Richa Kashelkar, educated as an architect, started photographing weddings by a chance event. In this post, the lady who has fallen in love with her camera talks about her passion, techniques and work.

Richa Kashelkar Site | Facebook Technique: Wedding

Q. How did you take up photography? And how did you get into wedding photography?

A. By education I am an architect, which makes me heavily inclined towards design; and which is what photography is all about too, at the end of the day. I realised that I enjoy making images, and started doing it with my phone camera and later moved into a point and shoot camera and started clicking everything in sight; very clichéd beginning I tell you!

Wedding photography happened by pure chance. I had uploaded a few of my amateur work online, and a friend’s friend saw it and asked me to shoot her wedding. And it just went on snowballing from there as I kept uploading photos online! I owe my work to the vast spread of social networking to a very large extent.

Q. What kind of gear do you use?

A.
Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikkor 85mm f1.8, and 35mm f2 lens
Flash: Nikon SB600

Q. What’s your favourite lens during a wedding?

A. I love both my lenses equally, but the lens with a slight edge over the other would have to be a 35mm, which I have quite recently begun to love. The wide lens captures a lot of craziness and action which keeps happening at weddings!

Q. What lens would you recommend for someone starting in wedding photography?

A. A 50mm f1.8 lens. Because it will shoot great in low light (which is very essential at weddings) and the price is easy on the wallet, so great for beginners.

Q. Any gadget that you wish you shouldn’t have bought?

A. I have a really bad lens which is the Tamron 18-200mm lens. Really wish I hadn’t been tempted by the idea of a “All in one” lens. They’re bad if you intend to shoot people, which is what I love.

Q. What all do you carry while on an assignment?

A. A Nikon D700, a Nikon D90, my lenses, flash, chargers, and an emergency bar of dark chocolate. The last one really helps!

Q. How do you prepare yourself for a wedding session besides getting your equipment together?

A. Getting a LOT of rest prior to it.

Q. In the field, what is your

A.
ISO – Anything from 200 to 6400
Choice of focus – Autofocus / Manual focus – Auto, since you need to be fast in capturing moments. Cannot afford to waste time in focussing when an exciting expression just gives you a glimpse for a second and vanishes. Has happened to me in the past.
White Balance – Auto, since the RAW files are all colour-corrected later.
Metering Mode – Spot.

Q. What is your most favorite part of a wedding? Don’t tell me it’s the food!

A. Food. Desserts especially! Haha! That apart, the joy on the couple’s faces.

Q. Does photographer’s block happen to you? If yes, how do you overcome it?

A. It does happen to me, but not in wedding photography. Weddings are such a power packed affair that they hardly give you time to even realise you have a block. They are an inspiration in themselves.

Q. In India, where wedding photographers are predominantly male, have you found yourself to have any advantages over them?

A. Yes! People are in general very courteous since you are a lady. The bride enjoys your company even in the dressing room, and you can build and amazing bond! And the other studio photographers can’t behave rough with you!  Though you need to be quite strong and healthy since it is a very physically taxing profession.

Q. Explain your post-processing work flow.

A. I go through the entire lot that I have shot and select the pictures which are good. They then go through Lightroom and come out as shiny new images to be delivered to the clients!

Q. Whose work has influenced you the most?

A. I honestly avoid looking at other photographers’ works to seek for inspiration. A favourite professor of mine in architecture had once told us not to browse through any famous architect’s work, unlike what everyone else told us to do. Because whether you want to or not, you WILL get influenced, and whether you want to accept it or not, you will end up copying.

Q. Is there something you wished you knew when you started photography?

A. Nothing! I jumped into it headlong, and I don’t repent it one bit!

Our favorite Richa Shot

She has been rightly credited with bringing cheer to many a soul with her shooting skills. And she sheepishly acknowledges her photography beginnings to “poor memory” which made her carry a camera where ever she goes! She is the beautiful Neeta Shankar, a young photographer whose passion is framing and freezing moments.

