Brent Haglund came to macrophotography almost by accident. When he purchased his first digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera, it was to capture images of his newborn son. Spending time on the floor snapping baby photographs made Haglund, a graphic designer who lives in Pembroke, New Hampshire, wonder what else he might discover from this new ground-level perspective.
“I explored our backyard and was blown away by the detail I was seeing in flowers, bees, beetles, and spiders,” he said. “I invested in a macro lens and was further blown away by yet another layer of detail. Beetles were revealed to be much more intricate and charismatic when magnified, and I could now see that butterfly wings were made of countless little scales.”
He endeavored to learn more about butterflies through field guides, online forums, and in-person butterfly walks with experts.
“Butterflies appealed to me early on in my photographic pursuits due to how showy they are and the fact that they are active during the day. Their entire life cycle is easily observed, sometimes all on the same plant,” Haglund said. “After looking for adult butterflies for a few years, I stumbled on eggs and could not believe how ornate some of them were. Eventually I began searching for eggs, armed with a few clues I gleaned from field guides and websites. The thrill of the hunt was all-consuming, leading me to spend hours on a hiking trail, inching my way along the path as I inspected every plant, turning over as many leaves as I could to see if any eggs were clinging to the surfaces.”
Finding the eggs was one thing; photographing them was another. Because it’s nearly impossible to get a high-quality macro shot of a tiny butterfly egg in their natural habitat – most species’ eggs are 1 millimeter in diameter or smaller, about the size of a pinhead – Haglund carefully snips off the leaf containing an egg he wants to photograph. (He returns the eggs to the plant later.) In his garage, he has set up a macrophotography studio, complete with a motorized focus rail mounted on a tripod, a 10-times microscope objective lens, and LED lights. For each final image, he takes several shots – the “sweet spot” is around 70 – and uses a software program (Zerene Stacker) to “stack” them, sorting and aligning each individual frame into a single composition. The results reveal the intricate colors, shapes, and designs of each tiny egg.
“This Endeavor reignited the wonder of discovery that often dulls as we get older. A new world has opened up to me, not just because of butterflies, but also all of the tiny overlooked things that have now become a big deal to me through my macro lens,” Haglund said. “Nowadays, I have a sense of pride when I stroll down a hiking trail and can recognize the ecology at play, and even predict which butterflies might inhabit the area. This, coupled with the ability to identify their host plants, recognize their caterpillars, and discover their eggs – maybe even a chrysalis – gives a full-circle appreciation of this creature’s life history.”
