Macro photography skills to freeze the insect world

Macro photography skills to freeze the insect world

The best time to shoot insects

1. Near the water source in the morning.

In the early morning, the temperature in the grass is still very low, and the insects covered with dew will not start their activities for a day until the sun rises completely and absorbs enough heat. At this time, you can get close to the shooting very easily and adjust the light and shooting angle freely. Shooting data: f/ 16, 1/250 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 90 mm

Dewdrops condense on the wings of insects near streams, rivers and other water sources in the morning. Before the dew evaporates, they move slowly, which is a great opportunity for us to shoot. In addition, after the rain in midsummer, the wings of insects are stained with rain, and their activity ability is obviously reduced, which is also a good shooting opportunity.

2. Looking for mating and foraging insects

When insects feed on flowers, their alertness will be reduced, and their posture changes will be rich. It is easy to find insects waiting among the flowers. Shooting data: f/ 13, 1/250 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 90 mm

Insects react slowly during mating, and photographers are more likely to shoot wonderful works. If you don't know where to find insects, you might as well pay more attention to flowers. When insects feed on flowers, their alertness will be reduced and they will be more accessible, which greatly improves the success rate of shooting.

3. Capture the interactive moments of insects

Two ants stood gracefully on the ground and looked at each other and kissed each other like human beings. Such works are more likely to attract the attention of the audience and make people laugh. Shooting data: F/9, 1/80 seconds, ISO 500, focal length 90 mm

Insects communicate with each other like humans. Grasping the moment when they are similar to human characteristics will make insects appear more spiritual. Don't just be satisfied with taking one or two clear photos. Observe carefully, wait patiently and take pictures from different angles, and the chances of waiting for the wonderful moment will greatly increase.

Composition skills of insect photography

If you want to present the characteristics of insects in the picture, only through careful composition can you achieve better results. You can start with the most basic trichotomy, arrange the insect's head near the third point of the picture, or try to capture the wonderful moment by using the composition method introduced below.

1. Familiar with the composition of focal plane.

When shooting this ant, the lens is parallel to the ant's body, showing the details of ants and dewdrops more clearly. At the same time, pay attention to focusing on the eyes of insects. Usually, whether an insect's eyes are clear or not is the standard to measure the success of a photo. Shooting data: f/ 14, 1/250 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 90 mm

When shooting insects in the early stage, try to choose the standard focal plane principle for composition. The choice of focal plane should be as consistent as possible with the axial direction of insect body. If you shoot long insects like locusts, the focal plane you choose is generally parallel to your body; For insects spreading their wings, such as butterflies, the plane of spreading their wings should be parallel to the focal plane, that is, the largest area of the insect's body should be as horizontal as possible with the lens plane.

This method is easy to focus and control the depth of field. After proficiency, you can try more interesting composition, highlight the characteristics of different insects, and take photos with more visual impact.

2. Diagonal composition enhances the vitality of the picture.

Slant lines are often used to photograph slender insects like mantis. This composition can give people a three-dimensional sense, enhance the sense of space and perspective of the picture, and make the picture more dynamic and energetic. Shooting data: f/ 13, 1/250 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 90 mm

Diagonal composition is an important means to avoid picture rigidity. This composition method is to arrange insects on the diagonal, and through the change of space, the picture will have strong vitality and movement.

3. Strengthen the most distinctive personality characteristics

The most striking feature of the horned cicada is its sharp horns and woolly head. Therefore, this work was completely shot with a close-up portrait on the front. What is even more gratifying is that when shooting, a red bug is attached to its head, as if wearing a flower, and the image of the horned cicada is more cartoon. Shooting data: aperture f/ 13, shutter speed 1/250 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 90 mm

Many people like to take "full body photos" of insects. In fact, it is difficult for such a picture to show new ideas. The most important thing to shoot insects is to grasp its most distinctive appearance characteristics, and to highlight and enlarge it with close-up pictures will leave a deep impression on the audience.

Skills of shooting insects by manual focusing

The biggest challenge of insect macro photography is accurate focusing. Although the digital SLR camera provides a powerful autofocus function, even if shooting in a low light environment, the autofocus auxiliary light can be enabled to complete the focus, but in macro photography, the range of clear focus is very limited, and it is easy to defocus as long as insects move a little. Even if the insects don't move, you need to keep the camera still. Sometimes, a little breeze can ruin a painting.

In addition, when using the autofocus function of macro lens, there is often a situation of "bellows pulling", and the focusing speed is very slow. If you use a reverse lens or a cheap close-up ring without electronic contacts, the circuit between the lens and the fuselage is cut off, which means that you can't focus automatically.

Therefore, manual focusing is generally recommended unless the magnification is low. Manual focusing can be completed faster and more accurately by using the following techniques.

Method 1: After roughly determining the distance from the insect through accumulated experience, turn the focusing ring on the lens to manually focus the insect's eyes until the eyes in the viewfinder display a clear image, and then press the shutter.

Method 2: This is especially common when shooting smaller insects. For example, when shooting golden flowers, the screen is often not big enough when shooting from a distance. This requires adjusting the lens to the nearest focal length, then adjusting the position by moving the body until a clear focal plane is found, and then pressing the shutter. Moreover, this shooting method is easier to complete the composition in a pre-designed way.