Neeta Shankar Site | Facebook | Twitter Technique: Portraiture Achievements: Official Photographer for “Tour of Nilgiris 2010″. Her short film U-turn was ranked as one of the top 6 films at International Short Film Festival, Bhubaneshwar. Official photographer for Celebration Run – Mysore Marathon.

Q. How did you get into photography? Was it a natural progression from your travels?

A. Yes. It was a natural outcome of traveling. I love traveling and been doing it quite extensively since I started working at HP. I used to trek quite frequently too. On all these trips and treks, I carried an old point and shoot camera (belonging to my brother) to capture some memories. My photographs were most often appreciated by my fellow travelers and I developed an interest in the art and science of photography. I started reading more about it online and put the concepts I learnt to practice. The more I learnt, the more I loved it.

Q. What does your gear consist of ?

A.
Body – I still have an entry level DSLR Canon 500D and I am quite happy with it.
Lens – I use the following lenses – Canon 10-22mm f3.5-4.5, Canon 50mm f1.8, Canon 100mm f2.8 macro, Canon 24-70 f2.8, Canon 70-200 f2.8, Canon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 (Some of them I own, some I borrow on rent for my shoots).
Filter – I have UV filters for all my lenses and Circular Polarizer for my wide angle lens.
Tripod – I don’t own a tripod yet. I usually rent it out.
Backpack – I have a Lowepro Pro Runner A350 which allows me to comfortably fit in all the gear I use and my laptop. But I cannot really say that I can comfortably carry it around . I also own a Lowepro Mini Trekker.
Flashes – I use 2 speedlites Canon 580 ex ii with wireless triggers for triggering them.

Q. Which is your favorite lens? Why?

A. 50mm f1.8 lens because it is inexpensive, fast and sharp. Also because it is lightweight and easy to carry. Because of its small size, it doesn’t draw much attention to it. I also like the 70-200mm f2.8 lens which I rent out time to time. But it weighs a lot and carrying it around mounted on the camera is a pain.

Q. When you go for one of your travels, what all will you take with you?

A. I tend to overpack and carry most of my gear along as you never know what kind of photo opportunities will present themselves during travel. I carry my camera with 3 or 4 lenses and their filters, external flash, my laptop and external harddisk, protective rain cover for my camera bag, spare batteries and chargers, lots of spare cards. A small sling camera bag to carry the camera easily.

Q. Among the gadgets that you own, is there anything that you regret buying? If yes, can you mention why?

A. Wireless triggers. I should have probably saved up for a good expensive set. Mostly because the cheap triggers don’t work all the time. Out of every ten fires, one may work. They have a limited range and a weak success rate.

Q. How do you post process your shots?

A. I generally use Photoshop CS5 and sometimes Lightroom. I play with color tones depending on the mood that I want to portray in my image.

Q. I see that the models in your photos are at their natural best (except him, maybe). How do you build the rapport with your subject?

A. I smile at them!

A smile is the best way to communicate.

Especially kids warm up to me very easily.

Q. When you are on a photo session, what leads you – your instincts or the model?

A. Mostly my instincts but it is very essential for the models to be comfortable with the poses too. Otherwise it may appear unnatural. Sometimes its a team effort where the models have their own ideas. I generally start with their ideas and then go by my instincts.

Q. Does photographer’s block happen to you? If yes, how do you overcome it?

A. Sometimes, Yes. I travel to get my creativity going. Also I discuss photography with my peers. This year I have also taken up 366 project to keep myself motivated every single day of the year. You can find the shots on my facebook page.

Q. How do you educate yourself to take better shots?

A. Read. Read. Read. There’s a wealth of information online and numerous blogs explaining the technical aspects as well as the rules of composition.

The most important thing however is to practice what you have learnt.

