Macro Photography- 5 Beginner tips

I’ve been taking macro bug photos for several years now; ever since a wildlife photographer friend was kind enough to lend me one of their macro lenses. Over this time my photography has improved exponentially, and I’ve learnt an awful lot more about macro photography! So, today I thought I would share 5 tips and tricks for getting started in macro bug photography, that I wish I had considered when I was just starting out.

Timing- The early bird photographs the worm

Like most wildlife photography the time of day you go out and shoot will affect your results. It is slightly less important in macro bug photography because no matter what time of day/night you can probably find some sort of bug outside; however, you can make it easier for yourself and get better results if you go out at the right time. The easiest time to shoot bugs is in the earlier hours of the morning because bugs are less activity/still a little dozy from the previous night at this time. This means they will move around a lot less and not be as alert as other times of day- meaning you will be able to get closer then usual. This is particularly useful if you are trying to shoot fast moving insects such as dragonflies. Of course, you don’t need to stick to this rule, and it is perfectly achievable to get amazing shots at any time of day BUT this could make it easier for you.

Subject- Water is your friend

Now you’ve decided on a time to go out shooting you need a subject. You might have an idea of the sort of bugs you want to photography however if not I recommend you start somewhere with water- a lake, pond, puddle, or river = Lots of bugs. My favourite locations are areas with a lot of marshland or different puddles of water, these areas are great for dragonflies and other cool insects. If you have a specific bug/insect that you would like to photograph, I suggest doing a bit of googling beforehand. Also check out local nature reserve and wildlife charities nearby as they sometimes have species lists of the animals seen in the reserves.

Equipment and Settings

For macro photography I use a purpose built canon macro lens (Canon Macro Lens EF 100mm) however, you don’t necessarily need this to get started and as long as you can get close enough to the insect you can take great photos. In terms of camera settings I usually shoot in aperture priority to achieve the blurred background/ in-focus insect look (boca). However, for faster moving insects such as butterflies, bees, dragonflies (and as I recently discovered ants!) I use shutter speed priority, even if they aren’t flying the speed at which some insects move-off and land does require shutter speed priority.

Background

This point is less something you can control and more of an observation/point about moving around. In my experience the background of an insect photo can be what makes or breaks it. Insects particularly smaller species can easily blend into the background making them hard to spot in photographs. I recently found this particularly difficult when photographing red wood ant- they just totally blended into the forest floor so I had to move around a bit and find a location where they stood out. Similarly, this can be an issue when photographing insects in grass lots of them are great at camouflaging so creating boca and trying to find a distinction between the subject and background is really important to get a good shot.

Taking the shot

The final point I can make is really annoying but so true- You can only get better with practice! You just need to spend as much time in the field as you can and you will see improvement in your photography. Similarly, spending several sessions with the same subject can drastically improve your photos as well as your understanding of a species. I find it really useful to learn more about a species during my photography process particularly its behaviours and habits.