Since the SCMG competition officially started on March 2, we have received hundreds of submissions every week. Seeing so many friends sending us photos with enthusiasm and hope, a sense of responsibility and mission arises spontaneously. We hope that the SCMG Photography Competit

Since the SCMG competition officially started on March 2, we have received hundreds of submissions every week. Seeing so many friends sending us photos with enthusiasm and hope, a sense of responsibility and mission arises spontaneously. We hope that the SCMG Photography Contest will not only bring good works to readers, but also give more care to all creator friends.

Therefore, we launched a column - SCMG exclusive interviews with high-quality creators ! Chat about life, technology, and industry development. By sharing the creative experiences of various photographers, we can provide more friends with reference for their creative activities.

"Exclusive interview with SCMG high-quality creators"

"Insect photography requires a little patience"

Mao Zhigang

Mao Zhigang, whose online name is Cat Brother

• Professional IT practitioner
• Hobby Macro Photography, taking photos for more than ten years
• won the first prize in the National Insect Photography Competition Award, HaidaLandscape Photography Second Prize

▌Sample Display

My name is Mao Zhigang, and my online name is Brother Cat. If you don't mind, you can call me Brother Cat. I work in the IT industry, and my job is related to software research and development, which is what everyone calls a "programmer". I have been doing photography for many years. I started taking photos in 2009 and have been doing it for more than ten years now. Now I do more macro photography.

▌ Knowledge and experience sharing on macro photography

Q: Using an example, what is the charm of macro photography?

▶ Macro photography can show the world that everyone cannot see.

Macro photography can magnify and show the insect world that everyone usually pays little attention to and cannot see. For example, it is rare for to understand the eclosion of . If you don’t know when it will appear and don’t understand the techniques of macro photography, you won’t be able to capture the scene well. macro photography is to show the beauty of insects from different perspectives.

▶ Longhu Mountain Encountering a snake

Last year I went to Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi to take pictures. I took pictures of many insects there, and I even took pictures of snakes. In fact, I was also very afraid of snakes at first, so others took me to shoot at first. Gradually, as I gained more shooting experience, I became less afraid of snakes. In fact, as long as you don't encounter a snake that is too big, you will be fine. After all, snakes are still afraid of people.

Q: How can I photograph insects?

▶ Tips for getting close to insects: Don’t wear brightly colored clothes, don’t be impatient, and learn to blend in with the environment.

There are several tips for getting close to insects. One is not to wear clothes that are too bright, but wear clothes that are closer to nature, such as Monochromatic clothes in camouflage green and gray. Because insects are very sensitive to color, if you wear bright blue, red or other flashy colors, insects can easily spot you and then run away in a flash.

Another tip is: If you find an insect, don't pounce on it immediately and show your eagerness to rush up and shoot it. Instead, you should first observe it slowly from a distance and touch it slowly. During this approach, the insect will treat you as part of the environment, so that you can easily approach the insect.

For example, if I take pictures of butterflies and dragonflies, it doesn’t matter if I am only 10 centimeters away from them, or even if I want to touch them, they won’t feel it. This is a skill.

Q: How to keep the stability of the shot while the insects are moving?

▶ Capture a stable picture: increase the ISO or become familiar with the insect path

If you don’t use light, you can only raise the ISO of the camera a little higher.

Another solution is to understand the path of the insect and follow its path to take pictures. This is a solution without lighting. If you need to pursue sharp picture quality in and maintain the clarity and purity of the picture in , you need to lower the ISO to the lowest and use a flash to shoot , so that you will definitely be able to shoot clearly.

Q: What preparations are needed for macro photography outdoors?

▶ The dangers are not limited to bacteria, venomous snakes, and mosquitoes

The conditions are pretty good when shooting in Shanghai, because Shanghai does not have a pure outdoor shooting environment. The problems we can encounter are more dirty venues and bacteria in the shooting environment. , so you should pay attention to hygiene after shooting. Because once I was sitting on the bamboo forest floor in the park to take pictures, but I didn't pay attention. When I got home, I discovered that my hands were infected with fungus.

If you go to other places to shoot, you should pay attention to protection. Especially if you go to the mountains in Guangdong to shoot, you need to be even more careful. It is best to go in a group of people when going to the wild environment. In summer, you must be especially careful not to be bitten by snakes. If bitten by a poisonous snake, it is very fatal. So when you go to the mountains to shoot, you must form a team with multiple people, and you also need to prepare a stick to scare off the grass and scare the snakes.

Of course, don’t forget to prevent mosquito bites . There will be a lot of mosquitoes on the mountains in summer. Once a mosquito bites you in the wild, it is very fatal. If you are bitten, you will not want to shoot it for a long time. So in order to prevent mosquitoes, we will wear long pants and long sleeves when we go out. In addition, we usually bring 2 things to prevent mosquitoes, one is insect repellent spray, and the other is something to relieve itching.

Q: In Shanghai, a bustling city with a concentrated population, where do you go to find insects to photograph?

▶ It is very difficult to shoot insects in Shanghai, but old masters always have a way to solve the problem.