Q. Where should a newbie start, according to you, if he/she is interested in pursuing portraiture ?

A. Start off with a 50mm f1.8 lens which is not an expensive buy. Learn about the rules of composition and the use of light. You can look at some beautiful portraiture in 1x.com or flickr for inspiration.

Q. Who or what is a nightmare when you are on an assignment?

A. My biggest nightmare is camera break-down amidst a shoot. Once this nightmare did indeed come true. My camera shutter broke while I was shooting a wedding and luckily I had a second shooter with me that day whose camera I could borrow and another photographer friend of mine brought me his camera in less than half an hour!

Q. What is the one thing that you wish you knew when you started photographing ?

A. Self learning has its benefits. Trial and error is time consuming but since we learn from our mistakes, it is more effective in the long run.
I wish I knew how important it is to keep your images organized. I have thousands of images from my early shoots just lying in a hard disk and not really in an organized structure which has made it hard to find the ones I want.

Our favorite Neeta Shot

Align Center – Eyes straight

An insane close-up of the face with the eyes staring straight at the viewer can be both captivating and menacing.

Align Side – Eyes sideways

In this type of framing, subject’s eyes lead you out of the frame’s border from one corner to the other. Normally eyes will be placed according to the Rule of Thirds. Also, most of the time, the subject itself fills the canvas in its entirety in the direction of the eyes.

Align Side – Eyes straight

The subject will be placed in the right or left corner of the frame with eyes looking straight at us.

This post is an attempt at generalizing the approaches of better photogs to help photogs like us to make a better and learned judgement about the shots we are about to take. Keeping in mind that the key to better portraits  is to keep on experimenting, I would like to hear your observations on the topic.

Q. Is there anything you wish you knew when you started photographing?

A.

Sriram Guruswamy (Style – Potrait)

I never had the luxury of a mentor or of a formal training. My Photography style is totally self-taught and it took years to get evolved. I realized late that photography is not just about capturing something that is already beautiful.
There is a bigger dimension to it as being an honest perspective into those real moments of truth depicted in an aesthetic way.

Fabien Bravin (Style – Macro)

He he… On my side, there is nothing that comes to my mind right now. But, I think my wife wish she knew, when I began photography, that macro was a kind of drug and that you can become quickly addicted to.

Richard Gastwirt (Style – Stage Show)

If I didn’t learn by trial and error, the lessons probably wouldn’t have stuck. So I’m not sure that if there’s anything I wish I knew. But it took me a while to realize that the histogram was more important than my exposure needle and that cameras aren’t very intelligent and their metering isn’t suited to concert photography.

James Brandon (Style – HDR)

In the beginning, I wish I had surrounded myself with other photographers. I’m currently a part of a local photography group through meetup.com and it is awesome. I think a new and aspiring photographer should surround themselves with other photographers to learn from them and grow.

Mukul Soman (Style – Street)

I wish I knew how to anticipate a moment and wait for it, before taking that photograph at the right time.

Phalgun P (Style – Wedding)

Yes! There is one thing which I came across very late. It is the podcast series of the photographer Brooks Jenson called Lenswork. Each of them is just three minutes long and it leaves you thinking at the end. I wish I’d started listening to his podcasts before.

Enjo Mathew (Style – Visual Art)

I am painfully self taught, so yes, there are a lot of things I now know, that I wish I knew back then. I have never gone for any formal photography classes nor have I gone to anyone to formally train me. I just had the will and a lot of patience to discover things around me on my own.

Nidhin G Poothully (Style – Wildlife)

I usually travel to the jungles in Karnataka as they are nearer since I stay in Bangalore. In my earlier days, I used to get excited a lot while seeing a bird or a mammal. I have tried to capture them in my camera as soon as possible. I used to chase them away as they see the sudden flurry of my activities. Now I know that I need more patience to get the click without causing the least disturbance to the subject.

In all wildlife encounters, there are a thousand possibilities to take a bad photo and there are only one or two opportunities to take a good photo. A nature photographer learns to be ready for that perfect moment. This needs years of patience and practice.

