BEAUTIFUL TINY LANDSCAPES: MIKE MOATS

MIKE MOATS

Images of beautiful landscapes usually depict vast or sweeping scenes, showing breadth and depth of the scene. But tiny landscapes are just as beautiful -- and often a lot more surprising.

Tiny Landscapes, a spectacular series by award winning macro photographer Mike Moats focuses upon the little micro-worlds in our midst that are filled with incredible beauty that most of us never see.

Moats points out that there are plenty of gorgeous tiny landscapes very close to home, wherever you live. He photographs many of his tiny subjects within 20 minutes of his own home -- many in his own backyard.

A member of Tamron Image Masters and the Fuji Pro Talent Team, Moats is an expert in extreme close-up photography. He started shooting as a hobby in 2001 and it quickly grew into a full-time business. Check out the magnificence of his tiny landscapes and learn how he captured them in our story below.

Moats observes the ever-changing tiny changes that the four seasons offer -- looking at the life cycles of the flowers, plants and insects as they vary from day to day or month to month. They vary by region, of course.

In northern Michigan, where Moats is based, early December is a perfect time to capture tiny images of  the beginnings frost and of ice forming at the edges of small streams in the woods -- it forms amazing abstract patterns that get lost later in the season as the ice thickens.

While most landscape and wildlife photographers are often restricted to the ideal light of early morning and late afternoon, Moats points out that macro photographers can effectively control the available light at any time of day with diffusers and reflectors.

But time of day can yield different beautiful opportunities in the tiny world. Moats likes to shoot at dawn on cool spring and summer mornings, when temperatures are still only in the upper 40s to low 50s because it slows tiny creatures down more, making them easier to capture in a photo. Dragonflies and butterflies are “frozen” in place as the cold lowers their body temperatures, preventing them from flying away as Moats approaches to set up his tripod to shoot.

Moats keeps detailed notes about the places where he finds interesting tiny subjects so he can return for future shoots.

He searches beaches for feathers, shells, and sand patterns created by wind. He finds swamps to be a wonderful source of unique tiny plant life. He loves to capture the tiny beauty of frogs, turtles, and dragonflies in and around ponds. Open fields offer a bounty of tiny flowers and insects.

Even urban areas are rife with tiny landscape beauty. Parks, community gardens, botanical gardens, greenhouses, and even vacant lots are tiny treasure troves.

Moats is an expert in macro photography equipment as well. By its nature, the camera needs to be very close to the subject in macro photography. Matching the right macro lens with the subjects you plan to shoot is very important. True macro lenses come in fixed focal length and have a 1:1 magnification ratio that, when shooting at the minimum focusing distance, a photographer can reproduce the life size of the subject.

But it’s important to consider what to focus upon in a macro shot. Depth of field is critical in optimizing a tiny view. The larger the ƒ-stop number, the larger the amount of focus in the subject, while the smaller the number, the smaller the amount of focus.

Moats does a beautiful job of blurring backgrounds for his flower and bug portraits, for example. He explains that having control of aperture is the most important part of macro and close-up photography.

He always uses a tripod to eliminate movement so his extreme close up images are sharp. He never uses a flash system -- 95% of his images have been shot with natural available light. On rare occasions he uses a small LED light for a little fill.

Check out Moats’ book, “Macro Photography - Tiny Landscapes,” for an easy to read guide to the equipment, camera functions, composition, techniques, and tips.

Moats offers tips in this video. If you want to learn even more, check out Moats’ Macro Boot Camps.

You can find more of Moats’ beautiful works published in Outdoor Photographer Magazine, Nature’s Best Magazine, PC Photo Magazine, Nature Photographer Magazine, Photolife, Whisper In The Woods, to name a few.

Read more about Tiny Beautiful Things in 10 Tiny Beautiful Countries to Visit Now, Tiny Ripples, Moments & Sparks and The Tiny Seeds of Beauty.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Mind/Body, Soul/Impact, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Arts/Design, and Place/Time, Daily Fix posts.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes.
2. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. “Plant Life” Series.
3. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. “Flowers” Series.
4. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. “Dahlias” Series.
5. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. “Critters” Series.
6. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. “Fern On Burn.”
7. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes.
8. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. “Purple Coneflower.”
9. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. “Dragonfly Wing.”
10. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. Abstract Patterns.
11. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes.
12. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. “Flowers” Series.
13. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes.
14. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. “Happy First Day of Fall.”
15. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. “Misc Nature” Series.
16. Image: by Mike Moats, of Tiny Landscapes. “Critters” Series.