Picture Stories

The Story Behind The Picture

Not only does a picture tell a story, but there is almost always a story behind the picture. Every week, a picture from the site is featured and its background explained, along with the techniques and technical aspects examined.

This week: Alien

Technical Data: Fuji 6900z, f11 @1/320s, 100 ISO plus Raynox D250 Super Macro Lens

Background:

Apologies for not having updated this page for a few weeks as I have been abroad in Portugal, where, incidentally, I took this photograph.

First off, take a look at the camera I took this with. The Fuji 6900z is not a pro camera by any stretch of the imagination. The reason I mention this is that people can get very hung up on having the “right” equipment. The photographer is the best part of the camera!

This shot takes us back into the world of macro. As I’ve mentioned before on this page, you run out of depth of field very quickly in macro photography. (This means that you have to use a much smaller aperture to get the same depth of field you would expect on a normal photograph.)

Firstly, let’s talk about lenses. I am probably one of a small number of professional photographers who don’t think it essential to get a dedicated macro lens. But then I’m not a snob and I firmly believe that if you know what you are doing you can achieve great results. The lens I used on this is a clip on lens which you can buy for less than a hundred pounds from places like Jessops. It will give you up to four times lifesize, which is pretty good when you consider that you have to spend hundreds of pounds to get anywhere near a ratio of 1:1 (lifesize).

The next thing goes back to something I believe everybody who fancies themselves as having an eye for photography should be doing: keeping your eyes open!

It drives me mad the number of people who pigeon-hole themselves into just doing one kind of photography. Variety of subject matter keeps you sharp!

Anyway, I digress. This praying mantis was upside down on the pole of a parasol over an outside dining table. He is a male (and a virgin obviously). He was quite unperturbed by the camera and obliged me by looking straight down the barrel. You will notice that the foreground and the backgroud are out of focus. This doesn’t matter in the slighest, because under on of the basic foreground-middleground-background rule of photography, it doesn’t matter which on is in focus.

The composition in this instance focuses the viewer on the face of the mantis (whom I have dubbed “Barry”, for no other reason than my sense of mischief). The colours are distinctive because the filtration of the light through the material of the parasol. The result is an unusual and striking photograph, which I couldn’t have taken unless a)I’d been on the lookout and b) had a camera to hand.

One last thing - don’t be afraid of photographing insects. they are quite fascinating! (Even if they do give you the willies!)

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