and without camera shake without
a tripod. I worked in the field for years without a good one and cursing the
resulting images as well as the gear.
I was so happy when I finally invested in a good tripod with an excellent
ball head. My work became so much easier and relaxed. And isn't that what it
is all about - enjoying the art of photography?
Tripods are crucial to everyone. "I can do macros with a wide selection
of bodies and lenses, but I'm just not steady enough to do what I want without
a tripod and decent ball head," Wolf said.
He also carries knee-savers - closed-cell foam pads to kneel on or lay on.
"It's mighty tough when you have to crawl around on sharp rocks, or on
thorns, or in mud, to get into position for the shot. Excessive discomfort deprives
you of the patience essential for the best work."
He said, "The first law of macro photography: If you're not in a really
uncomfortable position, you're not working hard enough for the shot. My corollary:
You don't have to do everything the cowboy way; you're allowed to use padding."
MORE INFO for THE READERS:
How to choose which tripod heads and legs are
right for you: http://reallyrightstuff.com/ballheads/02.html
Flexfill Collapsible Reflector, 20-inch circular silk diffusion screen: http://tinyurl.com/eugsw
20-inch Circular Silk Diffusion - http://tinyurl.com/eugsw
Kenko Auto Extension Tube Set DG (12, 20 & 36mm Tubes) for Canon EOS Digital
and Film Cameras -
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/7299/Photo_35mm_Extension_Tubes.html
McClamp and McStick: "Most macro photographers work in soil areas and
refine their compositions by nudging the tripod slightly. The STICK version of
the McClamp is anchored into the soil allowing the photographer to move the tripod
without disturbing the subject. This method is preferable to clamping the articulated
arm to the tripod. The photographer can move around the subject to fine tune
the angle of light, the background, and the overall composition." - http://www.fmphotography.us/html/mcclamp.html
Gorillapod - Unlike traditional tripods, the Gorillapod has flexible, gripping
legs which can wrap around almost any surface. It is available in three sizes.
- http://www.joby.com/products/gorillapod/
Closeups in Nature by John Shaw - http://tinyurl.com/2mke2j
Fine Art Flower
Photography: Creative Techniques And The Art Of Observation by
Tony Sweet - http://tinyurl.com/2syttm
Wildflower identification:
Mojave Desert Wildflowers: A Field Guide to Wildflowers,
Trees, and Shrubs of the Mojave Desert, Including the Mojave National Preserve,
Death Valley National Park, and Joshua Tree National Park by Pam MacKay
Mojave Desert Wildflowers by Jon Mark Stewart
Colorado Desert Wildflowers: A Guide to Flowering Plants
of the Low Desert, Including the Coachella Valley, Anza-Borrego Desert, and Portions
of Joshua Tree National Monument by Jon Mark Stewart
Calochortus: Mariposas and Their Relatives by Mary E. Gerritsen and
Ron Parsons
And for the orchid lovers out there, Masdevallias: Gems
of the Orchid World by Mary E. Gerritsen and Ron Parsons
Photographer Ron Wolf: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwolf/
Lara Hartley: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redshoesgirl/
