Insects, bugs and spiders make great close up photography subjects in that many people have easy access to them, and done properly the resulting photographs can be quite impressive. Here are a few guidelines for any photographers getting going in macro insect photography.
Camera Settings:
Switch to manual focus and lock it off at the distance you need. Then move backwards and forwards until you find the sweet spot. Play around with macro rings and tele-convertors as well as your macro lens, and get a feel for the ways in which you can apply both magnification and zoom in a single image. (When using zooms, watch for vignetting).
Switch to Aperture priority and use the smallest aperture for the maximum depth of field. Magnification reduces your depth of field so you typically want to be using the fastest possible lens at maximum aperture.
Lighting Options:
Pick your days for optimum light. Bright cloudy days are good and allow for quicker shutter speeds. Try experimenting with fill flash and reflectors to light your subject. With fill flash, use only the bare minimum to even things out and store color. If your background isn't ideal, try utilising shades to darken problem areas.
External Flash will give you much better control and better results. Always diffuse the light and/or reflect it. Bracket as much as you can and jot down a note of the settings you use, and get a feel for the best settings for your get at different distances and magnifications.
Try experimenting with a teleconvertor after your Macro lens as this allows you to get the same degree of magnification from further away, which helps you illuminate your subject more evenly.
Practical Considerations:
Show patience and move slowly. Study your subject and see how it behaves, then work out the best way to capture it. Decide on the most important feature "customarily the eyes "that really must be in perfect focus for the image to work.
Get to know your subject before you start. When are they most active? What do they do at night? What plants do they feed on? What behaviours or habits make them unique?
Be aware of the background, depth of field and shadow areas. Watch that your own shade doesn't fall on your subject. Most insects are extremely attuned to temperature, so even your breath may cause the insect to take flight. (Conversely, some beetles will freeze if you breathe on them, so take time you experiment)
In an open environment, give your subject time to become used to you before you move in. Once you are set, move in shooting fast all the way. Get plenty of shots from different distances and angles, bracket your exposures and alter your flash.
Digital Darkroom:
Be super tough on yourself and be ready to remove lots of your images. This will be less of a challenge if you're completely clear on what you were attempting to capture before starting, especially with regards the important feature of your subject.
Once you have removed the photographs that missed the mark, you can do a large amount of digital editing to improve the remaining photographs. Most will be improved with some adjustment to the curves, contrast and saturation.
Strong images can be improved further with simple cropping and rotation. On borderline images you can apply selective sharpening to your subject and blur the background as required.
Commercial Considerations:
If you're planning to sell your macro insect photography, then it's worth taking some time to analyze both the market and your competition.
It should come as not much of a surprise that competition is steep. Almost everyone with a macro lens will go looking for bugs to shoot at one point or other, and with a little practice and patience, most will do a fair job of it.
You just have to look through one or two photography sharing web sites to see that there's just as many great images there as you'll find on most professional photo libraries. In short , buyers are spoilt for choice when it comes to stunning insect close-ups. You can stand proud of the masses though.
Mostly it comes down to shooting 'behavioural ' shots as well as the 'portraits'.
Most macro insect photographers focus on the portrait type shot, so any time you can capture an image that demonstrates a behaviour or characteristic that make a species unique, you're getting something that the majority miss and photo-buyers can use.
The other thing most photographers do not do well is, identify their subject. At best they might give their image a generic name like 'beetle ' or 'butterfly ' which is no use at all to a photo buyer needing a particular species.
So. always ensure you identify the species with it's full sclientific/llatin name, and any common names, and if you can add some fascinating behavioural information also , even better!
Camera Settings:
Switch to manual focus and lock it off at the distance you need. Then move backwards and forwards until you find the sweet spot. Play around with macro rings and tele-convertors as well as your macro lens, and get a feel for the ways in which you can apply both magnification and zoom in a single image. (When using zooms, watch for vignetting).
Switch to Aperture priority and use the smallest aperture for the maximum depth of field. Magnification reduces your depth of field so you typically want to be using the fastest possible lens at maximum aperture.
Lighting Options:
Pick your days for optimum light. Bright cloudy days are good and allow for quicker shutter speeds. Try experimenting with fill flash and reflectors to light your subject. With fill flash, use only the bare minimum to even things out and store color. If your background isn't ideal, try utilising shades to darken problem areas.
External Flash will give you much better control and better results. Always diffuse the light and/or reflect it. Bracket as much as you can and jot down a note of the settings you use, and get a feel for the best settings for your get at different distances and magnifications.
Try experimenting with a teleconvertor after your Macro lens as this allows you to get the same degree of magnification from further away, which helps you illuminate your subject more evenly.
Practical Considerations:
Show patience and move slowly. Study your subject and see how it behaves, then work out the best way to capture it. Decide on the most important feature "customarily the eyes "that really must be in perfect focus for the image to work.
Get to know your subject before you start. When are they most active? What do they do at night? What plants do they feed on? What behaviours or habits make them unique?
Be aware of the background, depth of field and shadow areas. Watch that your own shade doesn't fall on your subject. Most insects are extremely attuned to temperature, so even your breath may cause the insect to take flight. (Conversely, some beetles will freeze if you breathe on them, so take time you experiment)
In an open environment, give your subject time to become used to you before you move in. Once you are set, move in shooting fast all the way. Get plenty of shots from different distances and angles, bracket your exposures and alter your flash.
Digital Darkroom:
Be super tough on yourself and be ready to remove lots of your images. This will be less of a challenge if you're completely clear on what you were attempting to capture before starting, especially with regards the important feature of your subject.
Once you have removed the photographs that missed the mark, you can do a large amount of digital editing to improve the remaining photographs. Most will be improved with some adjustment to the curves, contrast and saturation.
Strong images can be improved further with simple cropping and rotation. On borderline images you can apply selective sharpening to your subject and blur the background as required.
Commercial Considerations:
If you're planning to sell your macro insect photography, then it's worth taking some time to analyze both the market and your competition.
It should come as not much of a surprise that competition is steep. Almost everyone with a macro lens will go looking for bugs to shoot at one point or other, and with a little practice and patience, most will do a fair job of it.
You just have to look through one or two photography sharing web sites to see that there's just as many great images there as you'll find on most professional photo libraries. In short , buyers are spoilt for choice when it comes to stunning insect close-ups. You can stand proud of the masses though.
Mostly it comes down to shooting 'behavioural ' shots as well as the 'portraits'.
Most macro insect photographers focus on the portrait type shot, so any time you can capture an image that demonstrates a behaviour or characteristic that make a species unique, you're getting something that the majority miss and photo-buyers can use.
The other thing most photographers do not do well is, identify their subject. At best they might give their image a generic name like 'beetle ' or 'butterfly ' which is no use at all to a photo buyer needing a particular species.
So. always ensure you identify the species with it's full sclientific/llatin name, and any common names, and if you can add some fascinating behavioural information also , even better!
About the Author:
Matt BradingVisit GlobalEye Photo Stock Library to view superb examples of macro insect photography. If you have great macro insect photography to sell, please review our Photographer Information (and download your free stock photography business kit) you will find out more about selling photographs online here.
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