Digital Camera World

Christian Knowles

Summer is summed up in a single macro image

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Christ ian says: This image was taken on my Sony Alpha 6000 with the Sony

E30mm f/3.5 Macro lens. It was shot at f/4 and 1/800 sec at ISO 100 in Aperture Priority. It was late evening at my local nature area and I’d spent an hour or so quietly stalking the insects. To get a sharp image, I needed to get as close as possible due to using the 30mm focal length, and was shooting hand-held with the autofocus system switched on.

Andrew says: I’m a big fan of shallow-focus macro shots, and your shot has

a lot going for it. I love the warm but diffuse background: it really helps to make sure your main subject, the fly, stands out.

Shooting hand-held at just f/4 means there is no margin for error, and you are relying on the AF to lock focus in the right place. To my eye, it’s not quite managed it, because the fly’s eye isn’t pin-sharp.

Working at 30mm was also a really tough thing with a very flighty insect, so you’ve certainly done this the hard way. If you are getting into macro work like this, you need to invest in a longer-focal-length lens to make it easier. I tend to shoot on manual and gently move the lens towards the insect until it comes into focus, then fire the shutter button but this isn’t foolproof either.

The direct sun on the yellow flower is another thing to be aware of: it is so vivid that it’s almost distractin­g, but you can tone this down a little in post-production easily enough.

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