Ten Amazing Images of Insects Covered in dew

When it comes to photography nothing amazes me more than macro (close up, highly detailed) images of insects, so today I thought we would take a look at the work of French photographer David Chambon as he is a true master of macro insect photography. This post is all about his amazing morning dew series…

 


BONUS CONTENT: Top 10 Tips About Macro Photography


 

Insect Covered in dew
Insect Covered in dew

10 – Fly

TIP: The focal length of Macro lenses ranges from 50mm to 200mm. Although many zoom lenses boast a macro setting, these are usually less than half life-size magnification – true macro, however, begins with 1:1 and nothing less. A 50-60mm lens is suitable for general macro work but if you want greater subject-to-lens distance a 100mm lens will give you this at a price.

Insect Covered in dew
Insect Covered in dew

9 – Dragonfly

TIP: Extension tubes fit between the rear mount of the lens and the camera body to make the lens focus closer and, therefore, produce a much bigger image of a small subject. This image of a thick-legged flower beetle was shot with an 18-200mm zoom lens and a 20mm extension tube added. This is a much cheaper alternative than buying a macro lens, but tubes are more fiddly to use in the field.

Insect Covered in dew
Insect Covered in dew

8 – Ladybird

TIP: Close-up filters are single-element lenses that look like magnifying glasses. These filters screw into the front element thread and can provide an inexpensive alternative to splashing out on a pukka macro lens. They come in a variety of strengths that are measured in dioptres.

Insect Covered in dew
Insect Covered in dew

7 – Butterfly

TIP: To get the most out of available depth-of-field, select a small aperture like f/16 or even f/22. You will find that at half-life size the depth of field you can achieve at f/22 will be only around 15mm at best. On the other hand, you may wish to go to the other extreme and show as little sharpness as possible by opening up to full aperture like f/2.8 or f/4.

[adinserter block=”7″]

Insect Covered in dew
Insect Covered in dew

6 – Bettle

TIP: With more static subjects it can be fun to add a blip of flash just to liven up an image. While most composite shots are best with a natural light static items like leafs look better after having both natural light & flash.

Insect Covered in dew
Insect Covered in dew

5 – Dragonfly

TIP: A ‘third hand’ device is an essential macro photography accessory. It will enable you to support or position subjects just where you want them. In turn, it can also help to provide endless possibilities of positioning backgrounds.

Insect Covered in dew
Insect Covered in dew

4 – Dragonfly

TIP: Although we can crop things using software later, it is best to fine-tune composition in-camera at the time of shooting as much as possible. With close-up pattern details, ensure they either fill the frame completely so that there are no gaps around the edges. Alternatively, show the entire pattern with space all around it.

Insect Covered in dew
Insect Covered in dew

3 – Dragonfly

TIP: It is imperative to consider the actual point of focus when working close-up with tiny subjects. You can dramatically change the appearance by where you chose to focus. These two shots of the same teasle head were both shot at the same maximum aperture, but the point of focus was changed by a couple of millimetres to produce an entirely different effect.

[adinserter block=”8″]

Insect Covered in dew
Insect Covered in dew

2 – Dragonfly

TIP: With small but lively subjects like butterflies, it can be difficult getting close enough to them for frame-filling shots. Try stalking them later in the day, just as they are about to settle down for the night.

Insect Covered in dew
Insect Covered in dew

1 –  Bettle

TIP: After rain can be an excellent time to search for macro subjects when everything is dripping with droplets of rainwater. Go in close to show how the raindrops act as miniature lenses, magnifying the veins in leaves

Author: Gus Barge

Leave a Reply