The concept of my initial idea is to use the macro-photography skills that I have developed over the last two years at University to produce a body of work in relation to the photography of insects (Invertebrates).
The initial idea from my research module was in relation to butterflies which are one of my favourite insects and are one of my favourite subjects to photograph.
I initially proposed to produce a short study into the the four stages of the life-cycle of a butterfly which are as follows:
- The Egg.
- The Pupae.
- The Chrysalis.
- The Adult Butterfly.
I planned to gain access to several centres who have butterfly houses in order to have photographic access to the subjects that I would need.
The two main centres that were most local to me were:
- The Tropical Butterfly House at Chester Zoo.
- The Butterfly House at North Anston near Sheffield.
As well as visiting these centres, I also performed some very in-depth research into the feasibility of rearing my own butterflies at home as having continual access would have been a great advantage to my project.
After performing my research, it was apparent that this would be feasible and in actual fact, there is a huge range of products available for purchase online related to the hand-rearing of butterflies.
There were many kits that were available for schools and I thought that this would be a good starting point.
My intention for this project was always to seek the advice and guidance of a professional.
From my research project, my two main contacts were at both Chester Zoo and at The Butterfly House in Sheffield.
I went to Chester Zoo on New Year's day to see the Tropical Butterfly house and to get some test-shots but I found it extremely difficult.
There was not an expert available to speak to in the Tropical House as there has always been before and compared to twelve months ago, there were no where near as many specimens of butterfly available to view.
I went to the main information desk at Chester Zoo to speak to a relevant specialist and to also enquire about undertaking a study into their collection of butterflies and I was told that I would have to go through a lengthy application process to gain permission and access and that I may have to pay for this privilege as well.
I also drove to the Butterfly House in Sheffield.
Link to- The Butterfly House - Sheffield
This was a very impressive facility.
It was based in North Anston which is on the outskirts of Sheffield Towards Rotherham.
It was like a scaled-down version of Chester Zoo. It was run on a much more friendly and personal basis compared to Chester Zoo.
They had a a huge amount of attractions including Birds of Prey, tropical birds and mammals.
Upon visiting their Tropical Butterfly house which was of a similar size to that of Chester Zoo. I was greeted by one of their experts whom I had spoken with previously about my project over the telephone.
I explained my idea to him about documenting the life-cycle of a butterfly and he was very honest in explaining that due to the incredibly cold and prolonged winter that we have had this year, undertaking a project like that by myself with no prior experience would actually be incredibly difficult and it would be highly unlikely that I would be able to generate the results that I had proposed in my initial project brief.
He explained that they have had a huge loss of their specimen collection this year due to the bad weather even though it is a fully automatic, temperature and humidity controlled tropical house which is managed by experienced professionals.
This was a real upset to me and made me think how I could alter my project accordingly whilst still maintaining my focus on the macro-photography of insects.
As I further explained my project, the tropical house manager showed me a large selection of amazingly coloured butterflies that had died due to the prolonged bad weather.
He kindly offered these specimens to me as he thought that this would be a great way for me to be able to further develop my photographic technique in this area until I was able to locate some new specimens. He also gave me a selection of empty butterfly cocoons to photograph as well.
I did try to photograph some of the butterfly specimens that were alive at the Butterfly House but I found that they would not settle and were very easily disturbed. This made them particularly difficult to photograph.
I consulted with the manager again about this and he also said that it was due to the extremely cold weather.
I have a lot or prior experience as a wildlife photographer taking photographs of butterflies in the wild during summer-time, I have always found them to be some of the easiest wild subjects to work with.
Providing that I approach them in the wild slowly and gently, I have almost always been able to place my camera right in front of them without disturbing them at all.
My intention for this project was always to seek the advice and guidance of a professional.
From my research project, my two main contacts were at both Chester Zoo and at The Butterfly House in Sheffield.
I went to Chester Zoo on New Year's day to see the Tropical Butterfly house and to get some test-shots but I found it extremely difficult.
There was not an expert available to speak to in the Tropical House as there has always been before and compared to twelve months ago, there were no where near as many specimens of butterfly available to view.
I went to the main information desk at Chester Zoo to speak to a relevant specialist and to also enquire about undertaking a study into their collection of butterflies and I was told that I would have to go through a lengthy application process to gain permission and access and that I may have to pay for this privilege as well.
I also drove to the Butterfly House in Sheffield.
Link to- The Butterfly House - Sheffield
This was a very impressive facility.
It was based in North Anston which is on the outskirts of Sheffield Towards Rotherham.
It was like a scaled-down version of Chester Zoo. It was run on a much more friendly and personal basis compared to Chester Zoo.
They had a a huge amount of attractions including Birds of Prey, tropical birds and mammals.
Upon visiting their Tropical Butterfly house which was of a similar size to that of Chester Zoo. I was greeted by one of their experts whom I had spoken with previously about my project over the telephone.