Jyothy Karat (Style – Photo Documentary)

Ayyo! I can’t think of anything specific at the moment.

When you are starting out and learning the photography basics in the Academy, you will be flooded with the works of other master photographers. They are the references that will inspire you.

The study on the history of a painting or an object of art can also have a profound influence on your photography style.
That’s something I could have started earlier. Nowadays I am reading a lot on these subjects.

Akosoto.com is a place where nursery rhymes, songs, riddles, games, do it yourself toys, illustrated stories… are compiled in the Malayalam language. This is a new venture from antzFx.com. Let us try to know more about the website.

Click on the following images for full size view.

Here are the posters in the language we all speak.

What is ‘Akosoto?’

No, the word is not Japanese. The name ‘Akosoto’ is a tribute to the 1992 Malayalam Film ‘Yodha’ directed by Sangeeth Sivan. The hero of the movie is fondly addressed as ‘Akosoto’ by the Rimpoche – a small child. We are sure that all the Keralites will identify themselves with the name. We are presenting Akosoto as a friend of your child.

A small talk on the inspiration

It was some months ago. When I was singing a nursery rhyme to my daughter (now she is two years old), my father asked me in surprise “Do you still remember this song? I taught you this song some 30 years ago from a children’s magazine!” My father has forgotten many of the lines. This made me to think about a website where we can collect and publish old songs, stories, games, ‘do-it-yourself’ toys…

My brother FULLfx | aneeskA immediately jumped into this and he made sure that the website will be up and running. He plans and posts the articles and does a lot of house keeping of the website.

The Akosoto Team

I must say that a big group of people contributed and encouraged us. Apart from my brother, my wife and daughter, my parents, my in-laws, my friends… are consulted for various articles posted here.

I should name two friends here: Geo Paul E and MahEsh C Menon. They are with us in every step and provides unconditional support, ideas and criticisms.

@AkosotoDotCom

Our Twitter handle is ‘@AkosotoDotCom.’

Tell us what you think

Simple. Shoot an email to:
write[ at ]akosoto[ dot ]com

Image Credits

Following images are used to design the poster and header of the website.

• Think: Jesse Therrien, Alberta, Canada.
• Pills: d-s-n, Warsaw, Poland
• Medicine 2: Sergio Roberto Bichara, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Download JPEGs of the whole Calendar (ZIP, 4.38MB) »

January 2012 Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)	February 2012  Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)

March 2012 Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)	April 2012 Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)

May 2012 Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)	June 2012 Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)

July 2012 Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)	August 2012 Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)

September 2012 Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)	October 2012 Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)

November 2012 Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)	December 2012 Download (JPG, 1440x1030px)

Design Thoughts

Compared with the designs of previous years, we have changed the format of the calendar.  Earlier we used to give two months in a sheet. This time, only one month is in a sheet and the digits are arranged inside ‘S M T W T F S’ — representing ‘Sunday Monday… Saturday.’ The digits are in the font Constantia.

Following images show the metamorphosis of  ’S M T W T F S.’

The first version had  ’S M T W T F S’ in Constantia Uppercase. The second version had Constantia Lowercase. The current version uses an outline (without fill) of modified Swatch font.

I modified ‘t’ and ‘m’ in the Swatch font to better adjust the digits inside. The ‘s’ for Saturday and Sunday are rotated 90 degrees. These changes ensured that the dates coming under a particular week are in a single column rather than staggered as you can see in the first two versions (Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday). Also, I removed the black fill of the ’S M T W T F S’ and retained a thin grey outline to give more emphasis to the dates and images on the sheet.

Dear Reader, I hope all of you will like this and will buy a print version from us.

Design Date: 09-Nov-2011

Extra – Our calendar designs over the years – 2011 Flowers, 2011 Green, 2010, 2009

Guest Author

Barun Patro is an architect and designer from Chennai, India. He is passionate about creative ideas and love digging anything that comes under design. He is also a part of a global design community called ORTAP. He loves to travel and socialize.

