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Never Thought I Would Get This Shot

September 3, 2026

A few years ago I saw an image of a large millipede posted on facebook, and I thought it was such an awesome subject, but figured I would never get a chance to shoot one as I had never even seen one live before. I was in Louisville, KY, teaching my Macro Boot Camp, and I had Mike Matthews and his frogs and reptiles coming in for a few hours for my workshop participants to photograph. I got a chance before the workshop to go to Mike's home photo studio to do some shooting of the ...

Photographic Rules

August 31, 2026

I've heard it said, "you should learn the rules, then break the rules." Well, if you plan to break the rules, why bother even learning the rules, just make up your own rules.I tend to follow most of the rules, as they have been working for hundreds of years, why mess with something that works.Just my humble opinion. Join my Macro Photo Club online. Over 280 instructional videos. Over 2900 members from 29 countries. Info and to sign up. MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - ...

Only Another Month for Spider Webs

August 30, 2026

It's the end of August and only about another month for shooting spider webs before the weather here in Michigan starts to get some frost and kill off all the critters. Here is a collection of past spiderweb shots. Join my Macro Photo Club online. Over 290 instructional videos. Over 2900 members from 29 countries. Info and to sign up. MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer

Change Your Direction

August 30, 2026

To many photographers think that if they buy a better camera they will make better images. They spend most of their time on tech sites where they give you the updates on the latest greatest equipment offered. If I post here on this blog about some new Tamron lens or some equipment important to what we do as macro photographers, I get tons of hits on those posts. If I post something about composition, or subject matter, I get far fewer hits on those posts. People have it ...

My New Philosophy When I Frame My Subjects

August 29, 2026

When I got my first digital DSLR in 2004, it was a Fuji S2. That camera had only 6 megapixels. When framing my subjects, I did the same as I would have framing in the film days, trying to get the framing done without any post processing cropping. With a 6 meg file, you couldn't do much cropping and retain all the quality of the image. I used that camera for a few years and with the next generation of digital cameras, I had now 12 megapixels, but still continued to frame ...

I Don't Use My Macro Lens Anymore

August 25, 2026

For most of my years shooting macro and close-up photography I have mainly used a Sigma 180mm and Tamron 90mm lens. A few years ago, I started using the new zoom lenses from Tamron, the 18-270, 16-300, 18-400, and the 18-300 on my mirrorless camera. The other change in the last couple years are the larger megapixels on my latest cameras. At 26 megapixels I can do some small crops and still get a good quality image. My new way of shooting is I don't have to worry about ...

Our Cell Phone Images Look Like f/32.

August 24, 2026

When I was in the art show biz for seven years, I sold thousands of my images. I averaged 25 shows a year, and the smallest attended show would draw 25,000 and the largest crowds were at the Ann Arbor Art Fair that drew 500,000 attendees.In the first year I hung some framed images of my soft-focus flower images alongside of the everything in focus images. On a few occasions I overheard different customers talking about the out of focus images and didn't understand them and thought I must ...

First Leaves to Fall

August 24, 2026

In about mid-September I start to find the first signs of fall and falling leaves in Southeast Michigan. The Cottonwood and Large Tooth Aspens are what I look for. At Stony Creek Metro Park in Shelby Twp, there are two places I find the Large Tooth Aspens, one trail in the nature center and one trail in the mountain biking/hiking trails. They are easy to find as they lay right on the trails.Here are a few shots of the large Tooth Aspens. I typically take the leaves and ...

Get Ready to Shoot Milkweed Seedpods

August 24, 2026

September is when the Milkweed seedpods start to pop here in Southeast Michigan. So many opportunities for great images. There are many fields full of these seedpods. Here are some images from previous years and hope this year will produce some more amazing subjects to shoot.Post processing done in Smart Photo Editor. Join my Macro Photo Club online. Over 290 instructional videos. Over 2900 members from 29 countries. Info and to sign up. MACRO PHOTO CLUB - ...

Registration Open for My New Flower Photography Club Online

August 18, 2026

On January 2nd, 2026, I launched my new Flower Photography Club online. The Flower Photography Club will be like a traditional camera club with a live monthly meeting on zoom.Each month we will have a live zoom meeting which will feature a special guest speaker covering their style of flower photography, tips on post processing, composition, equipment, places to photograph flowers, plus more.If you are unable to attend the monthly meetings, they will be recorded, and you will have a link to ...