“Virtual” Creative Photography Conference February 22-23, 2025

Extra Early Bird $39 Until 11/30/24 - With 90 DAYS of replay access! Early Bird $49 12/1/25 - 1/31/25 Reg. Price $59 2/1/25 - 2/19/25 when registration closes

OUR FABULOUSLY CREATIVE SPEAKER LINE-UP:

Mark Battista (CT) “Composition: Shooting with Intent”

Liz Guertin (MD) “Unleash Your Creativity: A Process-Based Approach” & “Tangled, Tantalizing Trees”

Doug Hansgate (NY) “Digital Painting from Images - the Basics” & “Digital Painting from Images - Brushes”

Andrew Kavanagh (CA) “Surreal Compositing in Photoshop” & “Generative AI in Photoshop”

Mike Moats (MI) “Creative Ways to Photograph Flowers” & “The Four Seasons of Macro”

Maryellen Stone (MA) “Enhancing Your Nature & Wildlife Images Creatively for Impact”

Dave Meredith (TN) “HDR with Photomatix & Nik”

Hazel Meredith (TN) “Creativity with Textures and Plug-Ins” & “Smartphone Creativity with Snapseed”

This online Conference comprises 13 hours of seminars and will be recorded so you can watch/re-watch all the sessions for 60 days (90 days if your purchase during the Extra Early Bird promo).

Virtual Goodie Bag & Great Door Prizes 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Questions? Contact: Hazel@MeredithImages.com

I have been teaching for many years about shooting in the highest f/stop ranges, f/22 to f/32 and getting everything in focus.  Could we shoot a subject at f/16 and get it all in focus, sometimes, depends on how close we are to the subject and how much depth there is in the subject.

If I shoot everything at the highest f/stop I have no worries about getting it all in focus, so why take the chance shooting a smaller f/stop number and risk not getting it all in focus, if that is our goal. 

So now we don't have to take into account of how close we are to a subject or how much depth a subject has, we will get it done with that high f/stop.

To avoid the clutter behind subjects that will come into play when shooting at the high f/stop numbers I will always use a printed background behind the subject to cancel out the clutter.

Most know that when shooting in the highest f/stop numbers, you will get some slight softness in the details of your image from diffraction, so you don't get the sharpest image out of the camera.  But that is not an issue as we have sharpening programs in our post processing to correct the softness, that's what sharpening programs are created for.  Here is a sharp finished image of a Dahlia flower.

Here is the image out of the camera, shot at f/32 to make sure I got the whole subject in focus.  As you can see the details are not very sharp coming out of the camera, but correctable in post processing.

Here is another example of the original at f/32 and the post processed image with cropping and sharpening added. So don't listen to photographers telling you, never shoot at high f/stop numbers because of diffraction, because we have a tool to correct it.

Join my Macro Photo Club online. Over 280 instructional videos. Over 2800 members from 29 countries. 
Info and to sign up. 

MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer (tinylandscapes.com)

Also Check out my workshops and zoom programs.

WORKSHOPS - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer

I've heard many photographers say that macro/close-up photography is not easy to do.  I totally disagree, it's actually very easy to do if you know what you are doing. 

There are just some basic things you need to know to get nice sharp all in focus images.

You don't need to focus stack; you can get it all in focus in one shot. How to avoid shooting in clutter is easy to do.

You can buy the lowest priced digital DSLR or mirrorless cameras, any macro or zoom lens and produce excellent macro images. 

You can take lots of time to figure it out on your own or join my Macro Photo Club and speed up the learning process.  

The club has over 280 instructional videos covering tips from the field, composition, post processing, and equipment. 

JOIN HERE MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer (tinylandscapes.com)

Some of my flower images are okay but need a little something extra, like an interesting effect to make it a little more artistic.

Here are two images that I find just basic flower shots that are not all the impressive and need a little help.

In Smart Photo Editor there is this cool crackled effect filter that I thought would look fun on these two images. 

Join my Macro Photo Club online. Over 280 instructional videos. Over 2800 members from 29 countries. 
Info and to sign up. 

MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer (tinylandscapes.com)

Also Check out my workshops and zoom programs.

WORKSHOPS - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer

Everyone has that one image in their portfolio of images that they consider to be the best image they ever shot.

The fun and exciting thing every time you go out to shoot is, you never know if your next shoot will be the one that will produce your next best image of all time.

It's kind of like a treasure hunt every time you go out.

Join my Macro Photo Club online. Over 280 instructional videos. Over 2800 members from 29 countries. 
Info and to sign up. 

MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer (tinylandscapes.com)

Also Check out my workshops and zoom programs.

WORKSHOPS - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer