7 Mistakes I Made as a Beginner in Insect Macro Photography
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Entomologist here. I would say the number 1 thing for a beginner is to practice getting close to insects (with or without a camera in your hand) and familiarising yourself with their behaviour. Until then, I think a 2:1 macro is an insane recommendation. My first 'macro' (back in the film days) was a 1:2. I remember being disappointed finding out that it wasn't a 'proper' macro and cursed the salesman who sold it to me. In retrospect he was completely right. It was all I needed for what I wanted. Also, unless you're doing arty shots, backing off a bit will improve depth of field considerably. If you want an entomologist to ID your insect (say, on inaturalist) take photos from as many different angles as you can. Having a lot of beautiful shots with just the eye in focus will not be appreciated. Love your pictures BTW.
Everyone has different goals with photographing insects. My main goal is to just take good looking, aesthetically pleasing photos. That is my foundation for these tips.
Each point in this video is very helpful. Thanks for sharing the secrets to better macro pictures!
I've still been making 6/7 of these mistakes. So this is useful for me!
Good advice, thank you and please continue sharing your photos and knowledge
Thank you for the donation, greatly appreciated!
THANKS so much for the tips and info on gear, very helpful and interesting videos,
Your work is amazing ❤. Thanks for sharing your experience
Thank you so much!
You’re an amazing photographer. Thanks for all the awesome tips.
I appreciate that!
Nice video, good reminder for things to consider
THANK YOU SO MUCH
Honestly, I found all the photos showed on this video very cool.
My wife refuses to look at my insect macro's....I like your over saturated shots!
👨🎓 studing makro photo!
Thanks,this video is amazing.
Glad you liked it!
Great video, Micael! Every macro photographer should watch this and then watch it again. My biggest shortcoming is my diffuser. I have a cygnustech on order but it is taking a LONG time to ship it to the USA from Australia. I'm sure I'll have it by the spring of 2024 LOL :)
Haha yeah winter is perfect to reconsider gear and order stuff for next season :)
Hello. I always enjoy your videos because they are very generous and infectious. I like to take macro photos mostly of flowers. I have smaller full frame cameras including the Nikon Zf. Would you have any recommendation for a small but useful flash that is not too heavy or bulky? I see a lot of really tiny ones that have no power and then a lot of recommended ones that look enormous to me having never really used flash. Ideally, it would be useful for macro and also the occasional people shots like with friends and family. Many thanks for the great videos!
You are really brilliant Micael. You deserve millions of viewers..
😊
Micael, they are not mistakes at all. Just because you have found a way to photograph more to your liking, it doesn’t make the other way a mistake. Love your channel. Happy shooting.
Sure, these tips are just what works according to me. Everyone has a different taste.
Amazing channel, thank you!)
Glad you enjoy it!
My achilles heel is definitly composition and backgrounds. Getting correct focus is also difficult.
very nice advices, very useful
Glad to hear that
I learned to avoid all of these errors via this channel. I recommend it frequently.
Thank you for all of the videos that you make. Very informative and easy to understand. Question I have is....I am a beginner with a tight budget, as I am retired. What do you think about the: Oshiro 60mm f/2.8 2:1 LD UNC Ultra Macro Lens for Nikon F mount? I have a Nikon D5300
I haven't tried that lens so I cannot really say
Great
Very nice and useful recap of the techniques to use. I have to get used to using a diffuser. BTW..can You please point me to the video talking about how to attach the Raynox to the Olympus 60mm lens
Hi, have a look here: kzhead.info/sun/nr2vYNGkmqWNlWw/bejne.html
Hello! Thank you for your video. I think that I will only be able to get a 1:1 lens for this summer, and am wondering if the filter that you recommended would reduce image quality when used with the Canon EF 100mm F2.8 macro lens? I am trying to photograph tidepool invertebrates.
I can't speak for any lens combination, but I have personally used the Raynox DCR-250 on a bunch of macro lenses, and I have never seen degraded image quality.
Really enjoy the simple way you explain your methods. I like the setting lens then focus by rocking back and forth but for me being an elderly person I find it hard to keep the whole setup still. What sort of success rate would you expect out of say 100 images?
