What do you do with your macros?

No doubt there is a lot of enthusiasm for taking macros, but I was wondering what you do with them once you've taken them. Perhaps you would like to share.

For me, its just a hobby. I have a fine job, but not as a photographer. I recently got back into photography after a couple decades (my gear got stolen). I just needed to be creative to reduce the stress levels of the ugly world we live in. Macro gives you so many new things to look at and different ways to look at it. I haven't sold any of my photos. I just get satisfaction out of creating them. Sounds like an expensive hobby, but I just do it for me.

How about you? Maybe you support education, or are a professional? Tell us about your experience.

Share online. Many of mine go to bugguide.net to document the presence of insects and spiders in this locale or their behavior. A few go to the Super Macro Guessing Game thread, under Competitions, and other threads in that section.

How macros are different from anything else?

samsen wrote in post #15662916
How macros are different from anything else?

Good question. They're certainly just photos, but I was curious about macros. Other types of photos have more obvious uses/outlets, e.g. landscapes, portraits, wedding photos. So I thought it would be interesting to discover what purposes macros could be used for, what other are doing with them. Perhaps some are even able to make a living out of it. When you read threads here, they focus on a specific aspect of a technical nature or subject (as in insect or flower). I thought it would be interesting to talk about a broader subject relating to macrophotography. Plus there seems to be a lot more attention given to other types of photography, so this is an opportunity to find out something more specific to macrophotography.

It also speaks as to why you like macrophotography. What are your goals?

OhLook wrote in post #15662905
Share online. Many of mine go to bugguide.net to document the presence of insects and spiders in this locale or their behavior. A few go to the Super Macro Guessing Game thread, under Competitions, and other threads in that section.

That idea is similar to the Smithsonian's EOL (Encyclopedia Of Life) project. Do you make an effort to geotag your photos that will be used for this type of documentation?

I post mine on facebook, flickr, my blog and a few (about 10 ) forums. I guess that was how the new species of lacewing (Semachrysa jade) I found was seen by an expert.

orionmystery wrote in post #15667326
I post mine on facebook, flickr, my blog and a few (about 10 ) forums. I guess that was how the new species of lacewing (Semachrysa jade) I found was seen by an expert.

That's a cool story. Did you get to name it?

I've made several prints (plants/flowers), so they also go on my walls along with my landscapes.

I need a really good spider close-up for my office though, to keep out the non animal lovers.

ed57gmc wrote in post #15665070
That idea is similar to the Smithsonian's EOL (Encyclopedia Of Life) project. Do you make an effort to geotag your photos that will be used for this type of documentation?

No, I don't have the equipment for that. A few users of BugGuide do provide that information.

The submission form has fields for the location where the creature was found. I fill in the county and state, sometimes the city, and sometimes a specific place such as a named park or beach. Entomology distribution records seem to rely heavily on counties.