Mark Johnson is a macro photographer from Dunholme, Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom. He has only been at it for a mere 5 years, but he has rapidly shown his prowess for macro photography, capturing beautifully detailed shots of the world around him, including insects, animals, and everything else in between. We were blown away with Mark's macro photography and asked him to share a little bit about himself and his work.
I bought a small point and shoot camera about 5 years ago to photograph my children, and this is when I fell in love with photography. One day I was taking photos of the flowers in the garden, and they were covered in hoverflies, and I decided to see how close I could get to them—not close enough!
I started looking on the internet for ways to get closer, and that's when I discovered flickr and was totally amazed by the macro images I saw on there. Through the years, I went through various cameras, and I now use a Nikon D7000, a Tamron 90mm len, and kenko tubes for the really close stuff.
I think the biggest tip for anyone interested in macro photography is practice, practice, practice. I don't believe you can take too many shots. I use a tripod whenever possible, but with insects, tripods don't work 90% of the time.
My favorite things to photograph are dragonflies. Lucky for me, in Dunholme, the village where I live, there is a great place for dragonflies called Watts Wood. There are also lots of butterflies and other insects that hang out there. I sped a lot of time there during the summer months.
From the middle of October up until Christmas, there is a breeding colony of grey seals that come ashore to give birth and breed for the following year at Donna Nook. Roughly 1500 pups are born here each year, and this is another one of my favorite places because by this time of the year in the UK, all of the the insects have gone.
KEEP UP WITH MARK: 500px | Website | Macro Grafiks