You should be able to get around 10-20% of the images in focus with a little bit of practice
@@MicaelWidell Thanks, not doing as badly as I thought then, thanks for the speedy reply. Using Sony A6700 with Sony 90mm f2.8 so is only 1x Magnification. Godox V350s Flash and a little Neewer diffuser although the flash has its own diffuser cap.
Hello Micael! Thanks for your tips from Spain. I am a OM1+60 macro user. I have not the rainox but i have the Meike extension rings (10mm and 16mm). Do you think i could use it? It is better the rainox lens? Thanks a lot!
Forget the "you need 2x magnification" advice. 1:1 is plenty enough, especially if you are a beginner macro photographer.
You will get better magnification with a Raynox, but of course extension tubes will help. I think you would get to around 1.4x magnification with them. Try it!
Hello .. i am a beginner macro shooter .. stil hopping a lot between nature/birds and macro insects.. I get a lot information out of jour videos and want to thank jou for that 🙏 ceep up the good information full videos
Thank you, I'm so happy you like the videos!
Unfortunately most of his advice (except for the be mindful of the background and have the eyes visible) is bad, really terrible.
And still you are watching the content 😬. I'm a content creator myself and challenge you to make better videos .. you will experience its hard to make every one happy
At least all his comments are increasing engagement on my videos by a lot, which helps them get recommended to more people on KZhead 🙂
Exactly all the mistakes I made as well. :D
Hi Micael! Thanks for telling your tips as a beginner, I think I’ve already made all of them myself. I have a question for you regarding gear, in this moment I have 2 cameras, a canon M50 and a Sony A7S (Mark 1), which one would you say is better for macrophotography?
I would probably go with the Canon M50 as it has a higher resolution
@@MicaelWidell well yeah 24mpx vs 12mpx, it has double! But I was in doubts because of the great performance the a7s has for low light. Thanks for your answer!!
Is the Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro USM a good macro photography lens? I've been wanting to get in to macro for a while now and feels like this is a good lens that also sells for a good price. Tack!
It's a good lens, but for insects I would recommend a lens from Laowa with higher magnification
Perhaps you have played around with a polarizer to tone down highlights and focus stacking to help with the depth of field to help out the wider open aperture?
I did both things. And I made videos about it. Search my name and these things :)
Amazing advice you are giving here but i have a question. If i want to take only fungi/mushroom photos (maybe flowers), does the sony 90mm macro lens work for it well ?
Sure, it is a great lens for that
The most important thing isn't mentioned. Get out there and get to know your subjects. Know how the insects feed (do they land on a flower, catch other insects, hover over their food source, etc.), know how they rest, when they rest, how they reproduce, where their larvae live (so that you can find them when they emerge, that's always a spectacle), where you find the food, etc. If I am in a new area I tend to bring my camera gear but don't expect to take much more than documentary shots that enable me to do some research into the subjects I found, if by chance I get a good photo then I cherish my luck. But the second or third time in a specific area I know what subjects I want to photograph, which behavior I find especially interesting - whether it's the owlfly in the first rays of sunshine warming up it's body and wings for the day, the longhorn bee resting in a native orchid and emerging from the flower, the preying mantis devouring the body of a wasp while the head of the wasp is held in the other claw and still tries to defend against the mantis...
Thats so right 😂
This lens works at sony a7RV?
Great video explaining what is a good macro shot. Can extension tubes be used with a 100mm macro lense to get close to 2x magnification? Also, what if you use an off camera flash with a diffuser, would that open up your options as far as angles for insects that won't move?
His advice is going to cost you money you never would have to spend if you are serious about macro photography. You don't need a 2x lens, that's idiotic. A 1:1 macro lens is quite sufficient, I have been photographing macro images in the field for 20 years now and only once or twice I unpacked my extension tubes or teleconverter (the latter work better than extension tubes because they allow for bigger magnification without losing the ability to take shots further away) which are always in my bag to achieve bigger magnification. Also don't waste your money on a flash gun with diffusor. The images he presented using those are mostly horribly lit (even those with the "good diffusor" - just look at the background and the directionality of the light - any good macro photographer I know would be ashamed to show such horrible results and promote the gear used to ruin the shots)... You are far better off to learn how your subjects behave - when they rest, how long they linger on a flower to collect nectar or pollen. A small hand held diffusor (30cm/6in unfolded is large enough, maybe sometimes a 60cm/12in unfolded diffusor comes in handy) and a decent tripod will help you much much more than the most expensive flash gun!
@@karlgunterwunsch1950 Appreciate sharing your knowledge and opinion. While I don't have a teleconverter and haven't attempted shooting insects, I do have extension tubes , 100mm marco lense, Benro gearhead in a top of Joilcan tripod and the FlashPoint Xplor 200 flash. I have gotten good results shooting still objects such as flowers, leaves and other objects. However, I am interested in trying insects.
@@alonzohollingsworth7712 Forget the flash - it's counter productive for insects and no diffusor in the world can remedy that problem. With insects it's a matter to get to know their behavior, that's the main problem, for example there are insects that show certain behavior only in direct sunlight - like the whole group of Ascalaphidae (Owlflies) which are only flying/hunting when there is little wind and the sun is out - often they rest on tall grass and have their wings extended to capture every bit of sunshine to warm up - if you try to approach them with that gruesome flash setup the video shows they will invariably fold their wings up and hide behind the grass stem and nothing you can do will make them unfold the wings again. And that's just one example. More often than not you will run into hair on your insects (most butterflies are covered up to and including their eyes) which you will light up with the flash and lose any decent contrast on the body of the insect. Or you will get false colors because of the angle of incidence of the light combined with the natural light - again the surfaces of the wings of butterflies are a culprit, especially if there is any blue color because that solely is a surface structure effect, not a pigment. Thus sit down in a meadow (eye level on many of the inhabitants) and start by getting to know the insects that surround you, some will be unwelcome (ticks, some ants) but the rest will open up a whole new world to you. Learn how they behave and then you can learn how to photograph this beautiful part of our world.
Yess
@karlgunterwunsch1950 oh so looks like many ways to do things
Hallo and congratulations, please could you talk about video macro videography?
Thank you. Yes I will probably do videos about this soon, maybe in 2-3 months. Keep an eye out!
Thank you 👌 great vidéo 👍
Hi, it seems like sometimes, your flash is flashing more than once. Is it when you take more different focussing shots? How do you do focus stacking with the flash?
Olympus cameras has a built in focus stacking feature which does this automatically. It is really awesome. Search my name and “OM-1” on KZhead to learn more
mistake 4 seems to be the most important. when you look on pics on flickr 80% are over saturarted. i also think its a problem of for example lightroom, if you use the sliders like contrast or any other, they also saturate the colors ... and the end you must de-saturate the pic using the slider for saturation or better is to use photoshop for example. if you use luminance as light you can use contrast etc. without to saturate colors. lots of pics could be so nice if thery werent over saturated
i seen you using 2 of those pop up diffusers the ones that the lens goes through i seen you doubled up , how was it ?
It improves the softness of the light a bit!
@@MicaelWidell Lets say the diffuser that you are using just now improves the softness by 100% , then where does the double pop ups rank ? just curious to see how much more effective it actually is.
I made [and still make] 4/7 of those 😀
I have the canon 100m f/2.8 which is 1:1 which I bought to photography reptiles and amphibians. Is there a way I can step up the magnification? I am not in a position to buy a new lens at the moment.
The best and easiest way is to purchase a Raynox DCR 250. I made videos about it. It will increase magnification to around 2x.
@@MicaelWidell okay awesome thank you! Do you think I need an adapter as well or will it go directly on the lens? Learning a lot from your videos, appreciate your work and dedication to sharing your knowledge.
Hey, thanks so much for the video! I want to buy a Laowa lens, but I don't understand what the differences are between for example a 25mm vs. a 65mm. Could you help me out?
Please use my lens guide. Find it at micaelwidell.com. I would not buy the Laowa 25mm as a first macro lens.
