[LeDave]

My new 100 WR came today, I just got done playing with it for about 30 minutes. I can't seem to get closer to the flies without them flying off. I also can't shoot a bee because if I get too close, it'll hurt.

I've always seen you guys' close-up macro photos on here and thought, "Wow, I want to do that". However when I try, it's quite difficult.

[boriscleto]

Putting the bugs in the freezer before the shoot works.

Bees on flowers won't pay much attention to you at all.

[Doundounba]

Personally, I don't shoot dead or refrigerated insects. That's just not for me, and I think it's ethically, well, not for me. It's quite true that approaching wild bugs in their natural habitats is a challenge, but it's quite possible. Your speed of approach should be directly proportional to your distance - ie the closer you are the slower you move. Be aware of your shadow, if your shadow goes over a flying insect, it will often trigger a flight response. Be patient, be calm. Use liveview in awkward positions. Think about light too - do you have a flash? When approach starts to be sucessfull for you and you start getting shots, you'll start to see the limitations of shooting in natural light for depth of field.

EDIT: Also, bees are usually quite unconcerned with you, and if you're calm, you can approach very close to them. The biggest problem is how active they are, with their faces usually buried in flowers. It's hard to get a good shot not because you could get stung (very unlikely), but because the poses are often just not that good and it's hard to get good focus on a very active insect.

The following shots are all of live, perfectly free insects in their natural habitat, shot when and where I found them.

[Na Horuk]

That's a great lens you got there! Can be used for much more than just macro!

I find macro to be one of the most difficult genres. It requires a lot of attention for.. well, everything. Shutter speed, aperture, light intensity, angle and perspective, movement..
What kind of macro do you want to do? I suggest you start with "simpler" subjects - fabrics, flowers, mushrooms, dew drops.. things that stand still and can be easily lit. You might want to invest in some sort of macro lights (like ring flash or those twin-macro lights that are popular lately) and a tripod (using a tripod is not always possible, but it can be critical in many cases. At macro magnifications, handshake blur becomes very apparent even at relatively fast shutter speeds), and the other problem is DoF and focus.

I think a PF user wrote a great thread with a lot of macro tips, a wonderful guide to all things macro. Feel free to search for it

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Last edited by Na Horuk; 08-13-2015 at 03:32 PM.

[LeDave]

Thanks everyone, very helpful. I guess I'll try again tomorrow, it's gettin dark now.

[Nick Siebers]

I took a lot of bad macro shots before I realized I just needed more light. A tripod helps immensely for stationary objects, allowing stopping down and long exposure; and a flash for things that move. Of course you cant just pop the flash and expect results, but a toilet paper roll lined with foil and ending in white foam wrap can make a nice diffuser attached to the pop-up. Or better yet is a rig that gets an accesory flash up and away from the camera. Anyway, you have a great lens for it, but now you must practice! :-)

[photolady95]

One thing you can't do with macro shots, is use AF. You need to move you and the camera in and out to get focus. If you use AF it changes the POV. Tripods are worthless for insects. And as has already been said, I don't shoot dead or refrigerated bugs. Catch them early in the morning before the heat of the day and you don't need to refrigerate them. They'll be slow moving at that time. Set your aperture to at least f8, most of mine are at f8 or larger such as f11, the smaller the aperture "hole size" the more DOF and the more subject will be in focus. Flash is good too, it will freeze your subjects. I use the onboard flash, at -03, with a home made diffuser attached.

[Bagga_Txips]

There is also a double benefit to catch-in-focus, with the macro lens and camera body in manual focus mode.

You set your focus point, then slowly, SLOWLY I said! Slower than that! Slowly move the camera towards the flower. At the point of near-perfect focus the camera will itself decide to take the shot.

Why a double benefit. Firstly you have to be slow to make sure that the camera is

---------- Post added 08-14-15 at 08:31 AM ----------

Not moving at the time the shot is taken. Secondly, because you are moving so slowly you are much less likely to frighten the bug.

[david94903]

Patience is definitely required. Lots of it. Check out Thomas Shahan's Introduction to Macro Photography video. This is a must see for anyone interested in shooting insects.

You Tube

You Tube

[jimr-pdx]

Never thought of chilling them, guess I'm a free-range bug shooter . Of course mine are not yet of the excellent variety so you weren't talking to me..

[cali92rs]

Diffused Flash on a bracket,set your shutter speed to max sync speed ( probably 1/180), aperture to f16 or smaller and keep your ISO low.
Adjust your exposure by changing flash (manual, dont use pttl) output.

This setup has worked well for me:
http://www.sojournsinnature.com/blog/hand-held-macro-photography/#.Vc173om3Muo

[divert]

K-3 with smc Pentax-D FA Macro 100mm F/2.8 WR. I quite like the lens.

This bee was taken on a windy day in bright sunlight. I used AF/C and had some difficulty so I am going to try the ideas presented here.

1/5000sec at F/6.3 ISO 800. ISO was set to 800 so I could fix the aperture and still retain a high shutter speed.

I had originally set out to capture some wildflowers (weeds) in the back pasture, but I ended up chasing insects.

[mtux]

To approach an insect, you need to be very very calm and stationary. any sudden move of your hand/head/feet whatever will make it fly away.
Also start from farther shots, for example first try to get the shot at 1:4 macro magnification, then slowly get closer, and try again, and get closer and try again. this way if by when you got too close, it fly away, you still have some photos to crop and get something out of it.

Flash! flash! flashes really help.
Why? Helps you choose a narrower aperture, result: more DoF, more chance of getting the head/eye in focus.
Helps you choose a faster shutter speed, for a non-shaky shot.
Helps you choose a smaller ISO number, which results in crispier shot.

You don't necessary need a big or fancy rig, I usually use the on-camera flash with a cheapo diffuser which is in fact a semi-translucent white thing in front of the flash. since the subject is too small. this less than a foot long card will do the job.
Also flashing the subject will give you more contrast and sharpness.

Some of the insects are more stationary or bigger, so easier to shoot, start from them.
Dragonflies are one of them:



Some insects need some time to get used to your presence; spiders are one of them. (I think)



I found that wearing green colored shirt/pants help reducing their attention of your presence! and wearing shining colors like orange or red make them more alert of you.

Last but not least, work on your post process. that's ALWAYS a crucial part of the job, and macro photography isn't anything different.

[Nass]

I wouldn't like to put a dampener on things but maybe your expectation was a bit unrealistic, after all this is your first 30 minute session. Although you've bought the lens, you'll find that successful arthropod macro is also as much about when and where you photograph as it is about the apparatus used. For example, to get a nice pair of butterflies on a stem, it's very hard to get that during the heat of the day because the butterflies are at their most active and fly away. But if you go looking for them early in the morning you might find them sleeping, so they won't move.

For smaller bugs like beetles, it's really about sensible fieldcraft techniques as others have mentioned. Beyond basics like 'don't let your shadow fall on them' I do think there is a shortage of good material about this online and in print, so whilst some thorough googling will find you bits and pieces, a lot of this knowledge is self taught and the product of experience. And to get a nice supermacro shot you'll end up needing more apparatus than one 100mm lens (although it's a very good lens!). For example diffuser, flash, flash bracket... and so on. In other words, you're only at the start of the journey, it doesn't happen straight away

[mtux]

In other words, you're only at the start of the journey, it doesn't happen straight away

Exactly!