True macro photography is the ability to produce an image on the film plane or digital sensor that is life size or larger . This typically requires special equipment. I use a Canon 100mm L Macro lens for all of my “macro” photography. It also happens to be my favorite portrait lens. It produces sharp images with a creamy bokeh (the blurring of the background- the quality of bokeh that a lens can produce is largely influenced by the shape of the aperture blades, focal length and your depth of field). What makes macro photography so difficult is that all that “up-close” ability comes at the cost of your depth of field (how much of the image is in focus). The more magnification you get the less depth of field.

I initially bought this lens so I could do exactly this, photograph BUGS!

So this week, I am sharing a few of my favorite images of the fun and furry crawly caterpillars that I found hanging out in my yard.

I also had to throw in one photo of a cute dragonfly.