Bug Hunting. Hunting bugs and photographing them can be done at any time of the day, but the very best time is at dawn. This is because bugs sleep just like the rest of us and during the night they can get covered in dew drops and that makes a much better and more interesting picture. Like the Grasshopper below. Dawn is also cooler if you are like me and live in the Everglades.

Juvenile Eastern Lubber Grasshopper with Dawn Dew Drops

Camera Settings. Photographing bugs is of course macro photography but you do not need a dedicated macro lens as any lens will take a picture, sometimes I use my 70-300mm but only when the opportunity arises and this is the lens I have with me.

But I do my bug hunting trips with my 100mm macro prime. By the way. I shoot with a Sony SLT a77. A dedicated macro lens is the way to go for the best insect shots. The f-stop or aperture setting is very, very important because of the DOF. Depth of Field. or how much of your bug is in clear and sharp focus. see the shot of the fly below as the focus tapers off.

Macro Photograph of a Fly showing the Depth of Field or DOF.

 DOF or Depth Of Field. This is critical for sharp pictures as in the shot above of the fly. Photographed at f5.6 the fly is about 1/4 inch in length so the DOF at f5.6 is very narrow, you can increase this by moving the camera away from the subject a few inches so trial and error will show you what is happening. If I had changed the f-stop to f22 all of the fly would of been in sharp focus.

The shot of the fly below shows the facing side of the fly is in focus but the legs on the other side are not, this is at f6.3. Another thing to consider when doing bug shoots is the shutter speed will be a lot slower so a tripod is essential. And your ISO setting will be higher theses flies were shot at the same time of day and the ISO was 800. dawn always has lower light levels so ISO-1600 may be needed.

Macro Photo of a Fly with Dew Drops

Different Kinds of Bugs. In the dawns early light you may encounter lots of different kinds of bugs and they will all react a bit differently to your presence, some don’t seen to care, others will hide behind a leaf or twig and some will shoot off for distant places.

One of my favorite things to shoot is Damsel Flies and they are very small. They will fly off if your shadow crosses over them but stay still and they will return, sometimes. The photo below of a Green Damsel Fly was shot at f19. 1/25th sec at ISO 400. I shoot my bugs mostly in a local park where there are many varieties of local flowers and plants, but look carefully as it is a very small world.

Photo of a Damsel Fly and Dew Drops.

Bigger Bugs. Some bugs are not that small like the fully grown Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers at over 4 inches long they can be shot with any kind of lens. The Grasshoppers in the photo below were taken with my 70-300mm at f16. 1/80th sec. at ISO-400. In the middle of the day so very bright light. I shot at -2 of exposure compensation to kill some of the light and to increases the color depth.

Photo of two Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers shot at f19 very clear and sharp

Big bugs like these Grasshoppers can be seen all over the Everglades during July and August but in the spring time they are the black ones like in the photo at the top of this page. They seem to appear when they are about half an inch long and grow quite quickly.

They have this unusual behavior of climbing onto each others backs and getting carried around, maybe just lazy, who knows, but they are not mating as both of these are males.

Dragonflies. Another bug that is nice to shoot is the dragonfly and they come in all sizes and colors depending on where you live. In the Everglades we have then from about half an inch up to 3 inches in length. Sometimes they will stay still for your shot other times they spook very easily. But you will notice that they have their own favorite perches where they like to sit, so if it flies off wait to see if it comes back again.

Photo of a Dragonfly shot in the Everglades

 Shooting Bigger Bugs. Remember these bugs will probably will not let you shove a macro lens in their faces so maybe a 200/300mm is best for these insects. If you are buying a 200/300mm lens look to see if it has a macro setting as they come in very handy for bigger bugs. I have an old Tamron 300mm Macro and it takes excellent pictures almost as good as my Sony 70-300 G lens certainly good enough for posting to the web.

Photo of a Dragonfly at rest

Macro is Fun. All kinds of macro photography is fun, it just requires a bit more in the field of patience, getting up at dawn and taking your time to get the focus correct. Focus just has to be tack sharp on the main point of your subject the rest can be out of focus and this sometimes make for the better shot. There are lots of more detailed facts on shooting bugs to found on the internet but I hope this gives you the inspiration to go out and do it and I hope you have fun, post your shots to me on G+ link is below.

More photos of bugs on my True Portraits Website

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