OM System OM1 90mm Macro

Hey, what's up guys? Professional outdoor photographer, David Johnson here for outdoor photography guide. Today we're talking macro photography. And I think one of the biggest misconceptions about macro photography is actually the background that makes it the best photo possible. You know, typically with macro photography, you think about getting that big subject right in the middle tack, sharp focus on one point of it and the rest blurs into the background. So the knee jerk action is to think about macro photography in terms of the subject. But the background is what makes that macro photography stand out now, gear is a big one with macro photography too. Today, I'm using the systems one along with their 90 millimeter macro lens. This om systems, 90 millimeter macro lens is really, really cool because it's really small. You can see the full size on the body right here, but it's also extremely lightweight. This has reduced the amount of macro space in my bag by half. Now, today, I'm working with one of my favorite subjects for macro photography and that's ferns. That's because they have a lot of repetition. They're pretty plentiful. They have a standard color across the board and just greens and they have a lot of area to work with and you can get really creative with them so you can spend a lot of time out photographing ferns. Now, I think for macro photography specifically, the main idea with the this is to just get real low on these ferns and shoot something just like from this angle and be done with it. But the challenge when you do that is sometimes the backgrounds become a little bit cluttered because you're just thinking about what's in focus in the foreground. So if I take this shot, you can see that the subject is there. But you also have some distracting ferns coming in to the side too. One of the ways to fix that is to accentuate the main fern fraud and the tip of that fern, which is what your subject is, is to get away from all these extra ones and find one that's out by itself. But when you do that, you need to look for space between that fern and the rest of the plant as well. So while here, I have a lot of ferns just right in one area and then it's really cluttered right here. When I go over just to the left to this one, I have a lot of space between that one and where the rest of the plant is. So when I take this photo, it has a completely different look to it and you're able to seclude out that subject because your background is blurred into just a solid color. That's a great way to use backgrounds just using solid colors to eliminate everything else around it so that your subject stands out because it's sharp focus, but you have a similar color behind it, which creates a nice look of a macro scene. Many times you'll hear a lot of photographers talk about contrast in their photography, but contrast doesn't always have to be just black versus white. Contrast can be contrasting colors as well like we had on this fern down below us. Now, in the last section, we talked about getting a solid color of the same color of your subject. And this one, we're doing contrasting colors because we have this different species of fern. But behind it, we have a completely contrasting color of browns and yellows down on the forest floor. So we have a bright green fern fr but we also have down below it. A lot of different yellows that we can work with even some oranges in there too. So when I frame this up, basically, what I'm looking to do is just get this fern in focus just like that and then snap a photo that has bright greens paired with oranges, yellows, reds and browns all behind it. And that secludes out the subject of your photo with blurring a background. Now, one of the huge benefits of this systems 90 millimeter macro is the size of it is so small that you can get down into your photo and really get down low. You know, previously using a macro lens, I had to get it on a tripod, get the legs of the tripod all situated. And while it does help to use a tripod with macro, it also helps a ton to be able to maneuver a lot more easily with a lighter and smaller lens like this on a great systems, one camera and photograph this straight down just getting right into the scene. Let's move on to another tip to help you get your subjects to stand out in macro photography. Now, if you haven't experienced this already outdoor photography, it makes you get into some really weird small spaces. But with a camera like the system's 01 and the system's 90 millimeter macro lens, that's no problem because they're so small and lightweight. Their third tip here is to create the maximum amount of depth. Now, in the last two photos, we've basically been shooting straight down at the scene down below us. But for this one, we're creating depth because the closer you are to your subject and the further away your background is the more depth or blurring that you have occurring into the background of the frame. So if I have everything off to the trail, we're right on here on the side of a trail right here, the trail is completely brown and back into the forest canopy. So if I can shoot up at this fern getting on the underside of it, we have a different perspective and a different angle on everything. So since the forest canopy is so far away, and so green that blurs into a perfectly green background to get against this fern right here. So greater distance creates greater depth within your macro photography as well. And that allows you to seclude your subject and blur out that background really, really well. So you basically just have to get right up on this fern. And we're getting a really nice boca effect too on this fern too. And you kind of get a cool effect of a halo shot. Now get just a green shot too here just to be safe, just secluded out. And again, this lens and camera are so small and light weight that you can easily get it. I also love the flip out screen how any angle that you get down on if I'm standing up or if I'm just down like this, I can angle this screen to get it exactly where it's comfortable. So I can easily see and take shots just by looking at the screen rather than you know, doing some crazy yoga poses, looking down into the view finder. So there you have it folks. There are your three tips for getting some great macro photography. Now, if you don't have a macro lens, you're interested in checking it out more. Definitely, check out the system's 90 millimeter macro lens and the systems 01 camera because these are not only going to allow you to tackle anything you want to within the outdoor photography genre, but it's also going to allow you to get down low right into your subject with not having to take up a lot of space in your camera bag, packing smaller bags and more lightweight bags. Plus you're not sacrificing on the quality of the photos that this camera, the systems one and the system's 90 millimeter macro lens can create. You never want to sacrifice quality for size. But with this camera and lens set up, you don't have to worry about that at all.