Taking pictures of insects have been quite difficult as the insect would move constantly and the has to be kept in an isolated environment where it has limited movement. Because it is quite difficult to position the camera to get the right composition.
This is what I found, (mainly because my room has low light and have not had the budget to afford a external flash yet, still eyeing the 430ex, but too expensive because of the weakened NZD).
Tips:
- A steady tripod helps a lot, as your finger moves.
- Live view is very useful, as you can fine tune focus.
- Together with 2. a combination of Live view and Manual Focus is perfect combination for taking macro.
- I had an additional external light from a lamp shining at a 60 degree downwards angle onto the praying mantis to get more light as the flash on the camera will not reach.
- High f stop - above 11 to get more detail into the shot
- Low ISO - ISO 100 to get low noise, this is compensated by a longer exposure time. However, because of having a steady tripod, this is no problem as long as the subject remains stationary.
- Use the lens to block the exit of the insect. : ).
- Moving the subject around is more easier than adjusting the position of the camera. The praying mantis was in a jar so I just moved the jar around.
- I haven't been able to find a way to take the praying mantis angled from the side. Maybe find a square box with very high transparency, need to hunt around. Will try again tomorrow.
- Adding some environment to the subject so it looks more natural. At the moment the subject is in a jar and it is quite obvious that the jar bottom can be seen see below.
