Photographing Insects: Using a Flash
You need a flash, and a good diffuser
When photographing insects you need a high aperture and a fast shutter speed. To still maintain a low ISO value a flash is recommended. So I got myself a flash and here are my first experiences with it.
An extended version of this article has appeared in my free book My Journey into Insect Photography that you can download here.
There are special macro flashes, but I decided to buy a simple Godox V350 flash that I can also use in other situations. It is not very strong, but that is no problem for macro, and it is rather light, which helps. You can also go for the cheaper 350TT that is not rechargeable and uses batteries. The main reason for choosing the V350 is that it has a faster recharge time, which is important because you often want to take pictures in fast succession.
First trials
Using a flash is definitely something you have to get used to. There are some new concepts to understand and additional settings. It is important to avoid harsh light and shadows, so you definitely need a diffuser to spread the light. It is also important that the lens does not cast a shadow on the subject. Fortunately, the flash is high enough and extends enough forward so that is not a problem. But with a lens hood it might give issues.
After some experimenting I decided to use the automatic TTL mode. That saves some additional hassles. I can always adjust the strength with the flash exposure compensation. The zoom I set to manual at the widest 24 mm. I think this helps with the diffusion of the light; see. below. I use a shutter speed of 1/320 of a second (that is the fastest flash synchronization my camera can do), an ISO value of 200, and an aperture of typical F13. This gives rather dark backgrounds, even during the day. You can always decrease the shutter speed or increase the ISO value a bit to get a somewhat lighter background. Here is one of my images. It has rather strong shadows, but for the spider I like that. The shadows of the legs look extra creepy.
More diffusion
The flash gives rather harsh shadows. The flash comes with a plastic diffuser you can put on the flash, but this does not help much. The reason is that it does not change the size of the light. And the size of the light determines how the shadows look.
You can buy cheap flash diffusers that fit around the lens. These cost less than 10 euro on Amazon. Be careful though that the hole through which the lens goes is the correct size. Mine was too large so I had to add some rubber bands to keep it in place.
This creates a nice, large, soft light that still comes from above, like normal light. The following images show the effect. The top left image uses the normal flash without diffuser, the top right the plastic diffuser on the flash, the bottom left the diffuser on the lens but not on the flash, and the bottom right both the diffuser on the lens and on the flash.
You can see how the shadow changes from hard to very soft. Also look at the face, which is best visible in the fourth image with both diffusers. The diffuser on the flash helps a bit, but this is mainly due to the fact that I too these shots inside and, hence, there is some reflection from the ceiling. Outside, it would not help, and it will waste flash power. So better don’t use it. Your flash will recharge faster.
You can also get softer shadows by using a longer exposure time or higher ISO. This adds more ambient light and reduces the strength of the flash and, hence, the shadows. Here is an example. This was on a sunny day. Note in the left-bottom corner how more of the background becomes visible when using more ambient light.
Using the diffuser is a bit clumsy but I try to use it most the time. Sometimes you start pushing against branches that contain the insect, making it harder to focus. I was afraid it might scare insects away, but the opposite seems te be true. Your face might be more scary to them.
I soon realized that the images tend to be rather dark, especially when being a bit further away from the subject. Probably the light is diffused a bit too much. Setting the flash exposure compensation to 1 did help. I also sometimes move the ISO up to 400 in such a situation.
Special macro flashes
There are also special macro flashes. They come in two types.
Ring flashes are rings that are mounted on the lens. This brings the light very close to the subject. The opinions about this are rather varied. Some people really like them, in particular for the ease of use. Others consider the result rather unnatural because the subject is lit from all directions. This works well for product photography, but not for insects. There are pretty cheap ones though, so I might try one in the future.
Twin flashes consist of two flashes that are either connected to the lens or extend from the flash unit with two flexible arms. They give good light, but can be a bit clumsy to deal with. And they are considerably more expensive.
So I decided to go for a normal flash that I could also use in other situations.
Some further tips
- Make sure your flash is always ready to fire. Flashes go in sleep mode after a while. Either turn this off, or regularly half-press the shutter to reactivate it.
- I sometimes press my forehead against the back of the flash. This gives me more stability for manual focus.
- Be careful with shiny leaves. They can give bad reflections of the flash light.
To flash or not to flash
The pictures look rather different when using a flash. There is more contrast, which I normally like. Also, the image quality is better because I can now use a much lower ISO value. And the flash nicely freezes the subject, so there is less motion blur. Sometimes though, the results look a bit artificial, so I definitely need some more practice. Here is an example of a ladybug without and with flash. The image without a flash needed some serious noise removal using ON1 NoNoise AI. This works really well, but obviously some detail is lost. Which image do you like most?
Next: Focus
Previous: Camera and Lenses
Mark Overmars is a dedicated insect photographer that loves to share and regularly publishes about his work and about photography in general. You can visit his website at www.insectphotography.org. Download his free insect photography book at www.insectphotography.org/book.
