Pixiq

Do we really need another book on macro photography? That was a question I had in mind when I opened Paul Harcourt Davies book titled Digital Close-up Photography Q&A. I guess so. This one we do need.

Although we never met personally, we do share some passions in terms of photography, and we have been emailing each other exchanging opinions for some time. I say this so people understands that this article and interview can be biased, because we walk the same ground, but nothing else. I looked at the idea of a Q&A book with some... reluctance. I've seen many books of the type and I am not very keen on the format, unless it's done properly. In fact, I use to say that when I grow old I want to do a Q&A book - or eBook - that works for people. Because many  Q&A books just work for the author or the publisher house and not to the reader. In fact many books, I must say. I've bought some myself so I know what I am writing about.

Now, I've some preconceived ideas about Q&A books, and I went to make this email interview to Paul Harcourt Davies with these in mind. I think we all have a set of questions we want to ask any book author, and I had mine defined once I knew Paul had a new book coming. And because he was doing a Q&A book I thought I had some other questions that I wanted to have answers to. So this interview is a mix of the initial questions and those I defined after going through the book. I had to be a bit of Devil's advocate, even if I had already seen the book, from cover to cover, read it's articles and had the idea that Paul knew how to get  it done the right way. After all the book states on the cover "Great tips and hints from a top pro".

Before I go onto the question/answer bit, let me state my opinion: this book works for various levels of photographers interested into macro and close-up photography. The Q&A format is done in a way that will make it easy to read each spread and get to grips with something new or... remember something you've forgotten. At that level Digital Close-up Photography Q&A is not a read and forget book but a manual that you'll want to keep at hand. One to use when you know something is missing and you expect to find it there, or to browse through when you want to find ways to do new things with your photography. It's easy to read, written in a "that's my way" tone that will convince you of the title's end phrase "Great tips and hints from a top pro"...

I like the fact that Paul goes against the flow many times, and that he just states: "this is my way of doing things... and it works" but does not make a rule of everything he explains. To cut a long story short, I like this book. I've learned a lot reading through the 140 something pages. There's a lot of stuff I don't know, never even tried, and that Paul has been exploring. And he shares his knowledge with people. From using an IR trigger to telling stories with your photos, from the millions of pixels needed in your camera to image stacking, there are 73 questions and answers across five sections that take you from the Basics through Seeing the Picture, to Studio and Post Production Work.

This book does not answer all the questions, but it does tackle those that immediately come to mind and then some others that will help to keep you interested for a longer period of time. If a book does that, then it is a good reading. Right! Now read the Q&A I prepared for Paul Harcourt Davies. And when you finish go and get the book.

1 - A book on Macro photography. Does the world need a new book on macro? What makes this special in today's digital world?

Paul Harcourt Davies - If you look on around you will find numerous titles with the word macro included and, often, there's that word digital as well as well. But I sometimes wonder why some of them were written other than to fill the space in a publisher's lists. That's a bit of a cynical view, I know, but so many books are written solely for that reason and they say nothing new just peddle the same stuff, in the same way over again and add the word digital to make it seem up-to-date. Some of the authors are ‘generalists’ and they assemble a book based on very limited personal experience in the field and in facing up to the problems and challenges with which this area of photography abounds. I wanted to try and create something that exploits the inherent potential of today's digital cameras where, to be honest, the only limit lies with the imagination of the photographer.

To that end, the intention was to equip photographers at all levels with a series of ‘tools’ so that they could explore their own vision and develop that as far as they wanted.

 2 - The Q&A model is one that seems easy to define, but going through your book one wonders how does the author choose what to stay in and what to stay out. What seems apparently an easy way to write a book suddenly becomes more difficult. How does one define what is important? Is there a natural progression in the four chapters and how did you define the final sequence of articles?