Off late, a lot of our friends have been asking us to tell them how do I make money online. One of the favorite ways of mine is – stock photography.

What is Stock photography?

How do I make money through Stock Photography?

Stock photography refers to a collection of photos that are available online for use to designers and individuals for free or for a nominal fee,  to be used in their design projects and presentations. It can be the picture of a ball, a chair or even the sky that people can download and use.

For example, consider that I am writing an article on chocolates. Instead of googling up an image of a chocolate, I download stock photo of a chocolate and use it . Stock photos are licensed for such kind of use. Some sites offer them free while others offer them for a small fee which goes as royalties to the photographer .

Here are a few links to stock photo sites:

• dreamstime
• iStockPhoto
• SXC
• shutterstock
• gettyimages

Who can be a stock photographer ?

Anyone who is interested in photography, knows how to operate a digital camera and can shoot decently good photos can become one. I am a stock photographer myself and I don’t even own a camera myself. I borrow “point and shoot” camera from my friends to take pictures.

You must know a little about noise and exposure which determine the quality of your photos. Otherwise when you submit your photos to those sites, you might get rejections. But that also is a good learning experience.

A decent camera and understanding of photo editing tools like Photoshop or Lightroom to fine tune your photos, if needed, are the basic necessaries for becoming one.

What type of photos can I include in my stock?

It depends on the website where you upload your photos. The subject of your photography can be anything – from safety pins to mountains, pencil sketches to illustrations.

For example, SXC allows only photo upload. While iStockphoto, in addition to photos, allows uploading of vector images, illustrations, flash animations, videos, 3D animations etc. You are only limited by your creative talents.

How much will I earn per photo?

It depends on the dimensions of the photo the user downloads. You should always upload the largest and highest quality photo that you have. The website will automatically generate different sizes for your photograph. If a user downloads a thumbnail version of your image, you will probably earn $0.5. Higher earnings are credited for bigger dimension download. The exact rate varies form site to site. When you reach a minimum earning total of, say $50 or $100, you will be allowed to transfer it to your bank/paypal account.

Check out the screenshot below of my account in “dreamstime”, with my total earnings on the top right corner and detailed earning for each image.

Keywording your photos

Keywording your photos is also known as labeling your photos with IPTC tags. This is a very important part in managing your stock photos. It is the process of embedding keywords to your photos that describe them. When a user searches for a photo, the results shown will be based on a match against the tags that you have given. The general approach should be, “the more the number of keywords, the better.”

The above photo, for example, can have the following keywords:

interior design, white, clean, 3D, rich, living room, concept, bungalow, space,black and white etc.

Keywording for Batch  upload

Every time you upload an image you will be asked to fill in the keywords manually. This can get a little tedious when you plan to upload your photo on multiple sites. Instead you can keyword the image before hand and upload. To do this, right click and check for properties of any image/photo and you’ll find the option to add keywords. Otherwise you can also use Photoshop software to add keywords to image properties. Now when you upload your photo to the stock website, the site automatically detects the keywords/descriptions attached to the image. That’ll save a lot of your time.

Cautions

Rejections

If your images are rejected , they will mostly be done so with an explanation for the rejection. It may be because of factors like excessive noise, chromatic aberration, artefacts, over saturation, low exposure, low resolution etc.

Basically these sites just want a good photo and over a period of time you will learn to get your photos approved with lesser rejections as you learn. Most of the times, you can simply correct the image and upload a better one and it gets approved. In any case be prepared for rejections and learn from every fedback to improvise every photo you take.

Logos

Be careful to avoid taking photos with any brand names/logos . You are not supposed to do that. In case they come in, try to remove such signs from your photo before upload.

Plagiarism

You cannot download some photo from the internet and do minor modifications and upload it as your own. That’d be illegal and you’ll be in trouble if caught. It is better to go through the terms and conditions of these sites or go through their guidelines.