It is true that it is more difficult to shoot insects in Shanghai. Because of the accelerated urbanization, it is getting more difficult to find insects in Shanghai every year. In fact, you could find bugs in wild places in Pudong, Pudong, or some suburbs, but now because of the construction of houses, they are gradually being knocked down. There are really fewer and fewer places suitable for shooting insects.

How to find a place where you can photograph insects? In fact, there is a method.

First of all, friends will share the shooting locations with each other. When friends find some places, they will share them with us and take us to play.

Another way is that because of many years of shooting experience , we know where in Shanghai you can photograph bugs, where they will appear, under what environment they will live, and where they will live. For example, where do dragonflies live, when do they appear, and in which seasons do they appear? We all have this information and understand their habits, so we know where to look for them.

It is indeed very difficult to hunt bugs in Shanghai now, but we can always find a space for them. But compared with places like Zhejiang and Yunnan, Shanghai is indeed not rich in species.

Therefore, when I was shooting locally in Shanghai, I would not pursue species diversity and scarcity too much, but pursue how to take good photos of ordinary insects.

▶ Shanghai Pudong Century Park, Nanhui and other remote suburbs are frequent shooting locations

We will go to some parks with better ecology, such as Pudong Century Park, and the venue here is relatively large. There will definitely be some by the pond in the park. Dragonfly, frog.There are also relatively remote suburbs like Pudong Nanhui, which are also our frequent shooting locations.

Q: Now that your skills are mature, in what ways will you improve your skills?

▶ Look at excellent foreign works and think more about photography

I will look at some excellent foreign macro works to learn their strengths. On the other hand, I will think more during the shooting process, and I will not take big steps to suddenly change my style.

Q: Are you teaching macro photography in classes?

▶ I have summed up a set of experiences in live broadcast sharing

. I opened a live broadcast class on DingTalk . This is the main way of teaching, and then I also delivered some courses on some learning platforms, but this way is estimated There was not much publicity, so the effect was not very good. The students who followed me in class were mainly friends in my WeChat group. Of course, these classes are all my own and I have not cooperated with other brands.

▌ Equipment matching and parameter settings for macro photography

Q: How to choose between manual and automatic focus?

▶ The light determines the choice of

. This depends on the scene and cannot be generalized.

When the lighting is good, you can choose to use autofocus. The autofocus performance of the camera is still very good now.

When the light is not very good, I will choose to manually focus to capture some moving insects. Focus on through the trap, continuously shoot and extract good photos from it.

Q: How to light macro photography when natural light is not ideal?

▶ Natural light macro and flash macro have different lighting options

I divide macro photography into natural light macro and flash macro.

In most environments during the day, if I don’t pursue high magnification, I generally won’t use fill light. If the insect being photographed is not moving very much, I will use reflector or LED light to fill in the light.

But if the light is really bad, I will definitely use a flash and a soft light device to set the light. The style of the photos taken this way is completely different, because the background of most photos is black.

Although indoor shooting can provide better lighting and better control of the shooting environment, at present I rarely shoot insect corpses (specimens) indoors. Maybe I will make some such attempts in the future.

Q: What are your common shooting parameters?

▶ I will not open the aperture too small

In natural light environment, most of my apertures will not be very small. While pursuing the depth of field, I will pay attention to blurring the background.

If the aperture exceeds F8.0 or F11.0, the background blur will be very poor, so macro photography requires you to master the focus plane very well, so that you can show depth of field even with a large aperture.

If you are pursuing magnification, the higher the magnification requirement, the smaller the aperture will be. At this time, you need to use a tripod to shoot. For example, when you reach F11 or above, you usually need to use a tripod because the shutter speed will be very low at this time.

Q: Is it necessary to bring a tripod when shooting in the wild?

▶ I will bring it, but I will not necessarily use it.

I will always bring a tripod to take pictures. If the on-site conditions are suitable, I will try to use a tripod to take pictures, but in fact, the conditions in the wild are often very changeable. , so in many cases tripod and will not work, and more often have to be handheld.

There are too many sudden events on site. Sometimes it is more important to take a picture, because when you do not have good shooting conditions, it is more important to be able to take a picture. Because by the time you get your tripod ready, the bugs will have already escaped.

Q: What equipment is essential for macro photography? And how to choose a macro lens?

▶ To play macro, you must first have a professional macro lens

First of all, you'd better have a professional macro lens. Secondly, you also need another good helper for shooting - a "tripod" and a windproof clip. Prepare , because macro photography requires very high stability, and wind is the biggest enemy of macro photography.

Beginners generally choose a macro lens with a focal length, such as 90mm, 100mm, 105mm, etc.; if you want to take flash macro shots, use a short focus lens such as 40mm, 50mm, 60mm, 70mm; if you are shooting in a natural light environment, and If the lens magnification is too small, you can use a telephoto lens with a focal length of 150mm, 180mm, 200mm or even 300mm.

When choosing a macro lens, the first thing to consider is the convenience of use. The focusing performance of the lens must be very good. Secondly, its image quality must also meet the requirements, and it must not be too heavy..

Because if the lens is too heavy for shooting in the wild, it will be very inconvenient to carry, and it will be very tiring to carry it for a long time. At this time, it is very likely that you will go out and take a few photos, and you will not want to take any more. The lens will simply become a fitness equipment. .

▌The origin of Brother Cat and photography

Q: What was the opportunity for you to get into photography?

▶ If I had a camera, I would definitely take better pictures than them.

My colleague bought a SLR before, and he would help take pictures when we went on trips. Once, after I saw the photos he took, I felt that the photos were average. I was just thinking: Is this what it takes with such an expensive camera? If I had a camera, I would definitely take better pictures than them.

Later, I had some photography needs, so I bought a SLR. At the beginning, I took pictures randomly, taking pictures of everything I saw. Later, because of my childhood experience, I started photographing insects. My childhood experience made me like to photograph these small insects. The more you photograph, the more opportunities you will have to get in touch with insects, photography, macro-related activities and people.

I have been photographing insects for almost ten years . At first I just patted them casually. The current works are pretty good, but the shooting requirements are completely different now and then.

In addition to insect photography, I often climb stairs to take pictures of scenery . Shanghai is very suitable for climbing stairs to take pictures of city scenery. Nowadays, it is getting harder and harder to climb the buildings and the blockade is stricter, so I take less pictures of city scenery now. But if I have the opportunity to go to other cities, I will still take pictures of the city scenery.

Q: What role does photography play in your life?

▶ I spend most of my spare time on photography

In addition to work, I spend most of my spare time on photography. In addition to being my hobby, photography can bring me a sense of self-realization and accomplishment outside of work. It is a good thing that the photos I take can be liked by everyone and shared.

▶ Online multi-channel communication, offline organization of actual shooting exchanges

I have established a WeChat group , where film lovers can share freely. At the same time, I also opened a WeChat public account . I usually write some articles to share on it. In addition to my own platform, I will also post on some mainstream photography platforms to communicate and interact with everyone.

In addition to online communication, we will also organize offline activities. Sometimes everyone would make an appointment to go shooting together. Although I live in Shanghai and there are not many people shooting insects in Shanghai, we have also made some like-minded friends who like macro insect photography. We regularly organize shooting trips, such as going to parks or suburban wilderness to shoot bugs.

This kind of real-life shooting event has been held in previous years, but this year is special because the epidemic in Shanghai is serious, and I am now locked at home and unable to go out. This spring is over in a flash, and Shanghai may not be able to unblock it until May.

Q: Have you ever thought about what you want to achieve?

▶ I don’t judge the quality of my work by whether I win an award.

I don’t have to win a big award. If I aim at winning an award, I will most likely fall into a state of worrying about gains and losses, and then I will use “whether I win an award” as a measure of my work. The standard of good and bad. I won't do that, I still want to follow my own pace.

Of course, every year I will think about what aspects I can improve or make some changes, but I will not say that winning awards will be the ultimate criterion for positioning my works.. If you push yourself too hard, photography will become an unpleasant thing, and it may not be long before you can no longer hold on and want to give up photography.

▌Why won’t photography become a career choice?

Q: You have many experiences of cooperation with magazines and brands. Could you become a professional photographer in the future?

▶ The royalties I get from writing articles and reviews are not enough to support me.

In fact, this kind of cooperation is relatively rare. In most cases, the brand invites me to write some articles and then pay me some royalties. Sometimes the manufacturer will also send me some macro equipment for review.

Of course, the frequency of this kind of business cooperation is not very high, so if you want to survive on this source of income, it is impossible. So these cooperation with manufacturers can only be said to allow me to earn some pocket money. It is still impossible to make a living relying on cooperation with manufacturers.

▶ Don’t treat your hobby as a job

It is very difficult to support yourself through photography, especially when I live in a place with high cost of living like Shanghai. Unless photography can bring me a very large income, it is impossible to turn photography into a professional career.

Also, I think there is a drawback to treating photography as a career. As a professional photographer, many times, even though you don’t really want to take pictures, you still have to take pictures, because that’s what work is, so don’t treat your hobbies as work, otherwise you will lose this interest.

Q: What are your future development plans for macro photography?

▶ Macro video is my future development direction

I may spend a large part of this year shooting macro video. Nowadays, many people are taking time-lapse shots of flowers blooming. This subject is relatively common. I want to change the form. For example, I will take pictures of animals.

So now I am still observing others to see how others take pictures. When the time comes, I may make some adjustments based on this.

▌ Advice for beginners

Q: How can beginners continue on the path of macro photography?

▶ Don’t pursue the quantity of equipment first.

If you are a beginner, don’t pursue the quantity of equipment first. You can first play around with equipment such as adapters, close-up lenses, , etc., and then upgrade your equipment when you confirm that you are really interested in macro photography or can persist in macro photography.

You may encounter some setbacks when shooting to the back, but you must be patient in macro photography, because many times it is not said that I will be able to shoot a blockbuster in just one day of shooting. Sometimes we shoot many days a year, and it would be great to have dozens of photos in total.

▌ work display

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