I had some time to kill near Philipsburg yesterday and I didn’t want to bring too much camera gear, so I decided to do some macro photography using natural light. Normally when I take photos of very small things, I use a flash, because the depth of field (the part of the photo which is in focus) is very small when doing macro photography. Flash also makes it easier to freeze a subject that is moving, either on its own, or because a plant is blowing in the wind. It also makes the direction of the sunlight less important. Despite these challenges, macro photos using just sunlight can be very nice. Having more of the photo out of focus can attract attention to a specific detail, natural shadows can give a sense of depth to a photo, and distractions, like a wire fence, can be blurred to the point where they are unrecognizable (see the last photo of the Cuban brown anole). It may not be the best way to document species, but it’s fun and requires carrying much less gear.
