Macro – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Wilderness Textures

Abstract Beauty of the Superstition Wilderness of Arizona

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My backpack kit included a full sized Manfrotto studio tripod with hydrostatic ball head. The benefits more than outweighed the effort (I was a lot younger in 2008) when the Canon EF 100mm (macro) lens is mounted on a Kodak dSLR body, allowing me to take crisp shots. The tripod legs can be adjusted to precise positions for stability.

I can feel the bright afternoon desert spring sunshine in this photos. It was after the spring floods, the flow of Reavis Creek and ample still but slow. Gathering in pools over the rough stones of the creek bed, the water absolutely clear.

I held the shot over many minutes, capturing ever changing diffraction patterns.

We see in all these photos, not a homogenous blend of stones from a shared geology. Reavis Creek washes over diverse geologies: volcanic, ancient igneous extrusions, sedimentary and metamorphic are jumbled together.

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This is a series of photographs of smooth, white igneous boulders with shadows of still leafless sycamore and cottonwood trees.

Graceful shadows

Strong, demonstrative shadows.

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A leaning cairn, not a trail marker….

A 15 foot high jumble of stones piled at the bottom of Reavis Falls, carried over by the floods.

A metamorphic conglomerate stone….

Another metamorphic conglomerate.

Please browse my reasonably priced stock photography. License a photograph, download and use it for your website or blog. Click this link to browse all my Getty IStock Photography offerings.

Or click this link or any photograph or this link to select a print with custom framing from my “Textures” Fine Art Gallery.

Here’s another of my Arizona wilderness adventures, “Racing the Sun.”

Abstracts: graceful shadows

Shadow and Rock

October 3, 2018 MichaelStephenWills5 Comments

Two Nature Abstracts, macros of Reavis Creek below the falls

The light of a early spring desert afternoon on a broad rock shelves along the creek.

I spent a day hiking in, two days hiking out and a day of canyoneering to the foot of Reavis Falls. The featured (i.e. “header”) photograph is a view of the inner canyon, the raw material for these abstracts.

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Click this Link for a Superstition Wilderness Adventure

Success: IStock Accepted Beach Textures

March 25, 2018 MichaelStephenWills7 Comments

This photograph of an expired (freshly dead) Speckled Swimming Crab washed up by the surf onto Cocoa Beach one January morning is now available on Getty IStock for your creative usages.

Click the photograph, below, to visit the listing.

It is one of the thirteen (13) images accepted in set with the theme “Beach Textures.” During our winter visits to Florida our routine is to rise in the pre-dawn darkness, enjoy the emerging sun, different every day. Then, I take off for a beach walk in the dawn, early morning light.

The view of the first photograph is frontal including eye stalks and antennae above the mouth. The main body, called cephalothorax, is speckled. The mouth is the large opening in the center of the leading edge of cephalothorax. To the right and left are the arms with pincers. Scientific Name: Arenaeus cribarius.

This view from the rear is also available. Click the photograph to view listing.

It is a rear view of the walking legs extended from the cephalothorax.

This gull feather, below, was the inspiration for the series. You might remember my posting of the feather as “Beach Dreams” back in January, shortly after I captured the image.

Click the photograph for the Gull Feather IStock Listing.

The sand castle, at the top of this post, is also in the series.

Here is the link to browse the entire series on IStock. License my photographs for an affordable fee to use on your blog, website or other creative venues.

Thank You for visiting.

Waterfall Textures

Unrestrained chaos at the foot of Arizona’s highest waterfall

March 20, 2018 MichaelStephenWills18 Comments

I received notice of IStock acceptance of select photographs from my last posting, “Wilderness Textures”, was accepted. Click to view my IStock Portfolio, including photographs from today’s posting included in the acceptance notice.

In this post I move up the Reavis Creek canyon from where the last posting, “Wilderness Textures”, was sited to the foot of Reavis Falls. With the first photograph you look up at the falls from the head of the canyon carved by the creek over eons. The rock wall, the canyon “head”, is thick with microorganisms, fungi, mosses.

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In the foreground is a jumble of boulders, some washed down at flood time, spread wide at the bottom of the falls, piled to a jumbled height of 15 feet.

Talus is the geological term for this formation. Derived from the Latin word for slope (talutum) the definition, from the Oxford English Dictionary, is “A sloping mass of detritus lying at the base of a cliff or the like consisting of material fallen from its face.”

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The ankle bone is also called talus, from the French word for heel, I bring it up because climbing this chaotic, unstable jumble is a way to break your ankle. The route to Reavis Falls, a climb up one side of Lime Mountain then down the other on a non-existent (lightly marked) trail, is rated difficult and impossible with a broken leg or ankle. I was alone and very careful to check each rock for stability before putting my weight on it.

A climb of the talus pile was necessary to view the pool at the waterfall base, for this photograph.

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A more artistic vertical format version, below, captured with the Canon EF 100mm “macro” lens. All shots are using the Kodak DCS pro SLR-c (the “c” designated Canon lens compatibility) and a Manfrotto studio tripod with a hydrostatic ball head. The horizontal format shot was captured with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens. I prefer the vertical version, artistically, because the talus jumble is all but cropped out while the upper corner of the angular basalt boulder is left as an interesting focal point. The boulder, not being in the spray, is in focus to contrast with the basalt wall behind the water.

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I captured a series of shots from this precarious vantage point, working up from the pool to the brim of the waterfall.