The golden flower worm is very vigilant. In order to capture a more vivid posture, the photographer first adjusts the lens to the nearest focal length, then slowly moves his body to find a clear focal plane and presses the shutter to shoot. Shooting data: f/ 14, 1/250 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 90 mm

Pay attention to control the extremely shallow depth of field

We already know that the larger the aperture, the longer the focal length, the closer the shooting distance, the shallower the depth of field and the more blurred the background.

When using macro lens to shoot insects, the lens is very close to the subject with high magnification, and the depth of field will become very shallow, and the clear focus range is limited. Even if you use the small aperture f/8, which is commonly used in general photography, you can only keep a few parts clear when shooting.

Therefore, in order to obtain a suitable depth of field, macro photography often uses a small aperture such as f/ 10-f/ 14 to shoot insects. Even with this aperture setting, you can still get a good background blur effect.

In order to obtain a suitable depth of field, macro photography of insects often adopts a small aperture of f/ 10-f/ 14. In this work, the aperture of f/ 13 is used to keep the limbs of the ephemera moderately clear. If the aperture is too large, it is likely that even the insect's head will not be fully and clearly presented in the picture. Shooting data: f/ 13, 1/250 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 90 mm

Selection and control of light

Photography is the art of using light. In the field of macro photography, light is more important. Many macro insect photographers like bright and cloudy weather best, when the light is soft and the shadows are not too stiff. The dew in the morning will make plants and insects look more delicate, and the sunset in the morning and evening will help to depict the details. However, macro photography is very easy to lose light, the main reasons are:

In order to avoid the shallow depth of field, macro photography often uses a small aperture of F/ 10 ~ F/ 14, and the amount of light per unit time is very small, resulting in light loss. Macro photography often uses close-up rings, leather cavities and other accessories to improve magnification. They are all famous "light killers" and even lead to darkness in the viewfinder. Macro photography is very close to the subject, especially when shooting at high magnification, the lens is almost close to the subject, which will block most natural light.

The loss of light is very unfavorable to macro photography. In order to obtain normal exposure, it is usually necessary to use a lower shutter speed to obtain enough light input. It is easy to blur the picture because of jitter or insufficient shutter speed, which leads to shooting failure.

If the ISO value increases, there may be obvious noise on the screen. If you use a tripod to keep it stable, the shooting flexibility will be greatly reduced. So it is very important to solve the light problem in macro photography.

1. Common measures to fill light

In order to solve the problem of natural light loss, it is necessary to adopt appropriate means to make up the light. Commonly used tools include reflector, external flash, ring flash and double-head flash, which can produce uniform and controllable light when shooting. In addition, the professional built-in zoom macro lens can also avoid the light blocking caused by lens expansion and contraction.

The plastic box is lined with tin foil to reflect light.

Self-made large bowl-shaped square soft mask

When shooting insects, the best way to fill the light is to use external light sources such as external flash, ring flash or double-headed flash. They can be controlled independently by one person, which can reduce the influence of jitter or insect movement during exposure, improve shutter speed and better capture insect movement. At the same time, a larger depth of field can be obtained.

Ordinary external flash is a common flash light source, which is relatively cheap. When not shooting insects, it can also be used to shoot portraits. It is the light source that ordinary photographers usually choose. It should be noted that if you shoot directly with a flash, it is easy to make some parts of insects lose details because of excellent light. Therefore, it is necessary to install a soft cover on the flashlight to make insects receive light evenly.

You can try to make a soft mask yourself. Use a square or bowl-shaped plastic box and put some tin foil in it to reflect light, which can be used in front of the flash. Although simple, it is very practical. The size of the softening mask can be made larger. When shooting insects, almost all the external light is blocked, and the light diffused by the larger soft mask can better simulate soft light and reduce the shadow.

2. Create natural lighting effects through off-board flash.

When shooting this work, the photographer put the flash on the side and back of the insect. This kind of light makes the flowers in the environment look very soft, while the concave and convex surface of the beetle presents a better texture in the light. The head in the shadow makes the picture slightly strange, and the bright color contrasts with the light and shade, and the effect is very outstanding. Shooting data: f/ 14, 1/250 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 90 mm

In order to get a stronger stereoscopic impression, the off-board flash function is often used to shoot insects. Connect the external flash with the camera with a connecting cable to keep the flash away from the camera and get richer light distribution effect.

3. Backlight shows the transparent texture of insects.

This work was taken in natural light around 4 pm, and the little red ant was photographed crystal clear in the backlight. After waiting for a long time, I actually posed as a "one-handed push-up". Under the backlight, the foreground soil particles and the silhouette of the ground construct a natural picture frame, and the picture level is richer. The contrast between light and shade also makes brightly colored ants stand out. Shooting data: f/ 10,1125 seconds, ISO 400, focal length 90 mm

The light in the morning and evening is very soft, so when you shoot insects, there will be no obvious shadows on the picture. Many insects have translucent wings and bodies. You can try to take off the close-up ring and flash, shoot with backlight and side backlight, and show the outline and translucent texture of insects well.

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