PHD - There is a definite danger with the Q&A format of becoming trivial and producing just another of those ubiquitous lists: the top 10 of this or the top 50 of that. It's easy enough to write down the list, type out the answers and away you go. But, the challenge is to include the information in an accessible way and then head it with a question that triggers that answer. In general, each answer goes quite a bit further than a short question would suggest. When I write a book I do it in a very ‘intensive’ way so that I don't forget what I've already written and in that way I can avoid duplication and think of ways of linking ideas. It is always really difficult to know what to leave out when everything looks important to you! This is where a good editor comes in and I'm very lucky that the last two books I have written have involved Kevin Kopp of Lark/Pixiq as editor who is very pragmatic, accurate and great at picking up my inconsistencies. When you write you can get far too close to the book and it is hard to see the wood for the trees.

As for ‘progression’ that is more evident in the initial chapters where I tried to develop the background information and lead the reader through bits of fact and theory that might prove useful. It certainly is not necessary to read the book in sequence and the Q&A format both allows and encourages the reader to “dip in”. The final sequence was by agreement – I set it out, Kevin suggested a few changes and I ran with it: he has an excellent and experienced eye for such things.

In the later chapters there is a variety of subjects/applications and order is not critical so that when deciding you go with what seems to flow well. I really like working on a spread by spread basis and I first used it with travel guides a long time ago. It restricts what you can say and you have to be succinct – being a Welshman who likes words I don't find that particularly easy. It imposes a discipline– first you think about the double page, what you can get in, how you can illustrate it and, most important what makes it attractive. It is so important to any photographer to have someone with a good eye work with your images and I was delighted with what  Ginger Graziano did with the spreads and Thom Gaines with the cover.

3 - The Q&A model fits well the manual that you go back to over and over instead of the read and - almost - forget of many normal books. Was that the reason why you've chosen this model?

 PHD - Some of my fellow professional photographers have an ill-disguised contempt for what they call “how to" books. Well, I feel we are at the beginning of another generation of such things using all the bells and whistles that iPads and other devices permit. In my time I have done a lot of teaching at levels from elementary to university and I see my role as a ‘facilitator’. I get a lot of pleasure from taking ideas and twisting and turning them around so that you get rid of clutter. This format is suited to that.

I also think that people process information in a very different way now and that when it is spread out in front of a reader, arranged on a page it is more accessible. It hasn't escaped me that using this material is the possibility of doing other things–including more Pixiq posts.

4 - Do you feel this book covers all the areas within macro or does it leave space for more?

PHD - In this book I have tried to give a comprehensive overview of the current state-of-the-art. The possibilities with a modern digital camera and the superb lenses available are incredible, so there will always be space for more (thank goodness). I have left out much of the theory that most normal people could find mind-numbing. In the dim and distant past my background was highly technical and so that stuff does not terrify me (dare I confess I like it ?) – what I can do is dive into the mud, and pull out the important bits that might prove useful. What I would like to feel is that I can encourage people to get good results and go on to get the enjoyment that I do from this fascinating area of photography.

5 - Is this book made with the newcomer in mind or does it try to answer the doubts of photographers of all levels? If so, how did you define the number of questions for each group, and how do photographers know if they if are reading the right stuff? Or is the whole book a continuous lesson that anyone can read and understand?

PHD - I have tried to make the book accessible to newcomers and also provide more adventurous material for those who are further on down the path–including serious amateurs and professionals. Yes, it’s a bit ambitious, but I felt that it was worth a try. I hate being patronized by anyone and I have respect for my potential readers – when I did some school teaching, many years ago, I taught physics and maths to people who would really rather not be there. I could not blame them! I've always taken the attitude that if someone can't understand what I've said or written it's my fault. There's always other ways of presenting the ideas. I think that if you can create the right mental pictures than there are very few things that can't be explained concisely and clearly.

There are some people who might read this book continuously but I see it more as something you open, see something you like and explore. It’s a painless way of learning. As to number of questions that was determined largely by the information to be imparted. Some material was divided, for example and a subsidiary question included. I suppose a reader knows when what they are reading is relevant – the answers are short enough so that not too much time is wasted! Anyway, I am not a good example when reading books, or researching on-line for I can spend hours just jumping around, absolutely fascinated by what I find.

6 - Your initial notes on the book suggest that you are not one to keep to rules when it comes to this type of photography - close-up and macro. Is the use of wide-angles lenses for a lot of your images a sign of that rebellion? Do you feel people have to break the rules to achieve their own goals? Still you write a book with a lot of rules to be read and understood. How does a reader cope with that?

