Story Behind the Still
Artur Borzęcki tells us the story behind his amazingly detailed macro shot of a spider – arachnophobes beware!
About the shot: Macro images like this are endlessly engaging due to the level of detail that can be revealed, detail that is usually unseen with the naked eye. However, it is more unusual to see photographs of this type actually taken in a studio environment. Photographer Artur Borzęcki has become an expert in this approach. “Most of my macros are done in a studio, enabling me to control a lot of different elements of the shot like light and scenery,” he explains. “Macro photography in a natural environment is beautiful and enables you to use a lot of colours and bokeh effects, but you have very little control over the subject.”
For this shot of a spider (species Araneus diadematus) Artur focused on accentuating fine detail. “For my image series, I’m focusing mainly on details and presentation. My shots are very clean and minimalistic and concentrate only on the insect. I want to show as many details as possible and present it in a clean way on a black background. It has a unique style to it.”
Patience is a virtue that Artur has had to develop, due to the behaviour of his living subjects. “The majority of my macros are done using a stacking technique, which enables me to increase the depth of field to cover the whole subject. This is extremely difficult as all of my subjects are constantly moving. I usually need two hours and around 300 shots to get the stack I’m happy with.”