Beachcombing

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Macro photography offers a whole new world. This image is right on the edge of what I'd be calling macro, and one of the things I like about it is the polarized sunflare off the bottom of the shell. That's not a digital effect -- it's actually there in the raw picture. The real trick to this kind of work is keeping your eyes open. There are thousands of shots at your fingertips, if you only saw them. I tend to miss most! The other tricks are purely mechanical. Know how to handle your camera on macro and super-macro ... and know how to handle your software, to enhance the image once you've cropped out exactly what you want. This picture was captured "on the fly" in 2006, with warm sea water lapping around my bare feet. Just be sure you don't drop the camera! Digital cameras are not as easy to repair as the old optical cameras. Photo by Mel, 2006.