Macro & Landscape - Stephen Coker

When shooting in macro a small tripod is necessary to keep the camera still. Use as small an aperture as possible, as much light as possible, therefore long exposure (hence tripod) for the biggest depth of field.

• Time is the limiting factor when trying to shoot moving objects such as insects, there isn't the time to set everything up accordingly.
• 'Proper photography’ requires carting around a lot of often heavy equipment which isn't always practical particularly when recording.
• Lense choice is very important, some lenses have macro settings.
• Camera macro capabilities are never described very well in the literature.
• When shooting on ‘auto’ it's not always possible to focus on what you want.
• It’s important to think about the end result before taking a photo.

Habitat shots need a grid reference in order to be meaningful.
Stephen likes to have a person in the photo to give an idea of scale.
Stephen then went on to show maps in ‘Biorex’ which displayed an arrow at each location he'd taken photo, the direction of the arrow also demonstrated the direction the camera was pointing in. By zooming in on a particular area of the map a specific arrow could be selected and the photograph of the habitat at that location observed. This was demonstrated for a variety of locations and habitats.