PHD - I have always had that slightly perverse tendency not to go with the flow and, even as a kid, avoided things if everybody else did them. However, my use of wide-angle lenses is first and foremost linked to the way I like to portray information about nature. For example, with a wide-angle lens used close to a subject you can depict it in the context of its background. In a single shot you've included subject detail and also said so much more through its surroundings.

Then again, I will often use telephoto macro lens that pulls a subject out of its background isolated against a soft blur. I also enjoy using backlit white panels – the MYN - approach which really does make you see familiar subjects in a different way. What I want is for people to take what is there in the book, move on and make it their own. Recipes are too restricting – better to show someone how to ‘cook’!

It's true, when you start moving close to subjects there seems like an awful lot to learn and remember. But it happens quickly and what I try to encourage people on my courses to do is to come to grips with the basics and then forget them: the technical stuff becomes second nature. If you can achieve a mastery of your camera and its capabilities then that frees you rather than restricts – it’s a bit like being a musician, go through all that hard practice with scales and arpeggios and a much wider world opens up in front of you. All I can say is persist and I promise you that very quickly you get results that delight both you and everyone else who sees them.

7 - What is your advice for a newcomer to this area?  What should he/she get as the essential gear? And in what should he/she invest more: in lots of gear or in less gear and more time to learn to see and try things?

PHD - You really do need comparatively little in the way of equipment to get you close – even mobile phones can produce incredible results. The basic need is for a camera that doesn't restrict you and that possesses some means of close focusing. Many lenses have a close-focus facility built in (wrongly called a ‘macro-mode’) but, to get closer still you will need some help – a macro lens, extension tubes or auxiliary lenses that you screw into the filter thread of the camera.

Start gently, get familiar with the equipment you have – if you see a stunning butterfly on a flower in front of you then you don't want to be fiddling about with the controls. That's what I mentioned earlier – spend time ‘playing’ so technique becomes second nature and leaves you to concentrate on the subject. Time and again I have seen people go out, buy a top of the range DSLRs with expensive macro lenses and then be devastated when the results are poor. The good thing is that, with mastery of just a little bit of technical expertise, the difference is incredible. I hope that the way I have set things out in this book makes that possible quickly and painlessly.

8 -  Although coming from the film era you seem to be enthusiastic about digital cameras and the immediate feedback they give you. Do you think this lowers the learning curve of photography in general and macro in particular?

PHD - I am not just enthusiastic about digital cameras I am passionate about them and the capabilities. This technology fits hand in hand with my great love of the natural world, the engine that drives me along. I used a D100 as soon as it came out over a decade ago. One major reason for writing this book is that I'm positively evangelical about what can be achieved by anyone with today’s camera technology. All it takes is a little patience and the willingness to experiment.

Modern cameras make it much easier to get things like exposure and focus spot on so there is less need to concentrate on these initially. You can rely on the camera for so much but, if you want to explore and extend your vision then it helps to know that bit more about exposure, dynamic range and white balance for example. Which is why I have included spreads one such things to help readers move that bit further when they feel the need.

Some people seem to know instinctively how to arrange things in the viewfinder to make a picture look good whilst others don't. That's why in this book I've also given some guidance about composition to up the ‘wow’ factor in your shots.

9 -  Still, in terms of gear you seem to keep away from the general trend and state that a 12 million pixel camera is more than enough, and also don't seem to care so much about the FX sensors. Do you think the APS-C size is enough for most of the photographers interested in macro?

PHD - Advertising has been described as the business of selling people things they didn't know they wanted. One successful way doing that is by making people feel inadequate – about their looks, the car they drive, the house they live in and so on. In photography the business of “my sensor is bigger than yours 7 has more pixels" has been part of a deliberate drive to sell camera models. It is interesting that some of the major manufacturers are beginning to go against this. Not everyone needs to produce wall-filling prints after all.

An Fx sensor is primarily useful in macro work because of its low light, low noise capabilities – it opens up those area for you. However, for reasons I go into in some detail in the book a smaller sensor has certain advantages when it comes to perceived depth of field for example. The crop factor with the smaller sensors can also be used to advantage when you are generating enlarged images of small subjects.

