Insects, bugs and spiders make great macro photography subjects in that most people have easy accessibility to them, and done properly the resulting images can be quite impressive. Here are a few suggestions for anybody starting in macro insect photography.
Camera Settings:
Switch to manual focus and lock it off at the distance you need. Then move back and forth until you find the sweet spot. Experiment 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 usually need to be using the fastest possible lens at maximum aperture.
Lighting Options:
Pick your days for ideal light. Bright clouded days are good and allow for quicker shutter speeds. Experiment 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 trouble spots.
External Flash will give you much greater control and better results. Always diffuse the light and/or reflect it. Bracket as much as you can and make a note of the settings you use, and get an understanding of 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 conscious of the background, depth of field and shade areas. Watch that your own shadow does not fall on your subject. Most insects are very sensitive to temperature, so even your breath can cause the insect to take flight. (Inversely, some beetles will freeze if you breathe on them, so make sure you experiment)
In an open environment, give your subject time to get used to you before you move in. Once you're set, move in shooting fast as you get closer. Get lots of shots from different distances and view points, bracket your exposures and change your flash compensation.
Digital Darkroom:
Be super disciplined and be prepared to delete the majority of your shots. This may be easier if you are totally clear on what you were setting out to capture before you started, particularly with regards the main 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.
Successful pictures can be improved further with straightforward cropping and rotation. On borderline pictures 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 no great surprise that competition is steep. Virtually everybody with a macro lens will go searching for bugs to photograph at some time or other, and with some practice and patience, most will do a reasonable job of it.
You only have to look thru some of the amateur photo sharing sites to see that there's just as many great shots there as you will find on most pro photography libraries. Basically, photo buyers are spoiled for choice when it comes to inspirational insect macros. You can stand out from the group though.
Generally it boils 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 could give their image a generic name like 'caterpillar ' or 'stick insect ' which is no use at all to a photo researcher requiring a particular species.
So. always make sure you identify the species with it's full scientific name, plus any common names, and if you can add some engaging behavioural info too , even better!
Camera Settings:
Switch to manual focus and lock it off at the distance you need. Then move back and forth until you find the sweet spot. Experiment 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 usually need to be using the fastest possible lens at maximum aperture.
Lighting Options:
Pick your days for ideal light. Bright clouded days are good and allow for quicker shutter speeds. Experiment 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 trouble spots.
External Flash will give you much greater control and better results. Always diffuse the light and/or reflect it. Bracket as much as you can and make a note of the settings you use, and get an understanding of 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 conscious of the background, depth of field and shade areas. Watch that your own shadow does not fall on your subject. Most insects are very sensitive to temperature, so even your breath can cause the insect to take flight. (Inversely, some beetles will freeze if you breathe on them, so make sure you experiment)
In an open environment, give your subject time to get used to you before you move in. Once you're set, move in shooting fast as you get closer. Get lots of shots from different distances and view points, bracket your exposures and change your flash compensation.
Digital Darkroom:
Be super disciplined and be prepared to delete the majority of your shots. This may be easier if you are totally clear on what you were setting out to capture before you started, particularly with regards the main 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.
Successful pictures can be improved further with straightforward cropping and rotation. On borderline pictures 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 no great surprise that competition is steep. Virtually everybody with a macro lens will go searching for bugs to photograph at some time or other, and with some practice and patience, most will do a reasonable job of it.
You only have to look thru some of the amateur photo sharing sites to see that there's just as many great shots there as you will find on most pro photography libraries. Basically, photo buyers are spoiled for choice when it comes to inspirational insect macros. You can stand out from the group though.
Generally it boils 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 could give their image a generic name like 'caterpillar ' or 'stick insect ' which is no use at all to a photo researcher requiring a particular species.
So. always make sure you identify the species with it's full scientific name, plus any common names, and if you can add some engaging behavioural info too , even better!
About the Author:
Matt BradingVisit GlobalEye Stock Photo 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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