INTERVIEW
Macro photography specialist Mike Tully discusses his approach to shooting detailed and creative close-up images of insect and spider subjects
This issue, we explore the world of macro photography with specialist Mike Tully, who tells us about his career journey, favourite subjects and the challenges he has to overcome
Macro photography is capable of revealing the natural world in an entirely new light, capturing detail invisible to the human eye. As popular as the genre is however, creating successfully engaging images is not easy. Experienced photographer Mike Tully (miketully.smugmug.com) combines his indepth knowledge of his subject’s behaviour with artistic expertise, to produce intimate studies of spiders and insect life.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A PHOTOGRAPHER FOR AND WHAT INITIALLY GOT YOU INTERESTED IN MACRO IMAGING?
I got my first SLR 43 years ago. I was always fascinated by optical devices like microscopes and telescopes that allowed a look into otherwise unseen worlds. In
1977, when the original Star Wars movie was released, I read of how the film crew had chosen the 55mm f3.5 Micro Nikkor for its optical excellence, to film close-up scenes of the spacecraft models. Here was a worldclass lens that a student with a part-time job could afford! With the Micro Nikkor I began looking closer at things and realised that even the most modest garden was full of beautiful tiny scenes and real life-anddeath drama.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE SUBJECTS TO SHOOT AND WHY?
Dragonflies are my favourites. They are relatively large, easy to find, colourful and approachable. They have a top-of-thefood-chain attitude and seem unconcerned about threats, so they can be comfortable with a camera in their face. The small-tomedium size dragonflies like to perch and sun on flowers, while scanning the area for food. This behaviour makes it easy to get great shots. The largest dragonflies, the aeshnids (Hawkers in the UK or Darners in the US) are the most spectacular, but more challenging to shoot. Their long, pendulous bodies must hang, rather than perch at rest. This means they are often in the shade and camouflaged by their surroundings. They are harder to find, but always rewarding.
HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON A COMPOSITION FOR YOUR AMAZING MACRO IMAGES?
With the severe depth of field limitations in macro imaging it is tempting to shoot subjects in profile to maximise the in-focus area. Some long and slender subjects such as damselflies demand this, but I find it a bit too static. I prefer to approach the subject face to face, but at a quartering angle. As long as the eyes are in focus it is acceptable for the rest of the insect to fade out of focus. The depth-of-field preview button is
handy at this point, to check and see how the background appears. The background elements tend to become vague shapes and tones, but it is very important to find an angle at which these add to the composition rather than detract from it.
“Something plain can become striking and beautiful when its full detail is revealed”
IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL MACRO PHOTO?
An image that is instantly recognisable for what it is, but reveals interesting or even unsettling details upon closer inspection. If I have to read a photo’s caption to learn what it shows, then it has failed. Every day we share space with little creatures – something common, plain or even ugly can become striking and even beautiful when its full detail is revealed in a well-executed macro shot.
WHAT CAMERAS AND LENSES DO YOU USUALLY USE FOR YOUR SHOTS?
I use a Nikon D7000 and a D600. They have the same control layout and use the same cards and batteries. The most-used macro lenses are the 55mm f3.5 Micro Nikkor AI and the 105mm f4 Micro Nikkor AI. These old manual-focus lenses are extremely rugged and optically equal to their new auto focus counterparts. They are still performing brilliantly after decades of hard use. Since autofocus is of little use at macro distances, I may never have to upgrade.
WHAT ARE THE GREATEST CHALLENGES YOU FIND IN YOUR LINE OF WORK AND HOW DO YOU OVERCOME THESE?
Getting enough light on the subject is the biggest challenge – macro requires huge amounts of light. I prefer to shoot between f8 and f11 to preserve DOF. Hand-held shots of moving subjects at close distances limits maximum exposure times to 125th160th/second. I like to limit ISO to 800 or less, for noise considerations. This all adds up to nothing less than full sunlight for naturally illuminated shots. I use a speedlight with diffuser in most shots, to fill in the shadows, which casts a huge shadow when I’m inches away from the subject. It can become very frustrating when pursuing a moving target, so I only search for subjects in areas where I would not get between them and the sun.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE IMAGE FROM THE SELECTION YOU SENT US AND WHY?
My favourite is of the nursery web spider guarding her brood. It is always great to be able to tell a story with a picture. These spiders, from the family Pisauridae, are pretty big and dramatic, but their most prominent characteristic is featured right in their name. The females carry around a big white egg sac, find a safe place to make a nest, bond the sac to a leaf, then roll the leaf into a nursery web. The female then guards the nursery until the eggs hatch and the hatchlings leave the nest. I was delighted to capture most of that story in a single image.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE LOCATIONS FOR CAPTURING CLOSE-UP WILDLIFE IMAGES?
Public botanical gardens are the best. The cultivated selection of flowering plants provides the widest array of insects among beautiful fresh blossoms. I also explore areas around small ponds, where dragonflies emerge from the water as larvae, then live and hunt.
My most productive place is my own backyard, where I have a modest garden. Every day, in the summer months, I spend time there in the early morning. I like to shoot when the first rays of sun splash across the flowers and the insects come to life. Many of my friends will travel to exotic locations like Iceland just to get photographic inspiration – I can find that in my own yard.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE BEGINNERS IN THE MACRO FIELD?
Look closely at everything! Shoot the same subject repeatedly, as even the act of taking a breath can cause the camera to move in and out of focus. Turn of AF, set the focus for the distance you want to shoot at, then move the camera in and out until the subject is focused. When shooting insects, make sure the eyes are in focus. Use aperture-priority mode and shoot between f8 and f16, while making sure ISO is high enough to keep the shutter speed above about 1/125sec.
WHAT ARE YOUR AMBITIONS FOR THE FUTURE?
I would like to develop a curriculum for teaching macro photography to the handicapped or elderly. It is an ideal creative activity for people who can’t go far. Even if you are mobility restricted, the world around you is vast when viewed one square inch at a time. Communing with the natural world around you has proven emotional benefits – there is nothing like examining things at the macro level that makes you realise how much of the natural world exists just outside your door.