Over the years I have noticed real confusion over what is meant by sensor-resolution, lens resolution and sharpness in magazine articles. Some time ago on Pixiq I wrote some detailed posts to try and clarify this area – optics has always been a particular interest of mine and I had to battle through and understand diffraction etc so I can pass on the conclusions.

I believe those APS-C sensors are not just adequate for most people developing an interest in macro, they are perfect. To me they suggest the future direction for this kind of photography. I have seen incredible results taken with such cameras – they are easily portable and because you get great depth of field at f/5 .6 or f8, for example you then end up using fast shutter speeds that reduce the problem of camera shake. They make natural light macro easier. Their sensor sites are closer together and, in theory, that means higher resolution of detail. However there's a lot of other things that come into that melting pot with the main one being how the information from the sensor is then used to construct the image, the trickery used for reducing noise and so on in those elusive algorithms. There are some very bright people are there working on these things for the advantage of those of us who just like going out and taking pictures.

10 - Being a book on macro, this book goes beyond that, covering areas like photo editing and exploring venues for creating books, cards a.s.o. Why did you decide to cover that in a book called Digital Close-up Photography Q&A? Do you feel photographers need, with today's tools, to be shown all the options, something that was not done, at least as in your book, in books made some years ago?

PHD - This was something I thought about long and hard but the bottom line is that post processing is as much a part of digital photography as the picture taking. Some people seem to want to spend their lives in front of a screen but I am not one of them, I am happiest out in the field taking pictures so I have evolved a workflow that is effective and maximizes the time I can spend doing what I love. For example, I am a devoted user of Lightroom 3 from the moment I import image files to the tweaking, printing and sending-off images to clients. I hate filing, always have done and I guess I always will so to be able to do everything I want on screen from one package is brilliant.

It just seemed an obvious extension to include a couple of spreads on displaying work because that is a part of the process for so many people–getting pictures out there on Facebook, Blogs and so on. I wanted to show that it was easy and a natural progression of what you could be doing in that essential post processing stage.

11 -  This book is a first edition from you in some time. Does this mean we're going to see more books by PHD in the near future? What are you projects?

PHD - When we moved to Italy back in 2003 the intention was to mix photography with writing and renovating a house. The reality was that the mixing was mostly of cement and I seem to spend an awful lot of my time turning planks of wood into sawdust. It was DIY on a mega scale. I kept my hand in, as it were, writing articles and taking photographs surrounded by dust (not good for digital cameras), leading tours and giving talks – even in Italian, which seemed like a good idea at the time!

The reality for me was that in Britain I had become very fed up with the world of publishing and a change was good. It was hard to work with some editors who could not spell, had no idea of grammar and no vision. Can you imagine that, in 2001, when I presented a proposal for a series of books on digital photography I was told by the commissioning editor that “people who take digital photographs don't read books". What a cretin.

Things changed completely when I began working with Marti Saltzman and her superb team at Lark. It is not too much to say that they restored my faith by being able to work with fellow professionals with whom there was a mutual respect and who believed in what I was doing.

I was just thinking a few days ago that this year now almost passed has been a very stimulating one for me. First and most obvious is this book, then involvement in the MYN project. I have also had my eyes opened wide to what can be achieved by being included in the first edition of the Photographers-i Magazine. Behind-the-scenes I've also been working on image-stacking and more control of the camera from a MacBook Pro. My partner Lois finds it hilarious that, at this stage of my life I am almost “cutting edge". Building things and experimenting has always been a part of my nature and everything seems to come together with digital technology. I find it very hard to keep my enthusiasms to myself – it may not make commercial sense but I don't have secrets.

I also contribute to 2 blogs – something I love doing because of the freedom of expression and, through one of them, I am collaborating with my fellow blogger Clay Bolt on a series of ebooks that will deepen areas of macro photography in a way that could never be done with a conventional book. We're both passionate naturalists and photographers: whereas I bring a ‘technical’ background to the table, Clay is a really gifted designer. So, watch this space – I love this day and age for the control it gives me to do things at home: it is up to us now, no excuses!