I've had people wonder how I was able to shoot a fall colored maple leaf in the winter time.  This never happens where I live because the fall color of the leaves is long gone by the time we start to see snow.  It's simple, I saved this leaf in my freezer and when the snow arrived, I took the leaf out and placed it in this spruce tree in my backyard. I placed the leaf flat in a plastic container, and it held it's color and shape perfectly. 

I have done this a couple times with other leaves, and it hasn't worked out as well, as the leaves discolored and changed shape a little, so not a perfect plan, but sometime it works out like it did for this shot.

In a Facebook photo group, a viewer commented on one of my images, "This must come under the Fine Art category, I imagine?"

Honestly, I don't know what the term fine art means.  Here's something I found related to fine art photography.

Fine art photography runs contrary to what most of us think about when thinking about how we use a camera. Most amateur photographers use their cameras to document important events and capture memories without artistic motivation. Instead, a distinguishing feature of fine art photography is that recording a subject is not the main purpose. These artists use photography as a means to express their vision and make an artistic statement.

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MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer

If you attend a workshop, zoom meeting, camera club program, photo conference presentation by a professional photographer whether it be a landscape photographer, wildlife photographer, macro photographer like me or any other kind of photographer, you would probably expect to hear that they use expensive professional camera bodies and lenses, full blown photoshop for processing their images, top of the line tripod and head, and shoot raw mode. 

Now if you attended any of my workshops, presentation though a zoom program, camera club program, speaking at a photo conference, you would have heard the opposite of what you would have expected from a person making a living for 21 years as a professional photographer. 

I've never owned an expensive pro camera body, my current Fuji mirrorless camera body sells for $899, and I recently saw the Nikon DSLR I own for sale for $875, and that included a lens. 

For the last five years I have processed my images with Smart Photo Editor, which as a standalone program sells for only $29, and not Photoshop/Lightroom like all pro use.

My Vanguard tripod sells for $229, which is much less than the Gitzo and Really Right Stuff tripods that many pros use.

Pro Photographers will tell you always shoot in RAW mode, never jpeg, but you'll be surprised to hear all my images are jpegs, I've never shot in the RAW mode.

I prefer Tamron lenses rather than the Nikon or Fuji Lenses for my Nikon and Fuji camera bodies.

So, I'm opposite of all pro photographers and it's been working great for my 21 years in business.

Booking camera club zoom meetings, need a speaker, let me know, macrogeekmike@yahoo.com

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MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer

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WORKSHOPS - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer

A few years ago I saw an image of a large millipede posted on facebook, and I thought it was such an awesome subject, but figured I would never get a chance to shoot one as I had never even seen one live before.  I was in Louisville, KY, teaching my Macro Boot Camp, and I had Mike Matthews and his frogs and reptiles coming in for a few hours for my workshop participants to photograph. I got a chance before the workshop to go to Mike's home photo studio to do some shooting of the critters.  Mike told me he just caught a large millipede on his driveway the day before, and brought it out to show me.  I was really excited because I told him about the image I had seen of a millipede and that I always wanted to photograph one, but never ever expected to have an opportunity to photograph one, and here it is.  Mike brought it out and it went into a perfect curl, just like the one in the image I saw years ago.  Just lucky timing to get a chance to shoot this cool subject.

I've heard it said, "you should learn the rules, then break the rules."  

Well, if you plan to break the rules, why bother even learning the rules, just make up your own rules.

I tend to follow most of the rules, as they have been working for hundreds of years, why mess with something that works.

Just my humble opinion.

Join my Macro Photo Club online. Over 280 instructional videos. Over 2900 members from 29 countries. 
Info and to sign up. 

MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer