Macro photography is more than just a capture in 1:1 magnification ratio; it is a gateway into a hidden universe. While the technical definition means the subject on my camera sensor is life-sized, the reality of capturing it is far from simple.
For over a decade, I have lived this craft. It is, without a doubt, the most demanding form of nature photography. It requires a heavy backpack, immense patience, and the physical grit to endure heat, insect stings, and the constant watch for snakes. Behind every sharp “focus” or “perfectly lit shot” using extension tubes and reversal rings, there is hours of labour in the dark and damp.
Beyond the Lens: A Different Intention
My goal isn’t just to master the “depth of field” – it is to reveal the untamed elegance of the forest floor. We often walk right over a masterpiece without looking down.
While the World focuses on conservation of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, the tiny ecosystems under our boots are often forgotten. But forest floor is an integral part of the whole ecosystem. And it is getting polluted every day every minute.
This leads me to a vital question: Where does our trash truly go?
Every Piece of Trash Has a Story
The forest floor shouldn’t be a graveyard for our convenience. Before you discard a glass bottle, a plastic cup, or a Styrofoam wrapper, I ask you to pause.
• Is there another way?
• Can it be reused?
• What story will this piece of trash tell a hundred years from now?
We have the power to change the narrative of our planet, starting with the smallest creatures and the dirt beneath our feet. It’s time to look closer. It’s time to think.
In the shadows of the forest lies a world often misunderstood. Most people overlook or dislike the tiny creatures around us, but they are the silent heartbeat of our ecosystem. If these small wonders disappear, the entire forest will suffer. My macro photography is a journey into tiny world, a mission to capture their delicate beauty and the deep mysteries they carry within their small frames.
1. NATURE’S DESIGN: Through the lens of macro photography, a hidden drama unfolds in the backyard, transforming common garden pests into a work of art. What initially resembles the delicate, pleated layers of a chiffon saree or elegant curtains draped over a window is actually the intricate webbing of Red Spider Mites. These tiny creatures, measuring a mere 1–2 mm, create silken pathways to escape predatory ants that guard nearby aphids. While they appear as beautiful “prints” upon a fabric of web, these mites are formidable plant enemies, hatching from eggs to feast on leaf cells and damage garden life.
The photographer captured this “unseen world” using an impressive in-camera technique, merging five separate exposures into a single, geometric composition. By positioning external flashes with colored cellophane from both the front and back, the photographer highlighted the translucent depth of the webs. This creative approach turns a biological struggle for survival into a dramatic, abstract masterpiece. By blending the technical precision of multiple exposures with a poetic eye for texture, the artist reveals that even the smallest “enemies” of the garden possess a complex and striking beauty when viewed from a different perspective.
2. SNAIL ENJOYING SPORULATION: I know snails can eat mushrooms and may carry and disperse mushroom spores. Snails eat fungi for nutrition and flavour. Snails may promote fungal growth by grazing on leaves and depositing nitrogen-rich faeces on wounds. Fungi get benefit from snail grazing by gaining access to nutrients and inner plant tissues. Snails have chemical receptors that help them differentiate between different types of fungi.
In this image I have documented a snail enjoying mushroom spores. I had to spent a long time and work hard to make this photo. In late monsoon, forests are very dangerous due to leech, snakes and other insects. It’s very hard to find snails near mushrooms.
3. LONG-LEGGED LOVE: Deep in the quiet forest, where tall trees stood like sleepy giants, two long-legged creatures met. They were crane flies, sometimes called mosquito hawks, though they don’t actually bite like mosquitoes!
The forest floor was a soft, green carpet, and a small, hopeful sapling reached for the sky. The two crane flies were clinging to one of its bright green leaves. They looked a little awkward and very delicate with their thin, stilt-like legs.
They were having a special moment, a meeting of love. The larger one, likely the female, held onto the leaf, while the male was carefully attached to her back. They stayed perfectly still, a tiny, fragile pair of dots against the big, blurry background of the woods.
The air was still, and the light filtering through the canopy made everything feel peaceful. For these two tiny insects, this small leaf was their world, a perfect, quiet spot for their long-legged love story to begin.
Here I have used Laowa 15mm F/4, wide angle macro lens, the toughest manual focus to achieve this perspective.
4. AQUEOUS COURTSHIP: During the rainy season in our Himalayan foothills we find many creatures. Snails are one of them. I planned for an image which depicts the habitat and behaviour of this species. I am very much lucky that I have got these couple mating.
As macro photographer I always try to present the small creatures in its natural habitat. But to photograph snail’s courtship in continuous rain is not so easy, because of several problems, light setup and threats like leeches, snakes and other unknowns. I made several attempts to document this scene, but failed each time. Finally, I managed it by using in-camera multiple exposure technique.
5. BEARING THE BURDEN: This is a unique behaviour of Red Weaver Ants. This species has always been a point of interest for a long time. I clicked this image near the bank of river Jayanti, Buxa Hills, Buxa Tiger Reserve Forest, and West Bengal. Two years back I was in a macro photo tour at the aforesaid place. We started waking to find our macro subjects. Suddenly I saw an ant running with a broken wing of a butterfly. At once I lay down on wet sand of the riverbed. I clicked so many shots in different position. This is a worker ant collecting article for colony. Workers perform tasks that are essential for colony survival, including foraging, nest building, and colony defence. They often fight for their territory and articles. The worker ant’s exchange of information and modulation of worker behaviour that occur during worker-worker interactions are facilitated using chemical and tactile communication signals. These signals are used primarily in the contexts of foraging and colony defence.
6. PARENTAL CARE: The most important task of any organism is to breed. Parental care is a part of it, so that the future generation can be fit and fine to take part in the struggle for existence in Nature and become victorious. Parental care is one of the most important phenomena in animals. It is, if we simply define, an endowment on the behalf of the mother or father or both of them for the fitness and well-being of their offspring. It may even start before laying or giving birth. Naturally, it is also found in insects. As a photographer it fascinates me very much.
Cantao Shield Bug Sitting on Eggs. This bug, as observed by me, constantly sits on the laid eggs from laying to hatching without a single moment’s departure. It never leaves its eggs however odd the situation may be. In heavy shower or in terrible storm it does its duty without any break. The remarkable thing of this bug is maternal care. Female bug lays 50-60 eggs on a leaf and covers them to protect from predators. From my 4 months continuous field observations, female bugs lay eggs on back side of the leaf of the host tree (Mallotus Paniculatus) and sit over them until babies come out; their determination to guard eggs and babies from all kinds of external disturbance is very much interesting
7. SOLAR SYSTEM: At the heart of a chaotic universe, a single orb weaver spider rests a silent sun in its own solar system. Its intricate web, a delicate and invisible thread, stretches out like the fabric of space. Within this sticky cosmos, countless flies, like frantic planets and stars, orbit the central figure. Their paths are not orderly but wild and desperate, each one chaotically drawn to the spider’s gravitational pull.
The unseen lines of the web are their destinies, and they dance on this ethereal stage, a desperate ballet of life and death. They move with reckless speed, sometimes colliding with one another, forever bound to the orb weaver’s silent, patient watch. This is a universe in miniature, where the spider is the ruler and the flies are its subjects, their lives forever intertwined in a fragile, glittering net of fate.
8. SUSPENDED CHOREOGRAPHY: In humans, men and women use clothing, perfumes, songs, dance, or fitness to impress and attract each other. Insects also do the same; they use pheromones, sounds and dances etc. to find a mate.
The crane flies are known for their unique mating behaviour called “genitalic stridulation”, where the male produces sustained, rhythmic vibrations using specialized structures on his genitalia. This movement is rapid, with a rate of around 15-30 cycles per second.
This behaviour serves to stimulate the female during copulation. While many insects use vibrations for communication, this particular form is notable for its use during the act of copulation itself.
Crane flies (family Tipulidae) show a behaviour known as “vibratory bouncing” or “bobbing.” The blurred, streaky lines are a result of the insect’s rapid, up-and-down movements captured over time. During copulation, the male performs a series of stereotyped, rhythmic movements. He scrapes the scraper across the file, generating a burst of vibrations.
9. THE ALIEN EMERGING: This is a mesmerizing photograph of snail, emerges from the bottom of the frame, its two delicate eyestalks reaching upward into a dark, star-like expanse. The background isn’t a galaxy, but a deep, inky space filled with countless brilliant droplets of water, in a rainy night, each one a tiny world of light. The snail’s form is a silhouette against this cosmic scene, its body a rich, earthy brown. A small creature seems to be navigating a universe of its own, turning a simple natural scene into something otherworldly and profound. The play of light and shadow transforms the familiar into the fantastic, creating a feeling of wonder and mystery.
Under a vast, dark sky, a tiny explorer began its slow journey. Raindrops, like a million scattered stars, fell all around, each one a shimmering jewel against the deep blue. This little creature, a snail, poked its curious head upwards, its delicate feelers reaching out as if to touch the sparkling world above. It wasn’t just a simple climb; it was an adventure into the cosmos of its own making. Every droplet held a reflection, a tiny universe the snail was navigating. With each gentle slide, it moved through this twinkling downpour, a testament to resilience and the quiet wonder of a small life embracing the grandeur of the night.
10. BEAUTY OF LOVE: This is a unique presentation of mating pair. In the season of monsoon we get mating of stink bug. Urolabida histrionica is a species of Stink Bug from the Family Urostylididae. It has bright green, yellow and golden colours in back. It has 3 pairs of legs and a pair of long horn. I have shot this image in teak wood forest locally called “SAL BON” which was made by Royal Rajas of Cooch Behar about 250 years ago. Their life cycle starts from first rain and ends with monsoon. In this period, they mate, lay eggs, babies hatch etc. The insects that are born at a certain time of the year and disappear after that period also have an important role in nature. Their numbers are decreasing day by day due to deforestation and increase in human settlements. 5 years back there were plenty numbers of stink bugs, but now it is a bit hard to find.
To make this dream-like image, I used in-camera multiple / double exposure technique. The first image of mating was taken with Tamron 90mm VC USD. I used Godox flash MF12 K2 with diffuser from back to create a rim light. Keeping the camera on I replaced the lens with old vintage lens Pentacon Auto 50 mm F/1.8 multi coating lens. I obstruct the entering of light by placing an opaque black coloured hard board in front of lens to make back bokeh. Camera itself merged them into one raw.
NEF file. I have pre-visualized the whole scene before capturing it with the camera.
11. SPINES AND SPORES: Don’t be afraid by seeing the sharp spines or stings? This is slug caterpillar moth or cup moth. Cup Moth larvae are often highly ornamented and brightly coloured. It has stinging spines called nettle caterpillars. A stinging slug caterpillar generally bears warning coloration and stinging hairs. These hairs can inject venom from poison sacs carried at their base that are used as defensive weapons. Reactions can range from a mild itching to a very painful sting. We can see various types of caterpillars in our daily life from our backyard garden to jungle.
Here I wanted to create eye-catchy and attractive image by combining stings with the mushroom spores. I have got this image at the forest called “SAL BON”, outskirts of Cooch Behar town. This forest is under social forestry department where I frequently go with my camera. This forest is full of flora and fauna.
One of the main objectives behind my nature photography is to present nature to the people in such a way that they feel interest in knowing and understanding our nature. That’s why I always want to photograph all the amazing, magical, unknown and unseen phenomenon of nature. To achieve this image, I had to think and plan very hard. This is an in-camera multiple / double exposure image. Keeping the camera on a sturdy Sirui tripod I have taken both shots with Tamron 90 mm VC USD but in different places. I have used different white balance to achieve attractive colours.
12. EPHEMERAL ELEGANCE: In a world bleached clean by light, a delicate creature clings to the edge of existence. This is Ephemeral Elegance, a study in high-key minimalism. This is a mayfly, appears spun from golden thread and mica, a faint whisper against the vast, blinding white.
Its wings are a masterpiece of nature’s lace, translucent and veined with the finest black lines, catching the light like stained glass in miniature. They hover over its slender, tawny body, which tapers down into long, gossamer tails that drift like calligraphy strokes across the blank canvas.
It is caught in a moment of pure, fragile grace; a tiny, complex life form isolated in an infinite void. The composition pushes the subject to the upper right, granting it a stark importance that belies its small size, transforming a simple insect on a wall into a beacon of ethereal beauty. It is a fleeting vision, an elegant secret whispered on the cusp of disappearance.
13. BENEATH THE CANOPY: This is a millipede eating mosses on a tree. This is a low angle shot, looking up, which makes the tree trunk appear tall and majestic. It has many legs and segmented body, is in sharp focus against the blurred green leaves of the canopy.
This image shows a small world on the forest floor, a place of damp, dark earth covered by a blanket of fallen leaves and decaying wood. This is the perfect home for a millipede.
Millipedes are fascinating, slow-moving creatures. They spend most of their time in these moist, hidden places, working to clean up the environment. As detritivores, their main activity is to eat and break down dead plant matter, like the leaves and wood you might see in this photo. They move slowly but purposefully, using their many legs to push through the leaf litter.
When a millipede feels a threat, it doesn’t run away quickly like a centipede. Instead, its defence is to curl into a tight spiral, protecting its soft belly with its hard outer shell. This activity makes them an essential part of the ecosystem, as they recycle nutrients back into the soil and help keep the forest healthy.
14. DEADLY ROAD CROSSING: In my hometown of Cooch Behar, West Bengal, we share our lives with a special creature – the baby peacock softshell turtle. We affectionately call them “Mohan”. These turtles are a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List and can only be found in a few places in the world, including India. They thrive in the ponds around the Baneswar Lord Shiva temple, a place where generations of these turtles have lived.
But their home is becoming a trap.
Every year, from June to July, the female turtles need to leave the water to find sandy banks to lay their eggs. A few years ago, the temple committee made a well-intentioned but disastrous decision: they poured concrete around the ponds, removing all the sand and gravel. Now, to find a place to lay their eggs, the turtles are forced to migrate. Their only path is the nearby high-traffic road, especially at night. This journey is incredibly dangerous, and many turtles, both adults and hatchlings, are tragically killed by passing cars.
On the night of July 16, 2025, I received a phone call that a group of baby turtles were trying to cross the road. When I arrived, the scene was heart-breaking. Four tiny turtles, each no bigger than 2.5 cm, were crushed by cars. They were probably only a week old. Thanks to some kind-hearted locals, 23 others were saved. My friend, with the help of police and residents, even blocked the busy road to protect them.
I stayed until 9 p.m., watching in the dark as these helpless babies tried to cross the road again and again. Their small size made them impossible for drivers to see. Each time we found them; we carefully picked them up and returned them to a nearby pond. The image of those three little turtles on the busy road, with the headlights of cars and bikes approaching, is one I’ll never forget. These creatures need our help to survive. I’ve done what I can to inform the forest department, local police, and the community. It’s up to all of us to protect these precious beings and give them a fighting chance.
15. COLOURS OF NUPTIAL FLIGHT: These are flying termites. We all know before the start of monsoon every year, some species of termites fly swarms in the late afternoon and in early evening. This is called nuptial flight. We can find the mound of termites in wet abandoned places. Each mound is built by a king and queen. They have also king, queen, soldier and worker termites like weaver ants. And in a mound, there are millions of termites of a single colony. When they become adult, wings grow on their body. Now they are capable of building new colonies, they are attracted towards light. They fly around light to find their partner. Like most nocturnal insects, the pests will be drawn to light sources around the home, such as streetlamps, motion lights etc. It is very common to see swarms of termites flying around utility lights inside the room as well. One day I saw this near a petrol pump.
This is a multiple exposure image. As the termites are flying around a long high streetlamp, I have to use tripod. There are 5 shots, camera merged them into one. Blue and yellowish tones are due to kelvin and tungsten white balance mode. To make it more eye catchy I have taken some shot in slow shutter and some in high.
16. MUSHROOM MAGIC: I always feel attraction towards the natural phenomenon which is a bit rare and uncommon. My subconscious mind always searches for such unseen events. In this image I am showing a rare and hard to see the natural phenomenon of oyster mushroom. Oyster mushrooms are edible and largely cultivated. Oyster mushrooms are simple to cook. You can add them to stews and soups and sauces, or use them as a pizza topping. It is rich in Vitamin C and B complex and protein. It has most of the mineral salts required by the human body. The niacin content is about ten times higher than any other vegetable. The folic acid present in oyster mushrooms helps to cure anaemia.
Mushroom spores are tiny microscopic reproductive units that are produced by fungi. Releasing spores is the phase as both the beginning and end of a mushroom’s life. On one hand, a mushroom has fulfilled its purpose once it has fully matured and released its spores for future generation and starts decomposing. On the other hand, spores are carried via wind or water until they ultimately settle on a surface with favourable conditions to start growing.
To make this natural phenomenon dramatic and eye-catchy I have used some harsh flashlights masked with coloured cellophane paper to achieve my coveted shot. This is an in-camera multiple exposure / double exposure image. I have taken first and second image of mushroom placed in extreme left and right side of the image. Then I have taken the image of waves of spores released by mushroom. It is very tough to locate and take photos of the spore waves. Unidirectional light can be the only process to achieve this spore waves. I have taken multiple images and camera itself merged them and produced one NEF raw file.
