[jmerchant]

more observant of your surroundings? This may not be exclusive to macro photography, but I notice, that I tend to look closer to the landscape around me for patterns or other things that might make for a macro shot - though I guess you could say the same for normal photography.

[Na Horuk]

Oh definitely. I think the way I view things has really changed since i started photography. You look for frames and beauty in places non-photographers might not. Macro is probably the most noticeable, but it also happens with landscapes or other genres

[bluestringer]

I find myself getting on my hands and knees and searching the brush and grass for small insects to photograph. I'm 62 with bad eyesight and arthritis. It scares my wife when she looks out the kitchen window and sees me down on the ground in my backyard, she thinks I'm nuts. She may be right.

[Susinok]

I also tend to crawl around on the ground a bit. First thing this spring when the ground was cold and damp, I lay full out on my belly getting a close-up of moss.

I think macro photography is like looking for miniature still-lifes in the ordinary things around you. If we were in Bryce Canyon, we'd be taking close-ups of the striations in the rock.

[jmerchant]

I can't image what my neighbors or the people who walk past me (when in public) when i'm all zoomed in on something, think...lol But I'll tell you want, keeping an eye open and even an ear open really makes a big difference. there's so many things that I think people miss because they aren't open to them, or even aware they exist. Finding beauty in the striations in rocks, or even a pile of rocks themselves is just an example.

[photolady95]

I am not sure if it makes me more aware of things around me, but I do look more for insects of all kinds when I am with camera in hand. This afternoon I shot a flower blooming and noticed it looked odd, upon closer examination, it was literally crawling with ants.

As for crawling around on the ground, that's how I get most of my ant and other insect shots. I've had some funny looks from people when I do this either at home or at the local river parks I frequent. I'm sure they think I'm nuts, but I get my photo and could care less if they think I'm nuts.

[rbefly]

I believe photography makes us generally more aware of 'scenes' or light or some special condition we could capture. Or, maybe, we always saw things well, and photography (now) provides a record of it.
Great thread subject!
Ron

[jmerchant]

I believe photography makes us generally more aware of 'scenes' or light or some special condition we could capture. Or, maybe, we always saw things well, and photography (now) provides a record of it.
Great thread subject!
Ron

I think you might be on to something there...

I've pondered this question for awhile...and it wasn't actually photography that got me started, it was driving down the road with the family in the car and I noticed something and no one else had when I asked them if they had seen it. It stayed in the back of my mind, but then recently I was on a hike with my oldest boy and it hit home how much I stopped and looked at things that caught my eye, and with in the last few weeks (I was in San Francisco on business - but when to the Muir woods), a co-worker and I were walking through, i picked up on something happening because something was causing the squirrels to go crazy (lots of noise) and I finally found it, an owl...but everyone else walking along didn't notice it, and there were people with big kits around their neck...

I hope I am not sounding like I pick up on everything...because I miss stuff too, but I still think it's interesting you put multiple people in a situation and they will come out with a different look at it...

Why does person A see this, and person B doesn't and so on...stuff to ponder...lol

[photolady95]

As and additive, it's photography in general that makes me more aware of my surroundings. When I am out and about, I see things other don't too. I've seen potential photos when out with others or by myself, so in essence, photography in general makes me more aware. I don't remember seeing these things before I started to take photography seriously, but I must have had that special eye before I bought my first SLR. Yes, I said SLR, I bought a K1000 and 50mm f1.2 when I started photography while in college, in 1991. But my photography professor at the time, said it best and kept me seeing when he said, "you have the photographer's eye." I appreciate him for that, it kept me doing photography even after his class ended.

[Liney]

Guess I'm like the other posters, an interest in photography makes me looks at my surroundings in a different light, macro just makes me look at small detail closer. I'm not that interested in bugs, but the minute detail in mechanical devices entices me to think about how they were designed and manufactured. Clocks and watches (the mechanical type) are a great example, but I used to work on mechancial avionic equipment that captured my attention with the fact someone sat down to design something mechanical to solve an analogue problem. Having the ability to record it in detail makes it all the more satisfying

[Paleo Pete]

Absolutely. I got into macro when I went out west with my sister, while she was working in Las Vegas. On the way we stopped every time we spotted a new flower that doesn't grow here. Somewhere in Arizona I spooked a lizard that got up and ran on its hind legs and was the fastest thing I'd seen, and after looking at it, no way to get close enough for a picture, I happened to spot a tiny white flower smaller than a match head. I started trying to get pictures of them with a point and shoot in Macro mode...

Then when I got back to Louisiana (where i lived then) I started to notice tiny flowers everywhere. Henbit was the only one I remember before that, I've known about it for years. Now I see them almost daily, and started looking for jumping spiders, small insects, I've spotted bees less than half the size of honey bees that I never knew existed...I would never have noticed any of that if it weren't for one little white flower spotted by chance.

So yes, I think macro photography does make you pay more attention to the world around you, even if it is just a tiny section of it...

[jac]

I can't count the number of times hunters have gone out of their way to come over to an old 68 year-old, sprawled on the ice looking for a shot of ice crystals or on the damp tundra trying to calm an Arctic Blue that won't co-operate. But think about. Though they are on the land daily, they never see the beauty in the tiny things.

[NicoleC]

I get a lot of "are you alright?" queries

Yes, thank you. I was sprawled on the ground with my face in the dirt trying to get a photo...

[Paleo Pete]

Somebody stopped a few weeks ago to see if I was ok when I was on my hands and knees beside the highway taking flower shots. It's happened several times. I laugh about it later, but try to be polite and thank them. I'm sure my neighbors either think I'm absolutely off my rocker or ignore me...they've seen me crawling around taking pictures so many times I Guess they barely even notice now. If something actually did happen I'd probably lay there for 2 days till somebody noticed I hadn't moved lately...

I've also been questioned by the local police in Louisiana probably a dozen times. Had them called on me at least 4 times. Usually they were decent about it, found out I was just out doing nature shots and went on their way.

Several of the neighbors here have mentioned it though...yeah I've seen you on your hands and knees a few times...a few??? I'm at it almost daily...lol

But back on topic, sometimes after showing people some of the shots I get maybe they take a closer look too.

This shot, for example.



I don't know how many people have looked at prints of that same flower and didn't know it was the same white clover they see in their yards every day. You see it when you walk around and barely even notice it. but have you ever picked up a magnifying glass and taken a close look? Probably not. I've never met anybody that has. I didn't either, until I turned my camera into a magnifying glass. Most people look at that shot or some of my other white clover shots and are amazed...I didn't know it looked like THAT!...

I didn't either. And now I hope I get some other people to take a closer look too, it's a really interesting world out there, if you look close at a section of it no larger than a postage stamp...

And by the way after an hour trying to get shots like that I was soaked from the knees down and had to go home and change clothes...heavy dew that day, I wandered all over a city park until I was soaked and freezing...

[jac]

And by the way after an hour trying to get shots like that I was soaked from the knees down and had to go home and change clothes...heavy dew that day, I wandered all over a city park until I was soaked and freezing...

Note above, jmerchant. As you assemble gear for macros, don't forget a pair of water-proof 'wind-pants' for those early morning days of dew drops or afternoon showers when the sparkles, lights and colours are at their best.