(See a transcript below) Photographing Insects Part 3 - Tips and Techniques Getting the Shot

The old joke goes:  A man goes to New York to attend a concert, but gets lost.  He spots another man who’s carrying a violin case. “Sir, can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?”  The musician smiles and says, “Practice, practice, practice.”

How do you get to good photos? Practice, practice, practice.  Your camera has settings to take food pictures, architectural pictures, sports pictures, pet pictures, night time photography, time lapse photography, and probably many more.  You don't need to know them all, or constantly change the settings on your camera. That is great fun for someone who is into photography, but not necessary for someone who just wants to get some decent shots of insects. You need not be a daunted by your camera and the settings. Learn a few that work for you.

Know your camera. Get comfortable with it. Read the manual of check out YouTube how-to videos for your camera.

Then take a lot of photos. Your yard or a local park are great places to start. Start with stationary objects like flowers or snails.

Move on to insects that sit still, are slow, or come back to a predictable place. Honey bees, bugs, and some spiders make good subjects.  Move on to fast movers such as butterflies that only land for a short time. Then get crazy with those in flight. Dragonflies that like to hover in place make a fun challenge.

Know the behavior of your subject. The better you can predict movement, the easier it is to shoot. By using the camera and trying to get better shots, that is how I have learned about insect behavior. It is quite fascinating.

Sharpness of the image separates a good image from merely a documentation image. I use autofocus a lot, but not always. I like to look through the eyepiece and not on a screen on the back of the camera. That might not be an option for you on some cameras or your phone.

When using autofocus, you need to tell the camera where you want to focus.

In most cameras you can choose a number focus points in autofocus. While my camera has up to 51, To control my focus, I have two settings on my camera which I switch between. I use single point autofocus most of the time. I use 9-point continuous focus for flying things. That’s it. I never use any other options. Read your manual to learn how to adjust yours.

Once in single point focus, I can move the point around or push halfway down on the shutter release and then reposition the camera. 

Aim for the eyes! As viewers, we always look at the eyes. If those are sharp, our brains fill in the rest.

If an insect is sitting nicely, I will use autofocus while I get within range by pressing half way on the release, but then I switch the camera to manual focus. If I rock my body in and out from the subject while pressing on the release, the camera will take the picture when in focus. See if your DSLR and lens work that way.

A faster shutter speed will have less blur. That is why I adjust ISO and aperture to get a faster shutter speed, particularly for flying insects.  Using a flash will help ‘freeze’ an image.

Depth of field is an issue particularly with macro. Only a small portion is in focus at a time. Some people solve this problem with a technique called photo stacking. The Olympus TG5 has a built-in function for photo stacking. Photo stacking is very popular for closeup, a whole topic in itself. I don’t do it so it will not be covered here. 

It is best to approach an insect flat on with the camera flat to the subject, but of course, this is not always possible. For artistic purposes, maybe you want to use the focal point and blur in your image.

The higher the f-stop, the more depth of field is in focus, but you need more light which you can add with a slow shutter speed, flash, or high ISO. I almost always leave my 90mm macro on ISO 400, 1/250, f14 and adjust the light with my speed light flash.

The lower the f-stop, the opposite is true. When I shoot with a zoom lens, I am usually at a distance, I don’t use flash, and depth of field is less of an issue. My standard setting is aperture mode, ISO 800 (which I may adjust), f6.3 with shutter speed determined by the camera.

When using autofocus, or even just for aesthetics, try moving your body until you get a neutral background. If there are too many leaves, twigs, or objects the camera may try to focus on what’s in the background.

Consider the light. Are you shooting during the day or night? Natural lighting, flash, blacklight?

If you are in natural light, where is the light coming from? Is the object backlit? The image may come out too dark.

Are you using flash? Is it too bright and harsh? Can you soften it with diffusers such as a softbox. There are light setups to add a sidelight. There are many solutions. I am content with mine for now, but maybe in the future I will up my game.

Post processing

The next step is getting the image off your card and doing something with it. An image ‘straight from the camera’ really doesn’t exist anymore. I shoot raw images and then process them into jpg. I like the term ‘digital darkroom’ because you are doing things to the image digitally that used to be done with chemicals to film.  I use Lightroom to catalog and process my images. Photoshop is more complex and I am not making major alterations as a rule. Other editors will do.

I crop my images. I adjust the brightness overall and may lighten shadows or darken highlights. If I have used a high ISO, I will remove noise. And finally, I will sharpen an image. I have recently started using the TOPAZ products as Lightroom plug-ins (they can also be used stand-alone) for sharpening, de-noising, and enlarging images.

There is so much more you can do, but when processing volumes of images, I usually leave it at that.

Sharing

And finally, I share my images. I post some on Facebook for fun. I use them in presentations such as this. I post some, even crappy ones, on iNaturalist. I post them on BugGuide, although less frequently these days. I post some of the ‘better ones’ on my own website. Better is in the eye of the beholder. I include crappy images of ‘better’ insects if that is all I could get, as well as prettier pictures of common things if it pleases me. I don’t often print my images, but people have asked to use my photos in various publications.

In conclusion

• Learn to use what equipment you have, and use it in situations that work best. When it comes to cameras and lenses, "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with".
• If acquiring new equipment, consider how you think you want to use it
• Practice, practice, practice. Don’t wait for the perfect shot.
• Learn the behavior of you subject
• Consider light and background.
• Consider post processing.