Photography News Issue 67

Photography News | Issue 67 | photographynews.co.uk

37 Interview

Contact

To readmore about Geraint’s techniques and enjoymore of hiswork, please visit his website. He also offersmacroworkshops, with more details on hiswebsite. geraintradford.com

Luckily for me, both cameras that I use have in-built focus stacking features.

PN: What is the one shot you really want but haven’t got yet? GR: Anything in the rain! I think the elements add so much to a picture and there’s never a shortage of rain inWales. PN: What advice do you have for readers who are keen to explore the macro world of photography like you do? GR: Be patient and learn to really look at your surroundings. Have fun exploring and looking for subjects in their natural environment. It’s such a rewarding genre of photography that teaches us so much. Pay close attention to the backgrounds within your images, making sure they are free from distractions. Try photographing very early in the morning or towards the end of the day, where the bugs are less active and you’re far more likely to get an image. The most important thing is to enjoy photography and to take care of nature.

Above Geraint uses his cameras’ five-axis stabilisation and focus stacking capabilities to capture his detailed and striking images

Getting the camera to within a few inches of an insect can be challenging but fortunately, much likepeople, bugshavedifferent personalitiesand some of them will kindly oblige to having their picture taken. PN: What is your usual camera and lens and why? GR: I use both the Olympus OM-D E-M1X and the OM-DE-M1Mark II. Both are perfectly built for macro photography. The Micro Four Thirds sensor means I can photograph things that are twice as small when compared to full-frame. Both cameras have really neat features that also

lend themselveswell tophotographing the small world. Magnification usually equates to camera shake, so the five-axis stabiliser is such a great help. My lens of choice is the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 Macro. Much like the cameras, it’s light and compact and, with the effective focal length of 120mm, it’s ideal for photographing skittish bugs. PN: Do you use flash? GR: Much of my work involves the Olympus STF-8 compact twin flash system. Flash, even at low powers, helps to stabilise an image and reduce unwanted motion blur or camera shake.

I quite often use extension tubes to gain extra magnification for very small creatures, and the flash helps by replacing the light that extension tubes take away. PN: Are your shots focus stacked? GR: Where possible, I would choose to focus stack an image. Working close up reduces depth-of-field quite a bit. Stopping down helps, but it usually comes at the expense of the shutter speed, diffraction, increased ISO and the backgrounds lose the wonderful bokeh. Focus stacking allows me to keep the lens at the sweet spot and maintain the best image quality.

Above Geraint advises taking pictures of insects early in the morning or towards the end of the day, when they are less active and it’s easier to get a good, clear shot of them