National Moth Week will soon be here and hopefully many a backyard will be glowing with either a Mercury Vapor or Ultra Violet bulb. Most importantly, will you be photo cataloging this event? If yes, one might want to brush up on their camera skills but don’t worry there is still plenty of time. We are not going to be able to document as many species as possible if the photo is a blurry mess, even the best Entomologist can’t help you if they can not make out identifying features.
Now the biggest piece of information I can give you is, read the Manual that came with your camera. There is a lot of info in there for the novice photographer. If that isn’t enough for you, I’ve complied a few links to help you out. Just take your time and try new things out, don’t worry we have all made mistakes & have taken crappy pictures.
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Macro Instruction
Simple:
http://www.beautifulbugs.com/beautifulbugs/howto.htm
This site has some very easy to understand information for the budding macro photographer.
http://macrophotographyforbeginners.blogspot.com/
http://www.macrophotographyforbeginners.com/
Same guy different sites
Advanced:
Not a bad site, for some it might be a little too much. The Table of Contents is very helpful.
You Never Take Your Camera Off M:
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
First one finds their camera (or nearest neighbor), select the lens you are using, then the selected f-stop and finally the distance from subject. This bit of Java Script (or so I think its Java) will then tell you how deep the focus is.
For People With P& S Cameras
http://thehowzone.com/how/PS-Macros
Soften That Flash!
Homemade Diffusers can be made out of such things as milk jugs, Styrofoam cups, taping a piece of tracing paper over the flash and even bouncing the light off a piece of foam core or white poster board can help improve your moth photography. Search http://www.diyphotography.net for more ideas!
Here is a fun tip for those that use the on-board flash
http://content.photojojo.com/diy/diy-film-container-flash-diffuser/
For those that have a macro lens & an attachable flash here is a link
http://www.diyphotography.net/homestudio/blz/flash-mini-bouncer
Knowing Your Strobe:
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/ (Canon Users)
http://www.moosepeterson.com/techtips/flash.html (Nikon Users)
http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/ (Other Lighting Solutions)
Don’t forget to practice, practice & then even practice some more. You’re not going to be the Ansel Adams of insect photography overnight but one day you might have the skills as these people:
http://www.insectphotography.com/
http://toddjdreyer.com/ (shameless plug)
I have an article all about photographing Moths if you don’t mind me posting it?
http://www.fatphotographer.net/links/how_to_shoot/nature_-_macro_moths.html
This is from the perspective of a keen photographer and Moth trapper 🙂
Sure go right ahead and thanks!