PART 5 COMPOSITION
Once you’ve mastered the technical aspects, it’s time to concentrate on the art of macro
PRO SHOT
Knapweed Fritillary
For a beautiful image, you will need harmonious elements, like shapes, colours and tones, within the frame.
As the headline of this feature (and the title of my forthcoming book)
suggests, for me, photography is an art. In macro, my main goal is to depict the beauty of nature and evoke a sense of joy and wonder in the viewer.
The technical aspects covered here will go some way to producing this effect, but a truly beautiful image needs to go a step further; it needs to be composed well. It should have a harmonious arrangement of elements within the frame, in terms of shapes, sizes, angles, poses, colours and tones. There should be no elements to distract the viewer from the subject or muddy the overall effect. Some composition errors can be fixed in processing, but it’s better to get things right in camera.