Sidelight
Illumination placed at 90° to a
camera that reveals shape and form
H
May 2017
SHOOTING MACRO Cuckoo fl ower
ello and welcome to the fi rst issue of
Sidelight photography magazine. I’m
David Taylor, a landscape and architecture
photographer based in Northumberland,
England. This issue of Sidelight features
tips and tricks that will help you improve
your photography skills, using my own
photography as examples. Future issues
will also include reviews of photography
equipment and books, interviews with other
photographers, and all you need to know
about my favourite photography locations.
In the meantime, enjoy the current issue!
1 Depth of fi eld
One of the challenges of macro photography
is working with a narrow depth of fi eld. Even
when using the smallest aperture available
it may not be possible to achieve front-to-
back sharpness. However, this drawback
can be used creati vely to make soft er, more
impressionisti c images, an approach that
suits organic subjects such as fl owers.
[email protected]
www.davidtaylorphotography.co.uk
Thorny Doors
Hadrian’s Wall is a photogenic
subject all year round. One of my
favourites stretches along the
wall is Thorny Doors between
Cawfi elds and Caw Gap. From
here the view north appears
to stretch on forever across
farmland and moors. It gives a
powerful impression of what it
must have been like as a Roman
soldier posted to the very edges
of civilisati on.
Camera Sony A7 II
Lens 24mm
Shutt er speed 1/8 sec.
Aperture f/11
ISO 100
Filtrati on 2-stop ND grad + polariser
2 Focus
Because of the lack of depth of fi eld it’s
important to focus accurately when shooti ng
macro. I usually switch to manual focus and
zoom into the Live View on the rear of my
camera. I can then very carefully adjust focus
unti l the most important part of the subject is
perfectly sharp.