Nature Photography How To

Spring is in full bloom, with summer barely a month away, and it’s time to pull out the macro lens, brush up on your technique, and start thinking about close-up photography.

Emerging flowers and crawling insects are among the most popular subjects for outdoor macro photos, and the quick tutorial below provides a bunch of great tips capturing great images during the coming warm months.

Lee Hall is a British photographer specializing in macro imagbery, and as you can tell from his stunning imagery he’s won awards for his work. In the behind-the scenes tutorial you’ll watch him do his thing as he takes a stroll on the grounds of a stunning estate full of flowers, insects, small ponds, and small birds everywhere he looks.

Hall creates his magic without a lot of fancy gear, instead using a keen eye, some patience, and well-developed technique. So pay attention to his sage advice, prepare your gear, and give yourself a macro assignment for the coming weekend. You may even want to start by emulating Hall’s beautiful work.

Like other close-up experts, Hall prefers to shoot with wide apertures to minimize depth of field. This enables him to separate the main subject from a soft, painterly background. While photographing pretty cherry blossoms, he demonstrates a simple technique for stabilizing flowers that are blowing in the breeze.

You’ll also see how a simple on-camera flash with a diffuser can be very helpful for stabilizing subjects on windy days, and for filling in shadows in mixed light. And when it comes to shooting insects, he explains the importance of sitting still in a good spot and waiting for the bugs to some to him.

There are plenty more great tips in this 11-minute video, so sit still yourself, learn from an expert, and head outside and get busy. After watching the tutorial, head visit Hall’s Your channel to pick up more great advice and view a selection of his great work.

And be to watch another tutorial we posted recently, with more simple tips for capturing the splendor of spring.