A Closer Look- Macrophotography: Robert Sivinski

Photography is an excellent way to share the beauty of New Mexico's native plants and teach the public about the diversity and identity of our native flora. Photos of whole plants are great diagnostic tools to show what individual species actually look like. Colorful landscape shots of plants in bloom can be dramatic and convey important information about habitats and plant associations. But don't forget to take a closer look. It is close-up, or 'Macro', photography that illustrates the unique characteristics of a plant species. Close-up photos can also be dramatic and artistically composed. (Click on the pictures for a larger view)

	Close-ups of large plants need not be a highly magnified view to show only select parts of the plant. Some, like this thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), illustrate only the leaves and fruits (not yet red-ripe, but pretty in pink). If the subject is large, close-ups of plant parts can be taken with most normal, zoom or short telephoto camera lenses.
	When the subject is small, like this dwarf milkweed (Asclepias uncialis), or greater detail is needed, the photographer must use a lens or attachment that allows for closer focusing. Macro lenses are specially designed for close focusing and can attain a one-half life size image, or up to life size with some macros. Other types of lenses can be modified for more magnification by adding an extension tube that lengthens the lens, or magnifying lenses that screw on the front of a camera lens (close-up diopters). These require the lens to be positioned much closer to the plant, so if you take a lot of close-ups, a longer macro lens in the range of 100 mm to 200 mm is a better choice. Many of the new digital cameras have a 'Macro' function with close focusing capability.
	Pink vervain (Glandularia bipinnatifida) is a favorite native flower that creates brilliant splashes of color in our arid desert grasslands and woodlands. A closer look is also beautiful. Notice the slightly irregular corollas. Some photographers might have removed the spent flowers before taking this shot, but I like their cyanic blue color. This photo is a 1X, or life size, image. In film photography, life size means the image on the exposed film is the same size as the actual plant.
	Take an even closer look at this attractive rattleweed spurge (Chamaesyce albomarginata). This photo is one and a half times life size. It takes this magnification to really show the inflorescence of this plant. The showy parts are only 3 mm wide and are not flowers. Each is an involucre (cyanthium) holding a tiny group of one female and 15-30 male flowers. The top of a cup-shaped cyanthium has four reddish glands with white appendages. Each male flower is a single naked stamen that remains inside the cyanthium. A single female flower is exerted from each cyanthium on an elongated pedicel. The female flower is a naked, green ovary with three bifid styles. Tiny, but complex. Amazing!
	Close-ups can also be artistic or just for fun. For instance, here is what a macro lens sees when it is pointed directly into the flower head of our native yellow-spine thistle (Cirsium ochrocentrum). This is the photo I use as wallpaper for my computer screen. A botanist would recognize this photo as a thistle, but someone else might think it looks like a bottle of Pepto Bismol exploding.
	Common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is a native plant, so I figure I can get away with showing a close-up of this derived, agricultural cultivar of the species. This one volunteered under my bird feeder. Composite flower heads are wonderfully complex with ray flowers surrounding the tightly packed disc flowers, which are opening in series towards the center. Notice the arrangement of the unopened disc flowers at the center. They swirl outward with mathematical dedication to a Fibanocci Sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13&).
	I like to use natural light for all my plant photography. This usually requires slow shutter speeds, so a tripod is essential and wind motion is almost always a problem. Some photographers solve the wind problem by using a flash and fast, motion-stopping shutter speeds. However, a flash produces harsh contrasts (areas of highlight and dark shadow) and backgrounds that are often black. A black background can isolate the subject in a dramatic way, but it often looks contrived or staged. I usually prefer the softly out-of-focus colors of a natural environment. For instance, the distant flowers and green grasses behind this narrow-leaf four-o'clock (Mirabilis linearis) make a splendid backdrop. Fortunately, I found this slender plant during a rare period of dead calm.
	The berries (actually fleshy cones) of one-seed juniper (Juniperus monosperma) are an important winter food source for many birds and mammals in New Mexico. I took this photo after a brief autumn shower. The high, thin clouds in the sky created a perfect light for photography. Full, direct sunlight is the worst kind of light because it creates harsh contrasts that either wash-out or over-darken color tones. When a subject is in full sunlight, I usually unfurl a portable, white, 42 inch reflector screen and use it as an umbrella to shade the plant. In sunny, bright New Mexico, I use my reflector screen more often to shade my subjects than to illuminate them.
	Full shade can also present some problems for the close-up photographer. This purple aster (Machaeranthera canescens) was in the shade with a clear blue sky overhead. Such conditions will give the photo a distinct bluish cast. Adding a warming filter to the lens can help solve this problem. Instead, I chose a gold reflector to bounce in some warmer light to 'wake-up' the purple color of the ray flowers. Otherwise, the rays would be an unnatural blue (like those in the background).
	On a recent trip to photograph aspens above Santa Fe, I found the trees stripped nearly bare by the first autumn wind. No matter where I pointed my camera, I couldn't find a satisfying shot. I switched to a macro lens and started scanning the ground and creek. These floating leaves revealed all the colors I came to see, and more. The water droplets are the result of a splash when I accidentally dropped my sunglasses in the water, but I like the effect. There is always a photograph to be had when you take a closer look.