Macro Photography: Shooting Insects and Bugs

So in macro photography, I think one of the things we think about most is photographing things like insects and butterflies and caterpillars because they're available. Bees, they're in our backyards, they're in our neighborhoods, they're in our local parks. And we can go a number of places to get shots of these little guys. Macro photography brings us right in on top of it, which makes it a lot of fun to see eyes, and fur, and legs that look like scary horror movies. And to get those kinds of shots, you've got a number of things, again, that you have to play with and consider when you're shooting macro photography. One is the lens choice, you know. Do I need to be a little bit further back so I don't spook the butterfly or the dragonfly while it sits on the top of that flower? So I'm using a longer lens, like the 200 millimeter, which gets me a little closer, but still is a macro. Or can I get closer with a 105? The one thing I have noticed over time unless you're shooting in the winter or in the fall when bugs get a little cold and they don't move, you're going to have to get off the sticks. And it's kind of counterproductive on how we think about macro. Because you hear and see all the time, you need to be on a tripod to get a sharp shot. Well, you know what, you're right. In studio situations and what have you where you can control it and your subject's not moving, being on sticks is fine. But if you're trying to chase a butterfly, you're not going to have that kind of an option. By the time you set up and get it moved, it's going to be gone. So you need to be off a tripod and moving around. Which means you're going to have to be on a faster shutter speed. Look at a macro lens, just saying that you might be using a long telephoto lens. You need to be at a shutter speed that's capable of stopping not only the action of the insect that you're shooting but also be able to be fast enough shutter speed to prevent your own camera movement from happening. And so I kind of approached my subjects a number of different ways. I try to get really close to them as quickly as I can making sure that my exposure, everything is dead on. So as I move closer and closer at that chance that they're going to fly away, then I have the opportunity to get shots of them while I move in. So I start backing, then I move in as close as I possibly can get and get as many shots as I can before the insect feels my presence and then splits. So that's one of the ways that we can get in really close. The other is to kind of look for areas where these insects hang out. Butterflies tend to like plants like butterfly weed. Bees tend to go from plant to plant, to flower to flower to soak up the pollen. And so as you just stand in one spot, you look around and you can find where they hang out. So rather than chasing them all the time, hang out yourself and wait for them to come to you. They get used to seeing you, they may not be as spooked. And you can get better chances to get closeups. Caterpillars are one of those things that you can get down really close to them, find them on a tree, find them on a bench, find them on a chair. And you can get pretty close, they're moving pretty slow. So you got better opportunities to get with them. All right, we've got this great caterpillar right now that's working on a leaf. And he's moving, he's only the sun's back lit. So it's one of those nice opportunities where I'm getting that creepy look of those legs on one side. But he's moving around and now he's peeking over. There it is, there it is, there it is. Atta boy, stand up. So now, he's moving. He's moving around and he's changing directions. And so he's giving me something different. Anytime something's moving, it's a better shot. You know, just seeing an insect just standing there, it's like just seeing a buffalo just standing there. But if buffalo starts to run, you got a different shot. Same is true with these insects. The minute they start to move, boy, the goal just starts to happen. And now, you know, he's eating, he's found a hole. Oh there's a great hole there in the leaf he's just eaten from. He keeps going back and forth across the leaves. So he's moving. I've got cool stuff to shoot here. And when his shadow was on the other side, that even makes it better because I'm getting kind of two bugs for one. It's just, it's fabulous when this kind of stuff happens in macro photography. You know, it's kinda like when you're shooting your dogs. If you have a pet and you're getting great shots of your dogs, the best place to be is, you know, dog level so you can see from a dog's perspective. If everything we always see is from the human perspective, you're not bringing anything new to the plate. Same is true with insects. If you can get insects from, again, from that ground level, from a bugs view, belly photography, as you can see, you're getting more dramatic shots. It's a great way to take pictures of insects. I'm using a shutter speed, it's a pretty fast shutter speed. Not so much because I need to stop the action even though it's a slow moving caterpillar, but more because I want to make sure with this longer lens that I'm able to get sharp shots. That's what's most important to me. And you know, a sharp shot is always better. The details that you get in a photograph make such a difference. And so I just, I err on the side of caution and try to make sure that I'm getting a sharp shot rather than risk a soft shot that will never work. You can't sharpen a soft shot to the point especially with macro work, it begs to be sharp. And so that's what we're going to try to get here each and every time. Oh, that's nice. Now, he's coming around the side, look at that guy. He's going to fall, he's going to fall. So don't let the failings of bad photography follow you into the macro world. And what I mean when I say that is this is that when you're shooting a portrait of somebody, you're making sure that a telephone pole isn't growing out of the back of their head. Well, you've got to take those same considerations when you're shooting macro photography. So look at this white butterfly. got close enough to this white butterfly where I could actually start to see some of the dots on its wings. But it's white so I've got to make sure that my exposure is correct. And so the other thing I think in consideration, as I look at the background thing, well, if I stay at this angle, it's going to be white against white. But if I move just to the right, look how that dark background starts to accentuate that white butterfly now. And I've got this wonderful playoff in my backgrounds. Those are kind of important things to consider. So again, don't forget about stuff that's behind your subject, as well as your subject, when you're getting close-up photographs of things like butterflies. The thing about butterflies as well is that, you know, they like to stop and land, open and close their wings. So they're offering some motion for you. In macro photography, that's a great way to shoot butterflies after they've landed. However, move to the bee. And now sometimes bees are nice to be able to see landing and moving back and forth, and drinking the pollen as they move up and down plants. But at the same time, that's a shot that we see over and over and over again. And I tend to like those shots where you actually see a bee coming in for a landing or taking off right after they've drank some pollen. And they're kind of off on their drunken journey to the next plant. And that's a really fun way to see insects is to actually see them in flight. But of course, it's inherently more difficult to do that because in macro photography as you'll find, you move an eighth of a second away and they're already out of focus. So you, sometimes you predetermine where they're going to be. If you try to use auto-focus, and I guess I don't recommend it on really extreme close-up photography when you're trying to find subjects that are moving because. Especially with plants, because what happens is the camera is constantly trying to find a way to focus on your subject that's moving. So I've actually found it would be more expeditious if I take it off of auto focus and just try to follow the insect on my own. And actually predetermine the spot so if it flies in and out of that, I'm able to get that bee in focus. So that's one of those ways that's fun to do it. Same is true with dragonflies. Fall's a great time to shoot dragonflies because they freeze and they are stuck there. So you can get really close to them and get some nice shots of them because they don't move. Otherwise, dragonflies can be pretty elusive. And so you come in with a longer lens and get in an angle, again, where you can see them and sneak in as close as you can. A lot of times, you can get a closeup shot of a dragon fly. And they have that long skinny body. So, you know, you gotta be aware of that and how it fits in the frame and how you shoot that. And these are just some of the things that, you know when you're out chasing around bees and bugs and butterflies, take those kinds of things into account. Because again, it isn't just a question of being up close and getting it, you still have all of the other various compositional components that take place in macro photography that they do in any other type of photography. So go out and find it, have fun. Be aware, get great shots.