Colourful macro

With all their colour and texture, squash make great subjects for close-up photography. What’s more, their markings can work as leading lines, directing the eye around the frame. There are a few issues that prevent this from being a totally successful picture. First, the focus is slightly off – it might have been better to choose an area where two edges overlap and switch to manual focus. Also, f/2.8 is too wide. Secondly, the viewer’s eye is drawn to the dark area in the middle, which is distracting. A quick rearrangement of the squash would deal with that. Plenty of potential here.

On first impression, this looks like a relatively straightforward image, but appearances can be deceptive. First, the photographer has had to find a fern without noticeable blemishes. Next, they’ve decided to shoot from above to illustrate how uniform and symmetrical the fronds are. When it comes to camera settings, an aperture of f/11 has been chosen to keep each frond sharp and an ISO of 1600 has been required to deal with the low light inside the glasshouse. Finally, tweaks to contrast, shadows and highlights have been made in post to give the image a sculptural, moody feel that empathises the deep, rich greens.

When we think of ‘colourful macro’ subjects, flowers spring to mind. Here, however, the photographer has turned an everyday object – a crushed beer can – into something quite beautiful. The tight cropping is excellent and the curve of the top works well against the jagged shape of the star and the folds of the can. The specks of dirt add to the story.