From Observation to Award-Winning Imagery: Adam Ferry's Macro Journey

The inspiration behind the image came from wanting to highlight a moment in nature that many people would never normally notice. I found this Flower Crab Spider waiting patiently for prey to fly into the flower for the pollen. I love how I was able to capture the personality of the subject with the strong colours of the Rose flower contrasting the Spider.

What interested me most about this image was the combination of behaviour, light, and perspective. Macro photography allows you to enter a hidden world and present it in a way that feels dramatic and intimate at the same time.

Winning this award feels incredibly rewarding because wildlife and macro photography often require long hours, patience, and persistence for a single frame. Having that work recognised by an international competition feels incredible.

In my photography I tend to look for strong eye catching compositions which try and convey the behaviour and personality of the subject. I want the viewer to be drawn to the image incorporating as much colour and detail as I can.

I’ve always been fascinated by wildlife and the outdoors, especially the smaller creatures that people tend to overlook. I started with wildlife and landscape photography before finding out more about the world of macro photography through other photographers, and by then, I was hooked.

Macro wildlife photography is definitely my favourite because it reveals an entirely hidden world. Insects may be tiny, but they can be incredibly expressive, complex, and visually striking when viewed up close. I love showing the behaviours and personalities of these tiny, often unseen creatures.

My go-to setup is the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II paired with the M.Zuiko 90mm macro lens. I find the Micro Four Thirds system works incredibly well for macro wildlife photography because the sensor format gives excellent effective magnification while still keeping the setup lightweight and portable for long periods out in the field.

The system is especially useful when working with insects, where depth of field is extremely limited at high magnifications, with useful features like focus bracketing being invaluable.

I’d want people to feel a sense of wonder and appreciation for the smaller parts of nature that often go unseen. Also, for them to feel a connection to the creature and feel some of its personality through its behaviour and the unseen details.

The biggest challenge was patience and timing. In macro wildlife photography, subjects are constantly moving, making focus bracketing very difficult. So shots like this require persistence and patience to wait for the perfect moment to create the shot, which is very difficult with such unpredictable subjects.

I regularly visit a diverse range of habitats in order to find different and varied species of insect to photograph, which include places such as woodlands, meadows and heathland. I, in particular, like to visit meadows with lots of wildflowers, which attract pollinators, as this can be a great place to find interesting subjects and compositions.

I follow lots of amazing macro photographers online, which is how I first found out about the amazing world of macro photography and their photos constantly inspire me.

Photography awards are a great opportunity to share your perspective and push yourself creatively. Competitions encourage photographers to refine their work and think carefully about storytelling and impact.

My advice would be to submit images that genuinely excite you personally rather than trying to follow trends or copy what you’ve seen in other competitions.

With regard to macro photography and wildlife photography, understanding your subject is key; learning their individual behaviours makes it easier to predict their patterns. As well as this, it's key to learn their habitats and when they are active in order to find suitable subjects to photograph. Alongside this, it can take a while to get used to macro photography and the techniques needed, so don’t give up quickly!

I try to edit and post-process the images I take as little as possible to keep authenticity in my images.

Technology and AI are already improving workflows in areas like noise reduction, focus stacking, and subject detection, which can be especially useful in macro photography. I have noticed since starting macro photography that these technological changes are constantly evolving and I think it's quite important to stay aware of trends whilst still remaining authentic.

I’d love to travel to Costa Rica one day to photograph all the amazing insects and wildlife they have there! It's such a diverse ecosystem with so many different incredible and unique subjects to photograph.