I explained my idea to him about documenting the life-cycle of a butterfly and he was very honest in explaining that due to the incredibly cold and prolonged winter that we have had this year, undertaking a project like that by myself with no prior experience would actually be incredibly difficult and it would be highly unlikely that I would be able to generate the results that I had proposed in my initial project brief.
He explained that they have had a huge loss of their specimen collection this year due to the bad weather even though it is a fully automatic, temperature and humidity controlled tropical house which is managed by experienced professionals.
This was a real upset to me and made me think how I could alter my project accordingly whilst still maintaining my focus on the macro-photography of insects.
As I further explained my project, the tropical house manager showed me a large selection of amazingly coloured butterflies that had died due to the prolonged bad weather.
He kindly offered these specimens to me as he thought that this would be a great way for me to be able to further develop my photographic technique in this area until I was able to locate some new specimens. He also gave me a selection of empty butterfly cocoons to photograph as well.
I did try to photograph some of the butterfly specimens that were alive at the Butterfly House but I found that they would not settle and were very easily disturbed. This made them particularly difficult to photograph.
I consulted with the manager again about this and he also said that it was due to the extremely cold weather.
I have a lot or prior experience as a wildlife photographer taking photographs of butterflies in the wild during summer-time, I have always found them to be some of the easiest wild subjects to work with.
Providing that I approach them in the wild slowly and gently, I have almost always been able to place my camera right in front of them without disturbing them at all.
Fig-1
Fig-2
Figure 1 is a butterfly that I photographed in the wild last summer at Blackleach Country Park in Walkden. As described above, by slowly approaching my subject (the butterfly) I was able to place my camera almost right on top of it without it flying away.
Figure 2 shows a moth that I was able to capture at the same location using the same patient technique.
Fig-3
Figure 3 was taken during my visit to the Tropical Butterfly House in Sheffield.
As I first entered the butterfly house, I was presented with this amazingly rare view of two butterflies mating and after approaching them particularly carefully I was able to capture this image.
Fig-4
Figure 4 is a close-up image of the image in figure 3.
I was concerned that the quality of these images was not good enough and this was a definite concern in terms of my final major project.
When I got home, I set up my small home macro-studio on my desk with some of the butterflies that I had been given and tried some initial test-shots to see how they looked.
I use the technique of focus-stacking to ensure that the images would be perfectly focussed from front to back as I was not happy with the quality of the images in figures 3 and 4.
I will explain focus-stacking and the techniques and software required in much greater detail in a separate post called focus-stacking.
Fig -5
Fig -6
Fig -7
Fig -8
Fig -9
Figures 5-9 are the initial test-shots using the deceased specimens that I had been given from The Butterfly House, Sheffield.
In figure 6, the background is very distracting and takes the viewer's attention away from the subject.
I rectified this by clearing the background and re-taking the shot as can be seen in figure 7
In figure 6, the background is very distracting and takes the viewer's attention away from the subject.
I rectified this by clearing the background and re-taking the shot as can be seen in figure 7
This was the first time that I had used the focus-stacking technique and I was very impressed with the initial results.
I have taken tens of thousands of macro insect photography and this was the first time that I had been able to achieve perfect focus throughout the entire depth of my image.
Previously, whenever I have taken macro-insect images, the depth of field i.e the amount of the image that is sharply focussed has always been very shallow.
I believe this is so as the closer the that the lens is placed to the the subject, the shallower the depth of field.
Fig -10
Figure 10 is a good example of the shallow depth of field that I get when taking close-up macro images of insects.
This image was taken with the front-element of the lens less than 1 foot away from the bee.
It is clear to see that the only sharply focussed area of this image is the eyes of the bee.
The areas in the foreground and background of this image are either very softly-focussed or completely out of focus.
This is due to the depth-of-field. This is affected by both the aperture of the lens and the distance of the subject from the focal-plane.
The depth-of-field decreases, i.e. less of the image is in focus when the aperture is widened. On the lens that took the image in Figure 10, the widest aperture is f 2.8.
The depth of field is also affected in a similar way by the relationship of the distance between the subject and the focal-plane. The closer that the subject is to the focal-plane, the shallow the depth-of-field will become.
I am also fascinated with approaching macro-insect photography at an 'eye-to-eye' level.
Instead of looking down at an insect, I think that looking at it almost face to face gives a fascinating insight into the facial charachteristics of the insect.
This is due to the depth-of-field. This is affected by both the aperture of the lens and the distance of the subject from the focal-plane.
The depth-of-field decreases, i.e. less of the image is in focus when the aperture is widened. On the lens that took the image in Figure 10, the widest aperture is f 2.8.
The depth of field is also affected in a similar way by the relationship of the distance between the subject and the focal-plane. The closer that the subject is to the focal-plane, the shallow the depth-of-field will become.
I am also fascinated with approaching macro-insect photography at an 'eye-to-eye' level.
Instead of looking down at an insect, I think that looking at it almost face to face gives a fascinating insight into the facial charachteristics of the insect.
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