On photographing insects with a digital camera

26 January, 2013

It is a great thrill to capture a sharp and imaginative picture of an insect - nature's most spectacular small and colourful creations - with a digital camera.

To begin with, for insect photography, use a digital camera, which has a close focusing or macro option enabling focusing down to just a few centimeters. However, for extremely good photographs of insects, one needs expensive equipment like extension tubes, tele-convertors, close up diopters and flash brackets and some more. At times one requires a telephoto zoom with a close up filter for this type of photography.

However, when a beginner is using a digital camera with a macro-setting you should try your hands on sitting insects. Adjust your camera to ISO-200, if the light is dim make use of the fill flash with around about two -three stops to restore colour balance.

With a still insect, use the aperture size of f/11 or f/16 for a good depth-of-field and shutter speeds of 1/30sec to 1 second for a still insect. One must remember that when photographing insects, control of depth-of-field for sharpness in macro-photography is the main element of such photography.

It is always good to get closer to the insect for a narrow band of focus to isolate the subject from its distracting surroundings. Experiment a bit with the aperture to know what aperture on your camera gives the best effect.

Use a low viewpoint and getting the lens parallel to the body or wings of the still insect allows a wider aperture to be used to create a narrower depth-of-field. A good time to photograph insects is early morning or late afternoon during damp summer.