Macro Grassi is a landscape and travel photographer who started learning photography by himself just one year ago. After returning from a one-year trip around New Zealand’s breathtaking scenery, he realized it was time to buy his first camera and start capturing the beauty of this world.

“In my photos, I want to draw the viewer into the frame, make him dream about the incredible location and then tell him that the place is really like that,” says Marco. “In fact, the landscapes you see in my pictures are as real as they actually are. Despite that, I really do like digital art on 500px, it’s just not the way I think when I use my camera.”

You can find more of Marco’s work following him on 500px, visiting his website, or checking him out on his Facebook page.

Lost in a purple field by Marco Grassi on 500px.com

How I Got the Shot

I was driving down the road scouting for the best location when I finally found this place. I knew it was the right one right away—the scene had everything I was looking for.

This was my first time shooting with a 70-200mm; until then I was used to see just through a 24-70mm focal range, so I started by using my 24-70 to take some wide-angle pictures including the sky.

I quickly realized that it wasn’t working. The sky was cloudless and too boring for my taste. I kept trying in different ways, moving around, changing the angle, I also tried vertical shots including more foreground on the frame but nothing was working!

That’s when I switched from the 24-70mm to the 70-200mm, and that was pretty much it, it worked! It was the right lens for focusing the attention on what I wanted to, and finally everything was well balanced.

Post-Processing… or Lack Thereof

Schermata 2015-09-10 alle 22.41.31

Since I shoot in RAW, I use Lightroom for my workflow. RAW files always come out dull and with lack of contrast, completely different from how they appear on the LCD of the camera or in a normal .jpg file.

So here’s the big reveal about this image: I didn’t add anything to the image during post-processing and I didn’t crop it. I just slightly tuned the contrast, sharpening, whites, lights, and vividness.

The image you see is the result of a careful framing and many attempts! Here’s the before and after in case you don’t believe me: