Photographing pinned beetles
There are many different techniques for photographing beetles, some require expensive equipment such as ring flashes, macro lenses and specialised lights. But the techniques discussed below are all relatively low tech. These photos have all been taken with a Canon 20D digital SLR, but any good quality camera should be able to produce similar results. Large sized versions of the images can be found here (0.5Mb). We will start with the simplest technique and work up. Happily this also coincides with increasing photo quality.
Technique a: Long exposure
For this technique you need to have good natural light. Position the pinned beetles on a white background and steady the camera on a tripod or table top. Due to the size of these beetles it’s important to have a high depth of field in order to get as much of the beetle in focus as possible. By stopping down the aperture you necessarily need to increase the exposure. I often find that at f15 I need a 1 – 5 second exposure depending on how bright it is. Your camera should tell you what will work best. If your camera is able it is also a good idea to “bracket” your shot. This means taking a photo one stop either side of your selected settings. |
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Pros | Cons |
· Cheap | · Heavy shadows |
· Simple | · Unreliable (depends on light) |
Technique b: Built in flash
This is not really a technique in itself, but is worthy of mention. Simply use the built in flash on the camera. If the camera allows then it is a good idea to increase the depth of field. Although the flash is often timed to work for shutter speeds of 1/60 it does not matter a great deal if it is longer. This image was taken on automatic settings which is why the depth of field isn’t great. |
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Pros | Cons |
· Cheap | · Medium shadows |
· Simple | · Unreliable (depends on camera!) |
Technique c: External flash
This technique requires an external flash unit. You can achieve different results by playing with the diffuser on the flash and my mounting the flash away from the body of the camera. Already we can see a huge improvement over the first two techniques…and it gets better |
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Pros | Cons |
· Quite reliable | · Light shadows |
· Not so dependant on light | · Flash unit can be expensive |
Technique d: White card
This technique requires some construction! Find a cardboard box, open all the flaps, and cut it in half. Cover it in white paper and you should end up with something like below:
Now place the beetles inside this make shift studio and use the external flash technique as described above. The white card helps to distribute the light and stop too many harsh shadows or flash white out on shiny beetles. However because there is still direct light falling on the beetles you do still get shadows |
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Pros | Cons |
· Reliable | · Some construction required |
· Very light shadows |
Technique e: The bucket
This technique again requires some construction. You need a bucket, as close to white as you can get. Then cut a hole in the top of it that is big enough for you to see the beetles through, but keep it as small as possible. You should have something like this:
You will need at least 2 flash units for this as well as photosensitive slaves. These slaves attach to the hotshoe of the flash and fire off the unit when it detects another flash. The aim here is to shine light ON the bucket, but not IN the bucket. Ideally you want two flash units (one wired to the camera and one on a slave) at either side of the bucket. Before you take the photos you need to set a custom white balance to account for the not quite white bucket. See your camera manual for instructions on this. Place the beetles inside the bucket, set a nice high aperture and exposure and take photos! |
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Pros | Cons |
· Very reliable | · Some experience needed |
· Not dependant on light | · Needs good camera |
