Macro

What inspired you to make photographic abstractions?I needed a change of pace. They’re completely different from my usual work. Typically, I do luxury-brand product and cosmetic photography, and paper and cardboard fine-art pieces that I design, build, and photograph. They’re essentially still lifes of specific objects that I carefully light, often with lots of compositing in post. So I wanted a break. I wanted to try something looser—ambiguous pictures with unidentifiable subjects. For me, it was a way of getting away from clean lines and lots of structure.

The 60mm F/2.8 macro has been a staple in Nikon's line-up for a while, but now they're letting APS-C shooters get in on the normal-range, close-focusing fun. The 1.5x DX crop factor gives this 40mm lens the same angle of view as a 60mm FX (full-frame) lens.  

If you've ever tried your hand at macro photography on insects, you know getting the perfect depth of field is incredibly tough. A group of researchers have put together a program to not only photograph all of the thousands of varieties of ants that live on our planets surface, but also use a cunning piece of software in order to capture them in intense detail.

Each Fall, millions of North American monarch butterflies join in one of the most ambitious migrations in nature, flying from summer habitats to winter homes thousands of miles to the south. Those east of the Mississippi winter in Mexican highlands, while those west of it gather in either Mexico or along the central and southern coasts of California.Migrating monarchs spend much of their time feeding in fields, gardens, and marshes. They will linger for hours, sometimes days. This is the perfect time to shoot close up.