Nature Photography How To

There are various ways that you can use to focus very close to small subjects. Here is a list of choices.

Macro Lenses. You can purchase a lens that is specifically designed to focus closely. These are called “macro” lenses, and they are available in focal lengths between 50mm and 200mm (figure A). They can also focus to infinity so you can use them for landscapes, portraits, etc., but photographers buy them primarily to use in close-up work.

Some of the best photography is in the worst weather!” I’ve been saying that for decades and it comes from coming in from the cold, soaking wet and thrilled to death with the images I captured. The drama in the light, clouds and the response to it by nature is a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle you just can’t duplicate. In order to see it and photograph it, you have to get out in it and be able to work. And that’s where the challenge lies.

Filing the frame with the critter isn’t required for great wildlife photography. Reflecting on how I first slanted my wildlife photography in this direction, it has its roots in the first lens I had to shoot wildlife. I started with a Vivitar 400mm f/5.6 on an old Minolta that was soon replaced with a Nikon 400mm f/5.6 on an F2. That 400mm was my main lens for a long time and it taught me lessons about wildlife photography that I still depend on to this day.

Orest Macina says he is “a self-taught photographer interested in painting with light to capture the beauty all around us in vivid colors.” He holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Computational Chemistry, and has worked in the pharmaceutical field. He first became interested in photography in high school, though his interest lagged through college, graduate school, career, and marriage.

After almost 40 years of making platinum prints, chemical fumes had harmed Tom Millea’s lungs to a point where he could no longer go into the darkroom. He says, “Closing my studio was traumatic in the extreme.” He didn’t believe that anyone else was capable of printing his work as he envisioned it. He liked computers but had no desire to try to make digital prints look like his platinum prints. “One technique could not replace the other,” he says. He selected prints from his inventory to sell in gallery shows and considered himself retired.

But by 2004, when the color palette of digital inks had changed, Millea thought his prints were beautiful, and comparable with his darkroom images. He began making digital color photographs full-time using an Epson 2200 printer. Over the next five years, he says, “By myself, step by step, I learned to use the computer to make images I felt were uniquely my own.” He eventually put together a complete digital studio with Apple computers and two Epson printers, the 4800 and the 9800. He could then make his own prints up to 40x60”.

Besides photographing people, nature ranks among the most popular subjects. Much of this appeal comes from the fact that there's a sense of wonder and mystery at the beauty of flora and fauna. Through photography, we can express our fascination with flowers and share it with others. Whether you enjoy shooting close-ups of a bud unfolding, or a field of wildflowers in the...

All Photos by Abe Ordover

Abe Ordover is a nature photographer who combines his camera work with Adobe Photoshop to create images that are uniquely his own; photographs that reveal to the viewer what Ordover felt when he shot the scene.
He's traveled worldwide to...