Temple of the Sun – Shot on iPhone with Don Komarechka

Words by Don Komarechka - A Platypod Pro
Edited by Eryka Bagwell

"This one is special for me, obviously clearly staged but, these studio shots are a lot of fun and inventive. Before we dive into the details, I just want to let everyone know that I have a macro photography workshop coming up from February 3rd to the 24th which has a few spots left. DM me for details."

"This is another example of a photograph taken with the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Moment 75mm macro lens. This time it’s on the main camera that is capable (with the right app) of shooting 48MP raw images. My preference of app is Halideapp, which offers up manual focus and exposure controls, including focus peaking to see where the exact point of focus is located. It’ll also give me the giant raw file; it’s not the same as a 48MP file from a larger-sensor dedicated camera, but it does offer some additional details that you cannot achieve from the basic camera app."

"This is staged (obviously!) using a bed of moss and a number of aquamarine crystals. Aquamarine is in the beryl family of crystals, which includes emerald among others. The crystals are arranged to look like ancient pillars of a long-forgotten temple, though they are carefully arranged in a single line so that the narrow depth of field can capture everything in a single frame."

"I tried many variations on this image, some using wildflower seeds or flower petals, but these were unsuccessful. The initial problems were caused by the light used to illuminate the aquamarine coming in from behind the flower, backlighting the scene. This light would also hit any other objects and make them too bright for the composition to work. However, what if I just placed a sphere in the scene? The sphere is actually a 'water bead,' a tiny gel ball that absorbs water until it reaches the size of a marble. You can find them easily on Amazon for a few dollars. The water bead is placed farther back in the scene and is not technically in focus in the image. The refraction through the bead focuses at a different point than the bead itself, and the position lines up with the rest of the crystals being nicely sharp." 

@platypodtripods #platypod #iPhone15ProMax #iPhone15 #macro #crystal #moss

You can view more of Don's work by visiting his website and/or his Instagram page.

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