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My goals was a composite photo of the falls. I have yet to succeed with this project. Maybe I will give it one more shot in spite of having learned the hard lesson the best photographs are a single moment captured in a single frame.

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I find in this series the vertical aspect is more artistic. The water volume, of the falls, at this time of year offers only the finest of sprays with most of the basalt rock wall only moist. The 100mm “macro” lens allowed me to include only the falling water with a bit of the moist wall for contrast.

In the following version I experimented with color, moving from the narrow range of hues, to more contrast.

Click Any Photograph for my Fine Art Gallery

Here’s another of my Arizona wilderness adventures, “Racing the Sun.”

Wilderness Textures

Abstract Beauty of the Superstition Wilderness of Arizona

March 17, 2018 MichaelStephenWills20 Comments

Click Any Photograph for my Fine Art Gallery

I held the shot over many minutes, capturing ever changing diffraction patterns.

Click Any Photograph for my Fine Art Gallery

This is a series of photographs of smooth, white igneous boulders with shadows of still leafless sycamore and cottonwood trees.

Graceful shadows

Strong, demonstrative shadows.

Click Any Photograph for my Fine Art Gallery

A leaning cairn, not a trail marker….

A 15 foot high jumble of stones piled at the bottom of Reavis Falls, carried over by the floods.

A metamorphic conglomerate stone….

Another metamorphic conglomerate.

Here’s another of my Arizona wilderness adventures, “Racing the Sun.”

Ireland on the Mind at Christmas

Irish Christmas Spirit

December 19, 2017December 28, 2017 MichaelStephenWills9 Comments

A previous post, “Christmas Tableau”, provides some context. The photographs from that set were accepted by Getty for stock images. Click the link to take a look: “Cozy Snowmen” on Getty Stock.

This is part of my project to document our Christmas memories through photography. Here we explore the Irish and Ireland themes of our decorated Christmas Tree.

Where would we be without Saint Patrick? He was a force, to be sure. A favorite story, is the landing of his return to the island 432 AD. The tides on the eastern coast of the Irish Sea can be strong. His plan was to sail up to coast further north than what we call today Strangford Lough. On passing this inlet the boat was swept into the lough tidal narrows. Circumstances called for a landing, rather than wait for the tide. Patrick came ashore where the Slaney River enter the lough and “quickly converted” the local chieftan, Dichu, who provided a barn for holding services. The name of the town “Saul” in Irish is Sabhall Phádraig, translated as “Patrick’s Barn.”

In this posting I’ll go lighter on descriptions of technique. Leave it to say I held to the Canon fixed lens EF 50mm f1.2L USM throughout. Some, like the photograph of Saint Patrick, used a tripod. Others, like the latter two of the following Irish Themed Cross set were handheld. Generally a flash was used to supplement ambient sunlight from a large north-facing bay window.

Here the “celtic” cross is converted to an Irish theme through a substitution of a shamrock with golden decoration inspired by pagan neolithic petroglyphs for the nimbus (circle) intersecting the central intersection of arms and stem.

For the first three I played with aperture, taking advantage of the stability of a tripod. The final two of the set are handheld.

Note the fanciful leprechaun snowman with pot o’ gold, on the left.

Blown glass Irish dancers.

“Travel memories”

the suitcase for our 2014 tour of the island and re-connection with family. Also a symbol of our ancestors travel across the Atlantic ocean to North America.
a cruise ship for our tour of South America. I have many stories from that trip. Here is the first of a series about the Chilean fjords and glaciers.

Lets’s finish up with a resin cast Santa Claus in hiking garb. Hiking is a favorite activity of ours. Featuring a stout staff and Aran Island sweater.

Christmas Tableau

Cozy Snowmen dance round the candle

December 18, 2017December 18, 2017 MichaelStephenWills12 Comments

My dear wife Pam is the heart of Christmas in our home. Over the years we have collected a treasure of ornaments and knick-knacks she crafts into displays around our one. Pam completed the project well in advance of our grandchild holiday visits, before card writing and gift wrapping.

My contribution is a photographic time capsule. Here is some of my artistic output from this work.

This grouping of five cozy snowmen (three males, two females) are warmly dressed in knit sweaters and stocking caps; the women with long skirts. The five hold hands in a ring, rising from a common platform. We place a cup and devotional candle in the center.

The tiny group evokes community, harmony, amity. I captured them with a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III dslr, a fixed Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L macro lens mounted on a Manfrotto studio tripod and hydrostatic ball head. Fixed lenses provide the sharpest macros. The mounting allowed precise framing and use of the widest aperture and a low ISO. The light sources were sunlight from a large north facing bay window, a Canon Speedlite 600Ex-Rt and the candle. When used, the flash was angled in various ways toward the ceiling.

I start with a tight shot, maximum aperture. A single figure is in clear focus, the remaining gradually lost in the bokeh. The flash was used. I can almost see then circling around the candle in a winter wind.

Here the candle is lighted, aperture narrow to f8 using only the candle and ambient light (no flash). The group is visible within surrounding figures. I backed away and the viewpoint is higher.

The candle light enhances the perception of community.

Viewpoint is closer, still only the candle and ambient light. Aperture widened to 3.5. I must remove the hair in lightroom.

I backed off, aperture at the max with only the candle and ambient light. The figures are placed in a tableau with other snowmen and a structure, a birdhouse.

For this overview I swapped in a Canon 24mm f/1.4L II USM with a flash, aperture f2.2.