How to Shoot Macro in Your Very Own Backyard

Click on the image above to learn about this great lens!

By Chamira Young

It's no secret that we're big fans of the work of macro photographer Rhonda Coe, and for good reason. Her photography is as stunning as it is creative! Her body of work draws in the viewer's eye with her technical knowledge, as well as her attention to every detail.

In today's post, we offering a fascinating glimpse into Rhonda's macro world as she describes her creative process during this past spring. Her lens of choice is the Tamron SP 90mm F/2.8 VC macro lens, with one of the big reasons being its vibration control feature, which allows her to shoot handheld much of the time.

Read the full post below, and take note of how she seeks to find the unusual no matter where she is. She also describes some challenges she's had to overcome while shooting. So whether you're in your own backyard at home or traveling across the state, remember to look for inspiration everywhere! We love the inspiration the team and Tamron is constantly bringing to the photography industry.

---

---

How to: Shoot Backyard Macro

Rhonda Coe’s Tamron SP 90mm F/2.8 VC macro lens helps her create extraordinary photos in the most ordinary of places.

By Jenn Gidman
Images by Rhonda Coe

This past winter seemed especially long, and no spring has ever felt so welcome. For macro photographers like Rhonda Coe, one respite during the long season was the ability to keep taking pictures, whether it was in her driveway, out in her yard, or in her kitchen at her Ohio home. “The goal I set for myself while shooting macro, no matter what time of year I’m shooting, is to seek out the unusual—the things you don’t usually see people taking pictures of, like weeds or ugly insects,” she says.

For the past several years, Rhonda has relied on the Tamron SP 90mm F/2.8 VC lens to compose her macro creations. “It’s difficult to shoot macro on a tripod, because I’m climbing into the bushes, chasing after bugs, and getting down low, so most of the time, I shoot handheld,” she says. “The 90mm’s Vibration Control (VC) feature ensures I get the compensation I need for any camera shake. I also appreciate the focus limiter switch on the side of the lens, which helps me achieve focus more quickly when I know the distance of the subject I want to have in focus. Another bonus with this lens: I don’t use it just for macro. I’ve taken landscape photos and portraits with it as well. I can keep the 90mm on my camera all day and take so many different types of pictures. It’s very conducive to getting my creative juices flowing.”

Enjoy some recent macro photos Rhonda has shot with the 90mm, as well as her explainers on how she compensated for some of the challenges that popped up during her sessions.

Dandelion seeds can be challenging to photograph, as even the tiniest breeze can cause your picture to go out of focus. I’d taken photos of the entire dandelion shown here, but it looked a little chaotic, so I started focusing more on the core. I liked how you could see how all of the seeds were attached in the middle. In post-processing, I gave the image a more bluish-orange tone and cropped it real close so you couldn’t see all of the grass and other stuff behind it, which would’ve been distracting.

​This paper wasp was flitting about with the bumblebees I was photographing. These wasps are somewhat aggressive, so I had to stand about 2 feet back. Luckily, even though the wasp wasn’t feeding on the nectar, it hung out on that flower for a few minutes, giving me enough time to fire off several shots that I was then able to focus-stack.

Epalpus signifer is a species of bristle fly, and one of them was flying from flower to flower on the holly bush in my yard. He was pretty big, about an inch long. Because it was timid and seemed afraid of me, I took this photo from about 4 feet away, then cropped the image. I love how the 90mm macro was able to pick up each tiny hair on its body.

Read the rest of the post here.