Managing your multiple stock photo accounts

The more number of sites you post your photos to, the more wil be the money you’ll earn. To manage my stock photos, I keep a track of them in an Excel sheet, and I track my image uploads like this

Photo1 —> Website 1—> Website 2—> Website 3

This way I know which all sites I have uploaded my works to. You may also use software like http://prostockmaster.com to manage/keyword your photo collection.

Getting Started

To get started, you can register yourself at dreamstime by clicking on this link. Don’t forget to check out my SXC portfolio.

I’d love your comments and feedbacks. Let me know if you have any questions. Cheers !

Recently a friend of mine asked me to help his friend buy a DSLR. To be frank, it left me scratching my head as I was at a loss as to what to tell him. Then I realized that the posts that have been published in antzFxWay are indeed a great place to start, if read in the right order. Once I sent him the mail, I figured it could help more people. So here is the post from where you can start your research.

	A Beginners Guide to Buying a DSLR (from a Beginner) I wanted to make a transition from P&S to DSLR. So I asked Google, my all-knowing ever-faithful friend, “What should I do?”. The keeper-of-all-knowledge promptly dumped thousands of camera reviews in front of me to choose from. “Oh my!” - I pinched myself.
	Photography – Reliable DSLR and Lens Review Sites Trust is a little hard to come by – especially in online sector. I spent the last two weeks in search for a “good’ DSLR. (Read More)
	Half A dozen Stupid things people will do after buying their first DSLR It is astonishing to see that newbies buying their first DSLR (including me)have hit on a sequence of spending behaviours that is not exactly helping them. (Read More)
	Realizations of a DSLR newbie It’s been almost 10 months since I bought my first DSLR.Given below are a few realizations I had in the last few days. (Read More)
	A dozen sites for Photography Inspiration – Part 1 and Part 2 A collection of sites that will help to run your imagination run wild. Enjoy.

Click on the image for a closer view.
Blank ‘Business Card’ stock image by: Brian Lary, Madison, US

A page from my notebook

I don’t remember from where I got the inspiration for using a notebook page background, but I have successfully used it twice thrice in the past. First, for my brother, I designed prize certificates with ‘notebook’ background for “Melange 2006,” organized by University College of Engineering, Thodupuzha. Then a notebook page served as the background for my e-mail wedding invitation card. People liked this unique look.

For a final assignment/presentation of a Post Graduate Degree subject, I again used this background for the PowerPoint slides. Initially we (two of my friends and I) wanted to project the slides in ‘portrait’ format; but reverted to the traditional ‘landscape’ format a few minutes before our turn as its readability was better.

When we projected the slides, our Professor was surprised and she blurted out a “What is this?” Fortunately the GE Healthcare team, who were evaluating our assignment along with the Professor, liked it and we got an ‘A’ grade. In the clutter of plain vanilla and PowerPoint default templates, our presentation did manage good ‘brand recall.’

Because of these experiences, I wanted to use a notebook page background for our new business card.

The design

The logo, company name and URL follow the antzFx logo and typography standards. They are placed on the top of the page. The person’s name (14 pt font size), Mobile phone number (8 pt ) and E-mail ID (8 pt) are in a font called ‘Hand of Sean.’ The font color is a blue (#003399) that we usually find in gel ballpoint pens. The mobile phone number is given a yellow (#ffff30) fluorescent highlighter effect. A single ‘space’ is given at both the sides of ‘@’ for easy readability of the E-mail ID.

The reverse side of the business card has a green (#009f00) background. All the text is in ‘Trebuchet MS’ font, except the ‘Arial’ ‘@’ sign of Twitter handle.

Download a blank PSD template for this business card (ZIP, 64 KB).

Who printed this?

