This year, I decided to approach presidents special a little different – since our annual meeting fell the day after the NCAA Men’s Final and on Election Day, I decided to host a bracket where members got to pick the topic.

Our President’s Special Final Four was:

After Round 1 – Macro/Close-Up & Long Exposure came out victorious.

In the end – the winner and this year’s president special is:  Macro/Close-Up

Rules:

• Image must be taken after 4/4/17
• No Arthropods (Insects/Spiders) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropod
• No Plants – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant
  • Exceptions: Fruit/Vegetables in their final form are allowed – for example a cherry is allowed, but not a cherry blossom.
  • Fungi are not in the plant kingdom, therefore also allowed

Why did I add the Arthropod/Plant restriction?

I wanted the club members to step out outside the box and get creative.  If you google “Macro Photography” you will notice almost all of the images are of insects/spiders and flowers.

I also noticed this trend on Flickr – the trend continued on the largest Macro group.  https://www.flickr.com/groups/49503086607@N01/

I then found a Flickr group which had restriction and I really like the diversity of images compared to the traditional macro groups – so I decided to add the same restrictions to president’s special. https://www.flickr.com/groups/macro_noflower_noinsect/

Macro/Close-Up Resources

Here are just a few website I found that provide useful information:

• Mike Moats (I took his workshop) – https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/
• Digital Photography School – https://digital-photography-school.com/?s=Macro
• YouTube Videos – https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=CAM%253D&q=macro+photography

Happy Shooting and good luck!