My cameras (Fuji X-T30MKll and Nikon D7500) have so many features.  They have menus that have tons of different options, and I couldn't tell you what most of them do.  Nor, do I care about all those functions. 

I just need to know how to point my camera into the proper composition of a subject, focus, set my f/stop for depth of field, and set my shutter speed for the proper exposure.  I also need to know about setting my ISO and white balance, as I shoot jpegs, that's it.  

So, that's all I really need to know, so I have never explored all the other options in my camera's menu.  

I'm not any better with my camera than anyone reading this post.  You are all as experienced as me at these simple functions.

What I excel at is not my camera tech skills, but my ability to find good subjects to shoot, compose them well, and to apply good post processing skills to each image.

To many photographers spend too much time on the camera skills, and less on knowing what is a good subject to photograph, understanding composition, and practicing post processing.

I've always said that once I find a great subject to shoot, the easy part is photographing it with the camera.

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

When I ask macro photographers what they are struggling with, the answer is always depth of field and not understanding the f/stops and how they affect the focus. You will hear photographers say that you have to focus stack in order to get more depth of field, but not true and in this program, you will learn the easy methods to getting all the depth of you want without focus stacking.

Attend online through Zoom.

November 22nd, 2025

12pm eastern standard time

$19.95

This program is not being recorded, and there are no refunds if you can't make it. 

To sign up, CLICK HERE

Summer in Georgia is pretty hot so shooting at Old Car City at that time of year is tough on the body. Now that Fall is here and temperatures are coming down it's a perfect time to head to OCC.

Old Car City in White, Georgia is about 50 miles north of Atlanta a few miles east of I-75.  It contains the world's largest known classic car junkyard. Visitors enjoy the beautiful vegetation of the deep south that is intertwined with thousands of cars that reside in Old Car City. Old Car City started as a Car Dealership in 1931 and is still family owned and operated. Come enjoy the Old South environment, folk art, ghosts of beautiful classic cars, and much more.

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

When I got my first digital DSLR in 2004, it was a Fuji S2.  That camera had only 6 megapixels.  When framing my subjects, I did the same as I would have framing in the film days, trying to get the framing done without any post processing cropping.  With a 6 meg file, you couldn't do much cropping and retain all the quality of the image. 

I used that camera for a few years and with the next generation of digital cameras, I had now 12 megapixels, but still continued to frame my subjects to prevent any post processed cropping.

As the camera's megapixels continued to move to larger numbers, I would hear photographers say they are now just shooting larger areas, and cropping what they want, and not losing any image quality with the larger megapixels in the camera.

Next camera was up to 16 megapixels but even though other photographers were telling me they were shooting larger areas of the subjects, and cropping out what they wanted, I still continued to frame so I needed to crop less.

Next was my Nikon D7500 which was 20.9 megapixels, so I test shot subjects framing larger areas, and did some tight crops, and found that the image quality was pretty good.

My latest camera, a mirrorless Fuji X-T30 MKll has 26 megapixels, and my post processing crops are getting even smaller.

So now, my new philosophy is to frame a larger area, and crop in post. 

It does make it easier and saves me time on framing, as I don't have to be so precise in the field.   

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

Are you stuck on always shooting flowers and bugs with no imagination on what else there is to shoot. I will cover each season of the year and show the life cycles of the plants and open the macro photographers' eyes to the amazing variety of subject matter beyond flowers and bugs. This will inspire you to get out and shoot more. This program is for the photographers that live in areas with four seasons that include cold winter conditions.

Meeting online through zoom.

November 1st, 2025

Time: 12pm eastern time zone

Run time: 90 minutes

This program is not recorded, and no refunds if you can't attend.

Sign Up Here.

CLICK HERE