Many asked this question to me. I printed 96 business cards for Rs.185/- (This includes printing charges, cutting charges and VAT for double sided prints on four 300gsm A3 sheets, matte finish) from Print Xpress, Richmond Road, Bangalore. Their customer service is the worst among competitors, but they are also the cheapest in Bangalore.

Reactions

Click on the image for a closer view.

The few ‘lucky’ people who received my new business card generally favored the design and mentioned that the card is quite memorable. Well, what do you think?

Design Date: 03-Sep-2011

An aeronautical engineer by profession, Fabien Bravin is a macro photographer who has chosen to walk a path rarely trodden by photographers of similar interest. A self-confessed addict of macro photography, he tries to emphasize the beauty and poetry of nature in his shots. Here we are in talk with the man who has produced an array of stunning pictures.

Fabien Bravin Flickr | 1x | Blog Technique: Macro

Q. Your macros are a celebration of colors. What influenced you to take up macro photography?

A. Even before I started photography, I’ve always been attracted by nature and its inhabitants. It’ s so appeasing to be alone in the meadow watching and enjoying the moment. So, when I started photography in 2008, I already knew the kind of photography I would be doing. But taking sharp insect photographs and present them in a documentary format was not my aim. All along the way, I learned how to take macro photographs, constantly asking myself what could make an artistic picture and what I would’ve to do to get them. All my attempts have been towards achieving that goal.

Q. How do you go around looking for subjects? Are your images pre-arranged or mostly by chance?

A. From my beginning and up to last year, I just went in my garden (which is a very good spot for mantis) or in the meadows looking for some subjects (mainly damselflies and butterflies). I tried to work and improve my technique choosing some simple composition and easy subjects. So during these 2 years it has always been by coincidence that I found my subjects.

From last year, i decided to increase the challenge and to try some more complicated compositions with multiple subjects. To do so, I had to arrange some meetings

Typically, the series of pictures with ants and my latest picture with the mantis and the spider, I would like to emphasize that, I took great care while manipulating the insect to bring it to where I want it to be. I never manipulate the insect directly with my hands because they are fragile. So I just take the support on which it is and bring it near the support where I want it to be. I’ll wait for a few seconds to let it climb on the dedicated support and that’s it.

This requires many tries. You can’t just ask an insect to do this or that, stay here, turn your head, look at me and smile.

Q. Do you have any preferred time to shoot macro?

A.

As I’m really keen on natural light, I prefer the early morning of a sunny day or sunset.

So spring and autumn are my preferred season. During summer, sun rises too early for me. So I prefer the evenings. This year was more complicated as I’ve had some difficulties to manage all my activities, so I shot only when I could. But this has led to a change in my setup.

Q. Most of the people I have seen take macros in an indoor, controlled environment. But your approach is completely different. Rather than an insane close-up of the insect, you seem to be able to bring out the character in the nature through its subjects. Can you explain your setup while taking a macro?

A. Yes, you are right. I do not like taking insane close-ups of insects. I would rather like to show the insect in a natural environment.

I always perform my pictures outside.

I tried once or twice to make some indoor pictures but quickly realized that it is not my cup of tea as I didn’t succeed in getting good results. From my point of view, it requires complicated lighting system that I don’t have. So, all my shots are taken in the natural environment of the insect.

Also I’ve no pre-established recipe. I go outside, look for a subject, evaluate the situation, the direction and intensity of light. Then I try to find the best angle to compose the picture taking into account all these parameters. I especially focus my attention on the background quality (the bokeh). Considering all these things, I select the suitable gear parameters (aperture, shutter speed and ISO). I also try to vary my angle and composition as much as possible. When natural light is not good enough, I often use an additional flash lighting to create some nice rim light effects.

Q. What kind of gear do you use?

A.

