beginner macro part 4: troubleshooting

• Part 1: equipment
• Part 2: settings
• Part 3: take the shot!
• Part 4: troubleshooting

So you went out, took a few photos, and immediately ran into problems. Let's talk through what might be happening.

My photos are blurry.

Happens to the best of us.

Make sure your shutter speed is quick enough- 1/200 seconds or faster. For rapidly flying insects, like a bee's wings, you may need a shutter speed of at least 1/2000 sec to get the wings to be sharp, which is very challenging without flash/high ISO. If there is motion in the wings, I say embrace it. These critters' speed is part of their character.

Are you shooting in Manual mode? If you are shooting in an Auto mode in which your camera controls the shutter speed and/or aperture, it is likely going to make decisions that prevent you from getting the subject in focus. Shoot in Manual.

Is your aperture narrow enough? Aim for F/11 or tighter- I like to stick around F/13 or F/16. I find that any smaller is overkill which requires you to really restrict your shutter speed and ISO- but that's fine if you use flash.

Very few of my photos have the subject in focus.

This is just part of the process. I always delete 95% or more of my macro photos of live critters in the field, mostly because the subject isn't in focus. Insects wiggle! By taking bursts instead of just one shot at a time, you maximize your chances for a few of those photos to be what you wanted. I often take 30+ photos of the same critter while expecting only 2-3 of them to be solid.

The bug flies off as soon as I focus!

This is another thing that must be accepted as a part of the experience because bugs are living, busy little guys with a lot of chores to do. Take time to observe where they stop for a moment, then focus on those spots. I love sitting a chair right in front of a flower or water source, then trying not too move very much.

Worth noting- some types of cameras and smartphone cameras autofocus by using infrared that bugs can detect and get spooked by.

My photos are dark, and I will compromise quality if I push ISO, aperture, or shutter speed any further.

This is how you know you need flash. If that makes you nervous, remember you can step into the flash world gradually. Start with your built-in camera flash and only get more equipment if you decide that you want to. I love the results when I use my flash and diffuser! I only don't constantly use them because they are a little unwieldy to carry around and I'm lazyyyy.

There are a bunch of blurry spots on all of my photos.

Clean your lens. Dust and scratches on your camera and lens will show up as a bunch of blurry splotches that are obvious on simple, light backgrounds. I ignore this advice and fix them in Lightroom with a batch action.

I don't know if my photos are any good.

Did you go outside and get some fresh air? Maybe see something new? That's awesome.

Did you want to take identifiable photos, and the critters are identifiable? Mission accomplished.

Macro took a lot of time for me to adjust to, even after several years of other photography. It's a bit of an odd workflow but I encourage you to power through disappointment and continue to get out there. It would only take a single good shot after hundreds of unintelligible pictures to amp me back up. There are a lot of amazing free resources out there to help you improve your photography game- so if you want to improve your composition and style, look around!

Also: I mentally categorize my macro (and all of my) photography into two buckets: 1. pretty and 2. utilitarian. If I want to go take gorgeous photos of bees, you know I'll have my flash and diffuser on- but most of the time, I really just want to get outside, get a bunch of iNaturalist observations, and have fun. Honestly, I took most of my favorite photos once I learned how to take the pressure off of my photography so I could have a good time.

Do you run into other challenges while taking insect macro photos? Let me know of what comes up for you!