Robert, photographing beetles and exemplifying nerdityNgorongoro Crater Conservation Area, TanzaniaJ

Robert, photographing beetles and exemplifying nerdityNgorongoro Crater Conservation Area, TanzaniaJanuary 15, 2016Juan OteyzaI was recently asked how I go about creating bug portraits. Everyone has a different method to their madness, but mine tends to have a bit more madness in its method. First of all, I’m cheap. I use a $20 Polaroid macro ring light (that sucks batteries and refuses to communicate with my camera) and whatever white surfaces are available to me. In the field, I like using recycled white paper bags like the one here (it once held my malaria medication). And at home I use a white bowl (stolen from my university’s dining commons, shhhh, don’t tell). Generally, I put the ring light on “light” mode (where it simply becomes an expensive flashlight) and adjust my settings to make the white look as naturally white as possible before introducing my subjects. Getting bugs to sit still is probably the most difficult part of this process. I don’t have any surefire ways to achieve this, but, because I tire of their shenanigans easily, I’ll often leave a bug in a vial overnight to let it calm the f*** down. Sometimes this works. Usually it doesn’t. For some insects and arachnids, you just need to time your shots right. I find that most spiders tend to pause briefly while hopelessly traversing my endlessly white bowl (perhaps to contemplate their hopelessness, but more likely in an attempts to visually assess their world something something visual acuity). I’ve discovered that some beetles tire out quickly, so I harass them for a few minutes to prevent them from resting, before photographing them while they’re recuperating. Most beetles, however, seem to prefer to just curl up and hunker down, unfortunately. For these, I’ve found that gently (or ferociously, depending on my level of patience) blowing on them often gets them to emerge from their defensive state.But that’s all just the set-up. The real star of the show is always the camera/lens (in my opinion). I use a compact mirrorless DSLR (a Panasonic GX7 and, in older photos, a DMC-GF3) which is relatively small and portable, so I can bring it everywhere I go. Literally everywhere. You never know when you’re going to find a really really cool bug (like this one which I discovered while pooping early one morning – or this one that crawled on me while I was nude sunbathing). Literally EVERYWHERE I GO. My lens for macro work is a Panasonic Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm fixed lens for a micro 4/3 mount. He’s my pride and joy and the best purchase I have ever made.As for editing software, I find that, if I’ve done the set-up and shooting correctly, not much gets done on the back-end, so I use Google’s old Picasa software (free!) for basic fine-tuning. They recently discontinued service for this product and are pushing their mobile app “Snapseed” instead. I recently tried out Snapseed and am amazed at its capabilities. I just refuse to do all my photo editing on a phone. I’ll figure it out eventually.Feel free to ask any other questions you might have! Cheers! -- source link

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