CHALLENGE 1:
HANDHELD SHARPNESS
Chris drove up the A30 from his home in
west Cornwall to meet me at my home
in the north of the county, ready for an
afternoon exploring my local patch. The sun
was shining when we met at around midday,
but one of our first conversations still
concerned the weather – it was windy and
the leaves on the trees were moving about
wildly. This is far from ideal when you wish
to photograph insects. Even the smallest
movement appears exaggerated at higher
levels of magnification, making it harder to
photograph subjects resting on grasses and
foliage that are easily affected by the wind.
The conditions on the day, good or bad, are
all part of the challenge, though – it is not
supposed to be easy! I explained to Chris
that in order to get good shots of insects,
you not only need to know your subject, but
have an intimate knowledge of their habitats
too. By getting to know local reserves,
wild flower meadows and wetlands, you
learn just when and where to visit, and also
discover spots that provide some shelter on
blowy days. I knew a local stretch of water
located in a slight dip and protected from the
wind that was often good for damselflies, so
we decided to head there first...On route, we chatted. Chris was new to
close-ups and just beginning to get to grips
with using his Sigma 105mm macro lens. He
had only tried shooting insects a few times
before. I gave him a few general tips regarding
camera set-up. Depth-of-field appears to
be very shallow at higher magnifications, so
you need to select an aperture small enough
to achieve a usable zone of focus. However,
too much depth-of-field can bring too much
background clutter into focus, and produce
messy distractions. Therefore, a good
compromise is a mid-aperture, around f/8.
I suggested Chris opted for aperture- priority
mode and set this f/number as his starting
point. However, the shutter speed shouldn’t
be ignored either when shooting insects –
particularly when working handheld or in
windy conditions when you need a speed fast
enough to freeze both camera and subject
motion. I recommended Chris didn’t allow
shutter speeds to fall much below 1/250sec –
and that he increased ISO sensitivity to help.
I also suggested he focused manually, as AF
can struggle to lock on to miniature detail.
On location we were greeted with lots
of activity – dragonflies darting about and
colourful demoiselles dancing above the
water. However, during daytime, insects are
warm and active, making them hard to get
close to. Chris didn’t waste any time, though.The (^) Photo Workshop
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70 Digital SLR Photography October 2019
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