WH Yeo Photography

Portfolios: Nature's Closeups

Macro was what started me out in nature photography and being able to capture details that were not visible to the naked eye was elevating. Peering through a dedicated macro lens, the outside world diminishes as we come face to face with a Green Crested Lizard and its blood red eye or a Fleshfly preening itself.

Luck comes when you are out shooting and this was exactly what happened when I was packing up after a shoot. A rustle in the leaves made me look up and about 3 feet away was this Green Crested Lizard and what was weird was it's attention was not on me. A normal specimen would have sprinted off at that moment. A very slow approach allowed me to get a closeup of its eye and textured head.
   
Flowers are pretty tough subjects and despite them being inanimate, it can be tough to make them look interesting. Flash do help in situations like this and it did.
   
A Huntsman spider on a tree trunk is never easy to spot. They also do not move much so once spotted, you can literally shoot to your heart's content. This was shot with the Canon MPE65 to get a high mag rate of about 5X.
     
  
Morning dew always make a great subject and those little droplets add very much to what would otherwise be normal shots.
   
Shooting in the mountains, the dew remains on the subject for a much longer time. Shooting through them requires very fine focusing and I spend much of time focusing, shooting, checking and repeating the entire cycle again.
   
Fraser's Hill is always a hit amongst the nature photographers, the weather is amazing and the variety of subjects is just incredible. They are huge as well.....nearly 3 times those found locally.
     
  
A Damselfly was at rest when I made a close approach. Through the MPE65, it was awesome to see the compound eyes but at this mag rate, depth of field was a huge problem and full flash is always needed.
   
It was the last morning of our trip to Fraser's Hill and I was determined to get this shot. The previous mornings had weather that proved to be a serious challenge. This morning was calm though and I fired a couple of shots in between slight breezes.
   
Got a studio strobe and tested it out with the huge softbox that came with it. The large source of light rendered soft shadows and a bare hotshoe flash provided the edge light. It's not that much different from doing portraiture...
     
  
This placcid snake was patient with my close approach and I switched from a 180 macro lens to the MPE65 and the MT24-EX combo. The high magnification rate which offers better image quality than a macro lens with teleconverters was well worth the trouble.
   
After an eventful sunrise at the Great Ocean Road town of Lorne, I headed into the woods. Stopping for a rest, I saw this beautful patch of flowers and found some that still had dew on them. Framed, focused and waited for some time before I could get my first shot.
  
A heavily post-processed image of a Blue Fern. I am not one for heavy post processing but this was such an interesting pattern that I wanted to see what I could get out of it. The end result was way more interesting than the plain coloured version.
     
  
At the annual Fraser's Hill trip by NPS(S), macro shooters, birders and landscape shooters come together to enjoy a 3 night stay. The wonderful weather meant that we could really spend the entire day outdoors experimenting with different forms of photography. It was during such a period when I decided to go wireless flash and place the flash under the flower for a backlit effect.
   
The huge Tarantulas were rampant but they were skittish and would rush back to their holes by the cliffside. This particular one was however out really soon and just stood still. Slowly closing in with the MPE65 combo, I got a few couple and even fewer in focus before the subject got irritated and went back in.
   
4 flashes and a whole lot of patience was needed for this shot. About a hundred shots were fired but only 2 came out fine and this was one of them. Given a choice, I would have more flashes to give an increase chance of freezing the wings.
     
  
This ant was motionless but it was dead though as it walked off after my clumsiness had me touch the plant it was on. A diffused flash gave the wonderful softlight that I yearn for so much. Rendering the soft shadows and evenlylighting the scene, it looked way more appealing than a hard source....at least in this photo.
   
Deep in the forest, an Asian Long Horned Beetle was static on the leaf of a fern. A normal shot of it was accomplished on another specimen the day before so a tigher shot will be the next challenge. Crucial focusing is necessary for macro work and this was done with the aid of a focusing rail.
   
In the midst of a teabreak, the group ventured out into the gardens at Fraser's Hill. Walking around, I chanced upon this Fleshfly and moved in so slowly that I never thought was possible. Inching the tripod in, I got a close up shot with 3 flash units.
     
  
The invigorating walk around the gardens was great and even though there were no keepers, I had a great time. Was seated for a break when I saw the morning dew on a cactus. Setup with my 180 macro lens, took a couple of shots and headed off. Mornings without wind is always a big plus for the macro shooter.
   
Was packing up after a long morning shoot when I chanced upon this petite bloom. Decided then to go against the common rule of stopping down for DOF. A wider than normal aperture was used here to throw the background really nicely out of focus.
  
The Cicadas were plentiful and lined up outside the walls of our room. I found one with eyes as red as rubies. Whipped out the MPE65 and tested the flash (on manual mode) before moving in.
     
  
This Pygmy Dragonfly was motionless from the night's rest and the small size meant that a teleconverter had to be mated to the macro lens. Decided to go for a frontal shot rather than the conventional compostion.
  
This Junping Spider saw me and was moving its set of "lenses"around. I frozed and it went about looking around the flower it was perched on. 2 flashes gave a nice shadowless lighting that I actually do not find appealing most of the time.
   
A Fleshfly was still at rest in the early breezeless morning. Thanks to the railings it was resting on, I had some elbow support that was crucial to getting a sharp image. The MPE combo once again excelled in bringing out details that a normal macro lens would have struggled with.
     
  
One of my earlier macro shots with a DSLR, this was shot way back in 2003 and as usual, early mornings is the choice for shots like this. The lack of movement from the subjects meant that slow shutter speeds will not be an issue.
  
A cool night and an early morning rise meant that the chances of encountering dew during this day will be high. I was not wrong as my shoes were soaked after trekking through the grassland.
  
The only good thing about haze is the fact that it acts as a neutral density filter and enables us to shoot toward the sun without fear of damage to our eyes or the sensor. A long lens enlarged the sun and allowed a narrow angle of view.
     
  
An American Bullfrog peeks out from the water surfaceon a hot humid morning. The yellow background is actually dried grassy slope being reflected onto the waters. Getting down as low as I could, I fired a number of shots, in case of any motion blur.
   
The toadlets were young but had already climbed to great heights. This pair was on a Water Lettuce and a nice blue sky was reflected in the waters. The original slide holds as strong a colour as this scanned file. And oh yes, it was shot on film.
   
Well, not reallyonly 2 colours in this image but it was the pink and the greens that first drew me in to this scene. Shot many years on film, it was composed with space for text if any potential buyer needed it. With digital, my guess is that the Clone tool will replace this intiative.