By Editor Michel Romaggi in collaboration with the author Ellen van Deelen 
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 23rd of July 2025

'Ladybird and Magnolia'

Could you first introduce yourself briefly and tell us how you got into photography?
My name is Ellen van Deelen and I live in the Netherlands. I have been drawing and painting since I was young, and I have also loved photography. When I bought my first digital camera, I also bought a macro lens. I like insects in general, but especially ladybirds.

The ladybird is a common insect, but your photographs make them unique.Where does this passion for ladybirds come from?
I'm not sure why I like them so much — maybe it's their colour or the way they walk and fly. I used to collect them when I was five years old. I remember having lots of them in a jar. I fell in the middle of the road and all my ladybirds escaped!
I haven't collected them since then, but I did start to photograph them later on. As I don't have a garden, I used to go to an old graveyard nearby, where there were lots of insects and plants. But it became too dangerous, so a good friend let me take photos in their garden.

'Autumn 2022'

You manage to photograph them with flowers of many different colours and in many different contexts. How do you go about choosing the frame?
In terms of how to photograph them, sometimes I see a special flower and buy it for my photos. My friend had beautiful hydrangeas in her garden, so I used those too.

'Ladybird'

What equipment did you use? How do you post-process your images?
I use a Canon 5D Mark III and a Canon macro lens (EF 100mm 2.8 L IS USM), and sometimes a tripod. I always use Photoshop.

About 'Snail and ladybird on Hydrangea' (which I love), can you detail the different stages of its creation?

'Snail and Ladybird on hydrangea'

For the photo 'Snail and Ladybird on Hydrangea', I used light-coloured paper as a background. Since I didn't take the photo at home, I took my things to my friend's house. She had a big table and some heavy vases against which I put my paper. The ladybird and the little snail were found in her garden. First, I took photos of the ladybird, which I placed on the flower in my left hand. I put the camera on a box to make it more stable.
When I thought the lighting was good, I took the photo. I took a separate photo of the snail and later combined the two photos in Photoshop. I shoot in P or Av mode, but I change the ISO if necessary, I underexpose or overexpose slightly. I didn't use the manual mode for this subject because most of the time the ladybirds are moving.
I took several hundred photos over the course of a few hours and then choose the best ones. As you can see, I use very simple equipment. I tried using several light sources once, but I prefer natural light.
I combined the best shots in Photoshop, and made some adjustments to the levels and curves. I also like NIK filters a lot and use them quite often (as I did here). Sometimes I work on one photo for an hour, sometimes for four hours, until I'm happy with it.

One last thing I wanted to mention is that if you take photos of a subject you really like, the photos will turn out beautifully. For years, I went to the graveyard when I had time, sit on the ground and use my camera bag, to which I had attached some background paper, as a backdrop. I always wished to have a garden one day. This is the subject I like doing most. I still don't have a garden, but I can always find someone in whose garden I can photograph.

'Almost summer'