@@MicaelWidell Okay, thank you for the response. This might be a cool video idea for a new video also! I think many people have questions about this
Perfect tips Micael, and I'm sure not only the beginners but also the advanced macro photographers are finding this video a very useful knowledge refresher 👍
It's a refresher that reminds me how bad his advice is. I am a macro photographer with 20 years of experience in the field and what I have seen in the video would never fly: Ripping off a flower because a small insect is in it and holding it in front of the sky to get a blue background is an absolute NOGO! Flash too is the mark of a total NOOB, and his own images using flash are undermining his previous advice to be mindful of the background - which happens to be one of the few things he said that are true - the "good diffusor" image of the stink bug being exemplary for how disrespectful he is to his own previous advice, unless you like a pitch black background and unnatural light directionality.
@@karlgunterwunsch1950 Lol why would holding a flower with an insect to the sky be a bad thing if he uses flash to take care of the shadow side facing him,its quite clear that not even an additional 20 years of experience would do much good in your case,if were gonna talk years i have 35 years experience and i find the advice very good,i knew most of it beforehand but still enjoys the vids Micael is putting out 😉
@@niclasholst7941 It's a bad thing because he ripped off the flower and thus has diminished the bio diversity of the environment. Many insects are dependent on certain flowers, and even removing one may have dire consequences. There could be eggs laid on the stem that will now hatch on a dried out husk of what else would have fed the larva to become a butterfly next year. And that just for a photo to be discarded afterwards.
Karl Gunter what's the matter? Having a bad day? Maybe go out for a walk, some fresh air can help. You have left like 10 angry comments now in a short time period
@@MicaelWidell Because you are misleading and spreading bad advice. I have written books on photography subjects and have been technical editor and I would have shredded the pages on you if you had handed them in for correction at the publisher I worked for.
What do you think about Godox MF-R76N TTL Macro Ring Flash without diffuser
Don't waste money on a ring flash, it's good for documenting teeth for insurance reasons when you are a dentist or for forensic documentation of a crime scene where every angle of the bulletcasing needs to be lit but beyond that it's useless.
I would not use a ring flash, the light looks very sterile and industrial and it will not give you beautiful photos. Best to use a regular flash and a good diffuser.
@@MicaelWidell Or don't use flash at all. Your images are the best deterrent of ever wanting to use a flash!
Thanks for your video🔥 ! Is the Laowa 60mm 2:1 compatible with the Sony a7r V ?
Yes it will work. These days I would rather buy the Laowa 58mm however. It is a better lens and will give you nicer photos when focusing on long distances.
How do you get the background exposure balanced with the subject? My backgrounds are too dark... Thank you!
He doesn't, he uses flash. The "good diffusor" picture of a stink bug is just hypocritical when just a few minutes before he said "be mindful of the background" and then he presents a pitch black background as beautiful! The only way to make this problem go away is to not use flash! You don't need flash! I have been photographing macro images for the better part of 20 years now and I once have spent quite a bit of money chasing flash guns and diffusors. Once I got that out of my system my images got better and better. Now I never use flash anymore, it doesn't even make it into my bag anymore (I carried around that stuff for far too long, thinking I might need it sometime. The last time I used it in my macro photography was when I documented leucitic fire-salamander at night time - since then (about 15 years have passed) the flash guns may gathered so much dust that I could have disposed of them. It was the one thing that held me back from getting good images for far too long!
Just because you have done something for 20 years, it doesn't mean you are any good at it, unfortunately. But sure everyone has a different taste, and some people perhaps like the look of my beginner photos 😂
The best way is to put something around 10cm behind the insect, like a leaf or something colourful. Then use a flash and the light from the flash will reflect against the background and make it bright. Either that or hold the insect up towards the sky so that the sky is the background.
@@MicaelWidell Try that with a preying mantis, a butterfly, a fly - really anything. Not even the half frozen butterflies on a meadow in morning dew would tolerate that malhandling!