Body – A canon 7D since the last two years; I started off with a canon 400D
Lens – The Sigma 180 mm f/3.5 macro lens since the last two years and I started off with a Canon 100mm macro lens. I also have a wide angle lens, Tokina 11-16mm, Canon 50 mm f/1.4 for portrait. Sometimes for macro, I use a Kenko extension tube. For long distance shots, I use a canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens.
Tripod – I prefer to use a monopod which is easier to use and easily mobile. I use my Benro tripod only for long exposure shots.
Filters – None for macro. But I’ve some BW filters for landscape and long exposure – a circular polarizer filter and a 10 f-stops filter.
Flash – As an additional lighting source, I use a Canon speedlight 580EX II. I also have bought a macro flash – Canon MT24 EX. But for the time being, I find it too complicated to use.
Camera bag – LowePro Slingshot.

Q. Which is your favorite lens? Why?

A. The sigma 180mm macro lens; because I am more involved into macro. Compared to a 100 mm, I find it much better because of its long working distance and the beautiful bokeh it gives.

Q. When you go in one of your travels, what all do you take with you? Why?

A. I often take all my gear, because I never know what kind of picture I will do.

And I don’t want to miss an opportunity just because I’m too lazy to carry my gear.

Q. Among the many gadgets that you own, is there something that you wish you hadn’t bought? Why?

A. Maybe one – a ring flash head to be adapted on a speedlight flash that I do not often use.

Q. What kind of tools do you use for post processing?

A. I always shoot in raw format. At the beginning I was using Adobe Photoshop software. Since I’ve discovered Adobe Lightroom, I use it extensively. First, to manage my library and second to develop my pictures.

To process my pics, I have no pre-established recipe. It depends on how the original image is, the light, the colors and the way I feel, the mood I want to convey or emphasize. I like to play with white balance and colors cursors till I get the expected result.

Q. Among your works, which one is your favorite? Why?

A. It’s hard to answer. There are many pictures which have a story behind and some nice encounters. If I have to pick one, it would be “Last Night On Earth“. It is simple and feels ethereal. I like the strange and fragile aspect of this tiny mantis larva.

Another favorite would be “The fable of the ladybug and the empusa“.  This picture brought me a lot of satisfaction and happiness when I made the encounter.

Q. Whose work has influenced you the most?

A. When I started doing macro, I joined a French photography forum website where I met an artist from whom I have learned a lot; technically and artistically. He – El Justino – is a talented artist.

Once I discovered 1x, the amazing works of Marta Grzesiak and Magdalena Wasiczek have totally blown me away.

Q. What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started taking macros?

A. He he… On my side, there is nothing that comes to my mind right now. But, I think my wife wish she knew, when I began photography, that macro was a kind of drug and that you can become quickly addicted to.

Q. Your pictures have influenced me so much that I tried my hand at capturing the macro world. Can you please criticize my attempt?

A. It’s a very good start and the picture really pleasant to the eyes.Focusing is  sharp, colors are very nice and I love the bokeh.

For me, one thing could have been better is the composition. I would have prefered to see a bit more of the face of the bug (with a more lateral point of view). Also I would have framed the picture in order that the bug is located on the upper left third part of the picture instead of the center. Remember to adhere to the rule of the third when composing.

You are on the good way.

Q. To an aspiring newbie macro photographer, what would you like to say?

A. At the very beginning, put all your attention on getting the focus right.

Whatever the depth of field you have (linked to the selected aperture), it is very important to have the bug’s eyes in the focus.

Once you have this under control, next think about framing and composition. Don’t start with a complicated situation. Try to find subjects with light background placed at a distance from the subject. This will allow you to go to smaller aperture (giving you longer depth of field and more chance to get the eyes in the focus.)

Heavy and close backgrounds require large or full aperture to get a nice bokeh and here it is much more complicated to get the focus point precisely on the eyes. Take as many pictures as you could. Once the first shot is in the bag, go to picture viewer in the camera and make sure you get the focus point right. Practice a lot to improve your technical skills.

To learn the artistic aspect, study photographs of other artists . Then make your own way by developing your own artistic fiber.

Our favorite Fabien Shot – Hidden … Well almost!