17. MOULTING AT DUSK: This is a natural history moment I witnessed. This is a moulting scene of bush cricket. I found this near a paddy field. Moulting is an essential activity in insect. All invertebrates, amphibians, arachnids and other animals do moult or shed, ie; casts off their exoskeleton, either at specific times of the year or at specific points in its life cycle. Moulting or shedding is the replacement of skin or feather. For young grasshoppers to continue their growth, development and reach the adult stage, they must periodically moult or shed their outer skin. Depending on species and sex, they moult four to six times during their nymphal or immature life. The young grasshopper sheds the outer skin, the hard exoskeleton and the nymph starts feeding and growing. After moulting five times it becomes an adult and gains fully functional wings. I have seen many numbers of moulting of different bugs, beetles, and insects. This is the unique behaviour of animals.
I have pictured this just before the dark. The chaotic moving objects you can see in the background were small sized flies. To capture the whole scene, I had to use in camera multiple exposure / double exposure technique. Here I have taken total 3 shots. My first shot was of moulting in reddish tone (WB kelvin). Second shot of some ripe paddy to show the actual scene. And the last one for the moving flies in background. Camera itself merged the above three image taken and supplied me a single RAW NEF file.
But some scientific study suggests that this bouncing behaviour is a way of Defence mechanism or for the fly to disperse residual flight momentum, helping it to land and stabilize itself.
18. COLOR RIOTS: Suspended in a web that seems spun from moonlight and midnight, a tiny hunter becomes the radiant star of a cosmic spectacle. This is not just a spider’s lair, but a stage set for a “Colour Riot,” where light itself is shattered and flung in a dazzling, anarchic spray.
The dark backdrop melts away into a cascade of vibrant, elongated prisms—electric blues, startling pinks, acid greens, and gold—all streaking outward like a meteor shower captured in slow motion. These luminous bars of light don’t just illuminate the scene; they feel like the very energy of the universe is vibrating through the taut, invisible silk. The spider, centred in the chaos, is an island of delicate focus. Its legs splay across the glittering tapestry, appearing almost ghost-ly against the explosive light. It is both the architect of its gossamer trap and the conductor of this brilliant, ethereal orchestra. It is a moment where the mundane reality of a garden spider transcends into a breath taking, abstract masterpiece, proving that even the smallest life can be wrapped in the most spectacular, silent light show.
19. LIGHT TRAILS: In the deep velvet dark, a ribbon of molten gold dances, tracing the invisible air with ephemeral light. It’s a whisper of fire captured in motion -not a flame, but the luminous echo of movement itself. The streaks are both sharp and soft, suggesting the rapid, kinetic energy of something moving through the frame, leaving behind a ghostly, vibrant signature. This abstract illumination cuts across the void, transforming the simple concept of a “light trail”.
Hanging gently beneath a cool, damp leaf, this cranefly is captured in a single, luminous moment. Look closely! Its long, exquisitely delicate legs are a clever escape artist’s trick easily shed to leave a hungry predator empty-handed.
But its most captivating act is its vibration. Observe how it trembles, creating a shimmering blur of movement.
I used the sunlight filtering from behind to frame the creature, and a long shutter speed transformed its constant, tiny movements into streaks of light a ghostly, beautiful record of its secret dance.
20. UNIK SIGNATURE: Photography is a matter of beauty, conservation, awareness and restoration of Mother Nature. As a passionate nature photographer my core intention is to inspire viewers through my works. I always try to do something new, eye catchy and thought-provoking. This is a simple signature spider. This tiny unique spider has something attractive. It is a kind of Orb-weaver spider but the web is dense, prominent structure of white, zigzag silk woven into the centre of their large, wheel-shaped signature like orb webs. It may help them camouflage while resting at the centre of the web. Females are brightly coloured, often displaying bold patterns of yellow, black, and sometimes white on their abdomens. They are diurnal (active during the day) and primarily prey on small to medium-sized flying insects caught in their webs. They are found in a variety of habitats, including gardens, shrub lands, forests, and fields, typically spinning their large webs in low vegetation about 1–2 meters (3–6 feet) above the ground.
But the best part of the image is the barrel type background effect. To make this dream like image, I have used in-camera multiple / double exposure technique. The first image of mating was taken with Tamron 90mm VC USD + Godox flash MF12 K2 with diffuser. Keeping the camera on I replaced the lens with old vintage lens Helios 44M-4 58mm F/2 (front glass flipped/reversed) lens and second shot was taken. Camera itself merged them into one producing a raw NEF file. I have pre-visualized the whole scene before capturing it with the camera. It is very risky to change lens in the forest keeping camera on. If the audience appreciates this, the difficult work and risk will have been worth it.