Hermit Crabs & Coconuts

For me one of the most exciting things is to go out and explore nature, get my hands dirty and find cool things to shoot with my macro lens. Macro is a whole other world of photography.

While I was in Fiji, I always found myself wandering around the beach looking for any little tiny creature or plant to shoot. There was this one spot on the beach teaming with tiny life. At times like that, I get out my 100mm macro and start shooting.

One thing I always try to do when shooting with a macro lens is to find interesting angles. Angles that people wouldn’t normally view the subject with. The hermit crabs were my favorite to shoot, and I’d always try to shoot them lying down on the beach, most people see them from above and miss all the little details about them.

Also, I find that something may not be interesting when looking at it from your normal view, but when you look at it from a different angle it can be a completely different picture. Like these coconuts, they were all over the beach, and not that interesting. But when I got down on the ground they suddenly became something I wanted to shoot.

This is my favorite macro shot from Fiji. I found this log that was submerged underwater during high tide and exposed the rest of the day. There were all these little creatures attached to it.  I loved the contrast in colours and the sparkle of the water.









HDR - High Dynamic Range

I’ve been in Fiji the past few weeks and have had no access to internet so I’m going to do a few entries at once and show you what I’ve been up to in the beautiful Yasawa Islands.

One of the first shots I did when I got to Waya Island was an HDR (high dynamic range) image. There was this one spot I found of the beach where the water was so blue and the trees were so green I knew it was the perfect spot for an HDR picture.

HDR is a technique used where you combine multiple images ranging from under to over exposed and combine them together when you post-process them. I combined 5 images; the first one I took was at regular exposure, then one at 1 stop over exposed, 2 stops over exposed, 1 stop under exposed, and 2 stops under exposed. It allows you to create a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of the image.

image #1 - proper exposure

image #2 - 1 stop over exposed

image #3 - 2 stops over exposed

image #4 - 1 stop under exposed

image #5 - 2 stops under exposed

It is very important to keep the camera very still. Of course a tri pod is your best option, but for this picture, I found a rock with a flat spot to rest my camera. It worked just fine. Here is the final image…

final HDR image

I generated the HDR image with software called Photomatix. I find it much easier to create an HDR image with than Photoshop, but you can use either or. I still use Photoshop after I generate the image in Photomatix to perfect it.

Some of my favorite shots I’ve done are in HDR, it is a great way to add some excitement to your photo. 2 of my favorites are one I did of my dad’s house in the snow and the other is under a pier in Miami. Its fun to play around with and rewarding when you create something you love.

Dad's house

Miami pier