Thread by @taenia

Time to find some bugs!

This is full of bees and slippers so it's a good place to get my camera settings and some nice photos!

Camera's all set up - macro lens, flash & softbox. My starting settings are f/14, 1/200 sec, ISO 200 and flash at half power. I'll adjust this depending on how my photos look, but this is my starting setting.

With the help of some cooperative bumbles, I'm now shooting at f/13, 1/200 sec, ISO 400 & full power on my flash. So, now to find some COOL SHIT.

I particularly want to find ambush bugs today so I'll be going slow and checking flowers.

Also I take my flash off my camera when I'm walking - it's slightly less convenient to have to put it on but with a reduced risk of damaging the flash.

No ambush bugs yet but I got a lovely itty bitty bee that I broke out the 20 mm extension tube for. Because of the reduced light coming into my camera with the tube I adjusted settings again - f/11 and 1/100 sec

Got a social wasp chewing up a fencepost. This is a nice behavior and it also keeps them busy so you can get in pretty close!

There are some lovely little bees on the Queen Anne's lace. I futzed a bit with settings to get a little more bokeh from the flowers and to compensate for their bright white color, which bounces flash

F/9, 1/200, ISO 400, flash at 1/1.6 power, 20 mm extension tube

When you're approaching to take insect photos, try to approach from a low angle - get eye-level with them or even beneath them.

If you can find insects in shaded areas they're often easier to approach and less likely to startle - but they're also harder to find.

Don't limit your search to the ground and low lying vegetation. Lots of cool insects hang out on trees, leaves and high vegetation. Checking it can net you some cool stuff

Feeding traces can often point you to things like caterpillars that are otherwise really hard to see

Photographing insects against sky is a delicate balance between fill flash (to illuminate the insect) and ambient lighting (to capture the color of the sky).

1/200 sec, f/9, ISO 200, 1/2 flash, 100 mm

Remember to check for ticks and other unwelcome friends as you walk. If you're not squeamish, you can even get a photo before removing them.

It's often worthwhile to sit quietly in an area for a couple of minutes, stay quiet, and see what's around. Insects are EVERYWHERE.

Grasshoppers are one of the first things I started photographing and they're still one of my favorites. I love their big eyes, expressive faces and colors. They're also pretty big and cooperative.

Photographs that show aspects of an insect's environment can be more interesting than simple portraits. Wide angle macro is on the extreme end of this but even if you're shooting with a long lens, it can be worth stepping back and seeing what kind of compositions you can create.

Shiny animals like ladybugs pose a particular problem. A strategy that works well for me is to dial back my flash, rely more on ambient light and to try to photograph them in shade (even if it's just the shade from my body)

Iridescence can also be tricky. Boosting flash can bring out color but lead to ugly specular highlights so finding a balance is key. White box setups are great for iridescent & shiny bugs.

Black insects are also tricky and it can be hard to recover detail without blowing out the background. Boosting your flash will help a lot here.

Okay! Done with my prairie loop - I'm moving to damper habitat for odes!

Damselflies get my basic macro setup. For dragonflies, however, I use my 400mm lens, with at least 36mm of extension tubes. Depending on what I'm photographing, I may choose to add either my 1.4x extender or multiple extension tubes.

I often use fill flash but because I tend to be further away, softening matters less and the quality of ambient light affects the shot much more

(Today the light is very harsh and sunny, alas.)

My starting settings to shoot dragonflies today: f/5.6, 1/400 sec, iso 200, flash at full power

I mistweeted. When flash is mounted on your camera, there's a maximum sync speed it can use - in my case that's 1/250 sec

Some dragonfly species, especially those in the family Libellulidae, are actually fairly tolerant of humans and you can closely approach them with a short macro lens for portrait shots

For other species, staking out desirable perches and oviposition sites or observing their patrol routes can get you in the right place to get a shot when they return

Backlighting from sunlight can highlight wing patterns and can be very nice when combined with fill flash from the front

I'm very reliant on autofocus. Lots of other photographers I know prefer manual focus especially for very close macro. Experiment and find out what works for you.

Either way, I recommend really trying to nail your focus on the animal's eyes unless you're specifically trying to highlight some other part of the anatomy

When photographing dragonflies it is always important not to fall into the pond

(If you do fall into the pond, you should have a plan to prevent your camera from also falling into the pond.)

Done with my dragonfly loop. A few quick thoughts before I head home to do some processing

Shoot with love. Try to find beautiful, cool and interesting shit about the insects you're working with and try to make that come through.

Make friends with entomologists. They're by and large great people, and know where to find the good shit.

Equipment matters but that doesn't mean that you have to have the latest and greatest gear. Shoot to your gear's strengths.

Be kind and ethical. Don't injure your subjects, freeze them or displace them from their environment. If you flip logs or ricks, replace them where they were. Don't be a dick.

Keep shooting and you will get better. It will not feel like you are getting better but one day you will realize you've been doing this for ten fucking years and improvement has occurred.

Be proud of your good shots. Seriously. This is hard. You get a good one? Fucking flaunt it.

❤📷🐛

Keep trying new shit. Even if it sucks, you're learning.