From the top of Muttonbird Island in Coffs Harbour, tourists can view whales and their calves frolic in the warming waters of the Pacific Ocean. The occasional boat was in the neighbourhood too, getting as close as they dared. I’m not sure what kind of whales they were, but the most common species to see are the humpback whale or the southern right whale.
It was kind of like watching sports in real life compared to watching it on TV: Quite a different experience. You’re really struck by the size of them. It is the most obvious thing to say, but it’s true. I was suddenly aware that they were quite large creatures. They breach, and they’re bigger than the boats on the surface of the water.
The first day with my macro lens (Sigma 105mm f2.8 macro) and my lights. I’ve busted my right hand, so shooting is awkward to say the least. I went through the garden and couldn’t find much but this and a few other little tidbits. I think I don’t have my macro eyes tuned into finding subjects yet! give it time and I’ll be able to spot interesting microscopic subjects all over the place.
This type of photography presents challenges I have not encountered until now. The tiniest movement of lights, subject or camera changes a lot of things. Focusing is difficult. I have looked into focus stacking but didn’t try any today.
The other side. Click to enlarge.
The lighting setup wasn’t perfect (a softbox with a beauty light and strobe, and some sun through the window) but it was okay for general light. I experimented a little with processing in Lightroom, as you can see these two photos are treated differently. I kind of like both, but for different reasons. It was actually really difficult to get the temperature and tint just right so the yellow was okay, in fact I still had to play with the yellow and orange individually to get it to sit properly. Which one do you prefer?
There are other images from this shoot, some succulent type thing with bugs in it. I’ll put them up soon. The rest of the evening was spent photographing my housemate Josh’s handmade tools for his portfolio, which i’ll also post in the next day or two. So far, it was first day macro fun!
ONEMETRICVINCENT 