Photographing Insects: Composition

Composition plays an crucial role in creating fascinating photos

Closeup of the head of a butterfly. The head follows the rule of thirds. The antenna and leg lead the viewer to the head. The details should keep the attention. And the viewer might wonder how I got that close to a butterfly. (The answer is: be patient and move very slowly.) Photo by the author.

Composition is an important topic in photography and many books have been written about it. But what about composition for insects? Here are my thoughts about this.

An extended version of this article has appeared in my free book My Journey into Insect Photography that you can download here.

Composition deals with how the elements make up the total image. Where and how they are positioned, how lines produce flow, and how to create visual balance. And, obviously, we want to avoid distractions. This helps to grab the viewer’s attention, make her focus on the important aspects and, if possible, it tells a story behind the picture.

When photographing insects, initially you are happy that the insect is in the image and that it is sort of sharp. But soon you should start looking at other aspects. How is the insect positioned? Is it a top-down shot, side shot, or a shot from the front? Does the insect look into the camera? If not, what does it look at? Which parts are in focus? (Often the eyes.) And so on.

As a next step you must pay attention to the background. Does it make the insect stand out? Does it contain annoying distractions? Does it lead the viewer to the important part of the image?

Getting attention

Getting the viewers attention is normally rather easy with insect pictures. Insects at high magnification look weird, sometimes even frightening, and always interesting. Because of all the details you also tend to keep the attention for a while. The viewer sees things she never thought were there. And the viewer might wonder how you took the shot.

But it is much harder to tell a story. There are normally very few additional elements in the image you can play with. And it is hard for the viewer to relate with the insect. There is not much of an emotional bond.

You can though still create some questions in the viewers mind. What is the insect looking at? Is he going to climb the stem? Is he going to jump or fly away? The composition of the image can help here. Leave space on the side the insect is looking at. Photograph the insect on the edge of a leaf. Have a slanted stem that suggests a beetle is moving upwards.

Where is this fly? Are these leaves? (They are flower petals.) The background creates a bit of confusion, which is good to grab the attention of the viewer. Photo by the author.

The position of the insect

There is the famous rule of thirds. If you divide the image horizontally and vertically with lines in three equal parts, the four positions where the lines intersect are the best positions to place the main point of focus. However, this is hard with insects. Often the eyes should be the focus. (Especially for spiders that have eight of them.) But if you place these at one of the four positions, either the insect is looking out of the frame, which is not good practice, or there is a huge open space in the image, which is also not good. But sometimes it can work, like in the first image of the head of a butterfly. The large antennas fill the empty space, and also guide the viewer to the head. Also the image of a red soldier beetle below places the head at one of the intersections.

This red soldier beetle is ready to attack you. The image follows the rule of thirds and suggests action. The thistle in the back is a bit distracting though. Photo by the author.

But in general the insect will be more in the center, at least with the eyes. But I still try to put it more at the bottom third or top third if possible.

Suggesting action

By positioning and orienting your insect you can suggest action. Action makes the picture more interesting. Of course the insect might not collaborate in this. So I tend to spend a lot of time with each insect, taking shots from different directions and hoping that it moves somewhere interesting.

For example, when an insect is at the edge of leaf or a flower you suggest it will jump or fly away. If it is on a slanted stem you suggest it will move upwards. If it looks at something food-like, it might want to eat it. And so on.

This grasshopper is ready to jump into the unknown. (He actually changed his mind and was still on the same leaf half an hour later.) Photo by the author.

Lines

Lines and curves in pictures are powerful. They provide flow and guide the view of the observer. Lines can be vague in the background, or prominent in the foreground. Be careful though that they don’t confuse the viewer.

Rotate your camera or rotate the image in post processing to get the lines in the desired direction. If often works best if they emanate from a corner of the image. The stem in the image below was almost vertical, but I felt that a rotation created a more interesting picture.

The stem forms a clear flow. It suggests the ladybug is climbing upwards. It looks like an iron beam, adding a bit of useful confusion. The leaves in the background though could have been a bit more out of focus. Photo by the author.

Dealing with the background

Initially you are so focused on the insect that you forget the background. But the background plays a crucial role in framing the insect. It should make the insect pop, and it should not contain annoying distractions. Small distractions can be removed in post processing, but large distraction are hard to get rid off. (Although there are tricks to make them less prominent, like desaturating the color.)

The blurriness of the background (called the bokeh in photography terms) is an important aspect here. This is one of the disadvantages of using an APS-C camera. The background does not become blurry enough. You can of course apply blur in post processing but this is complicated, requiring careful masking. Using a flash helps because it will make the background darker.

It is even nicer when the background supports the foreground. For example, there can be subtle lines that draw the attention to the insect or the background can frame the insect. But this is hard to achieve. However, always try to change the direction of your shot slightly to see what it does to the background.

Green-veined white butterfly against a dark background to accentuate the wings. Note that the dark leaves in the background sort of follow the shape of the wings. Photo by the author.

Conclusions

I still have a lot to learn about composition in insect pictures. And it is really difficult to look at the background while you are still struggling to get the insect in focus. Taking the photograph from an interesting side is the first thing to try. Having the insect in an interesting (action) position is often a matter of luck. But it helps to be aware of it.

The next step is to have some attention for the background. And remember, you can always use some post processing to crop the image in an interesting way and get rid of some distractions. Best leave a bit of room around the insect such that you can determine the best crop later. I will discuss my approach to post processing in the next article.

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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.