@@MicaelWidell Your beginner photos are just that. But your recent photos aren't much better, look closer at your "best diffusor" sample and then tell me how this follows your previous advice. It's showing the insect from the top (beginner mistake, check), the background is an unsightly black (beginner mistake not watching the background, check), it has little to no shadows (beginner mistake you haven't come to realize - in macro photography you need some sort of shadows, not harsh ones though, to give the subject definition). Take a look at macro photography forums, there you will find many people (maybe even me) and the common trait of the vast majority of photos will have one thing in common: No flash!
The problem is I don't have a flash or a diffuser! I have the small flash of the camera will that do anything? Do you know a way I can make a diffuser? because where I am no one is selling any sort of diffuser! Don't have the means to buy one from the internet either so I am left with making it myself but I don't know how!
Forget the flash advice. Have you looked at the "good diffusor" stink bug picture he presented, that's the horrible result of using a much more refined flash gun setup he advises to use. I am a macro photographer with more than 20 years of experience in the field and the last time I used flash for this kind of photography was about 15 years ago when I was photographing fire-salamanders at night under a light tent.
The built in flash on the camera might work as a start. And you can make a very cheap diffuser yourself, search "pringles diffuser" on youtube and watch my video about it!
You make some good points but the use of inappropriate coloured backgrounds is also a major mistake, especially the bright coloured ones you show that look so unnatural.
Everyone has their own taste
Have you written a buying guide for flash?
No. But search my name and “best macro flash” and you will find a video with my recommendations
Can you make a video for the best budget macro setup under $300? Photography can be prohibitevly expensive to get into for people with little money
Check out the Cheecar 60mm f2.8 2:1 macro manual. Low price, great quality
What do you like more? Micro photography or portrait photography?
I like macro the most : )
I am not sure if it is me or my camera, but using the 49mm macro filter on the Nikkor 105mm macro FX, the DOF is so narrow that it is basically unusable.
Did you try a small aperture like f/11? Sure the depth of field will be thin due to the magnification, but it should be usable :)
@@MicaelWidell yes, I also tried f16 and up to f22. It is a bit better but still very difficult to use. Also when using a so small aperture the live view is black (I use a full frame DSLR, maybe not the ideal camera for macro?).
I wonder if a 2x close up lens with a 70 300 mm lens can create good macro pictures.
Maybe not ideal for macro. But you should get a bit closer.
Hi from bali
Enjoying bali? :)
@@MicaelWidell love it...got some pretty good macro too
@@MicaelWidell u would get some amazing insect shots here
Laowa have no autofocus - a big problem with insects.
I disagree. I have taken hundreds of insect photos with all of Laowas manual lenses. It’s not that hard.
When I see you ripping off flowers to manhandle them in front of your camera I could scream, you are quite unethical with your photography! Flash is the surefire death of macro photography. You get false colors, bad lighting, too dark backgrounds, no diffusor in the world can alleviate the wrong directionality of the lighting and false reflections from any iridescent surface of the insect. It can be seen in almost every of your photos. They mostly are badly lit, unnatural backgrounds. You are promoting very bad advice here!
If you think my tips and images are horrible, then yours must truly be great. Where can we see your photos so we can compare your results with mine? Edit: I googled and found one of your closeup photos. Great, then everyone can use that as a reference when deciding whose advice to take naturfotografen-forum.de/o13674-Salamandra%20salamandra%20terrestris%20ND%20EBV%20%28reload%29#nfmain
@@MicaelWidell And that was the last time I used flash, over 15 years ago... That photo was taken at a stage in my development that you are currently in, highly convinced that flash was needed - well it was at night, but that's no excuse. But this pissing match you want to incite will not go well for you...
@@karlgunterwunsch1950why not start your own channel and tell us how many years you've been taking macro shots for. Your opinion is as valid as the next person's, but you're repeating yourself mate. Move on.
@@karlgunterwunsch1950 you possess the self awareness of a nat "But this pissing match you want to incite will not go well for you..." YOU are the only one trying to incite a pissing match(countless abrasive comments on this video), and with every comment you only did your hole deeper, just stop. many have asked to see your work... crickets
I do not really know enough about macro photography to really weigh in on this, but with what I am competent at (bird photography) I know that photography ethics are very important. So I agree that you shouldn't destroy plants.