No, I do not do stacks, all one shots
I love the Olympus TG5! For entry-level point-and-shoot macro, it’s probably the best out there (especially with the ring flash attachment). My only gripe with it is that the lens fogs up in tropical climates (due to it also being an underwater camera with a sealed body).
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The truth is, I don’t always use flash! If the subject is in direct sunlight, isn’t glossy (e.g. butterflies), and isn’t too small, I’ll shoot it without flash. Usually though, using the flash gives me more control over the lighting and better sharpness, especially if I’m shooting at a small aperture (which I prefer for more depth of field and less chromatic aberration).
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Even though I have a DSLR with macro lens and ring flash, I almost exclusively use an Olympus TG-4 Tough with a flash diffuser in the field. It’s quick and easy to use particularly for moving insects and small animals. I get consistent excellent results. Also, with its small size and good view screen, I can get much closer to the subject than with my DSLR.
Wonderful tips. I find myself in violation of almost all of them 
My main focus is bees and they are skittish enough as it is. Artificial light sources are often a non-starter, with a few exception for the individuals who are fast asleep. I use shutter speed settings most of the time depending on the foraging speed of the beast I’m following and amount of light I have, I just try to find the right balance between those two factors and seldom have the luxury to worry about aperture. I’m fine with variable depth of field since most my photography is for identification.
This is inspiring me to try some kind of light source again and play with it. Thanks for this great post.
And yes, @sbushes the stealth predator approach is a must. It is really tricky because for better light, you want to be between the sun and your subject, but that’s where they look to spot predators and even if there’s no shadow, they will quickly go into hiding. The approach is definitely an art on its own.
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Just one question - does using a flash damage insects’/spiders’etc’s eyes??? Or leave them stunned long enough for a predator to grab them???
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Thanks zygy. Could you just disclose whether you have any relationship to Zamir or Brendan? You hide your profile, so for all I know you could be being paid to promote them.
No. I have never noticed any ill effects. Arthropods don’t have eyelids, so they have to have a mechanism for coping with natural bright lights including the sun and lightning.
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Great ideas. Also, if you want keep things on the cheap or if you’re in a pinch, you could try
-
Bouncing the flash
Use a white index card or piece of paper. Bounced light looks nicer than straight-on harsh flash and has fewer shadows. -
Reflecting ambient light
You can also get a cheap reflector or use a white card or tinfoil to reflect ambient light onto your subject and fill in the shadows. -
Put a tissue in front of the flash. It’ll work somewhat like a diffuser, even with an iPhone flash.
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You can easily see their profile on iNat though.
No I have no relation to either of them other than the fact that I bought a flash diffuser from Brendan (after deciding to upgrade from my homemade one). I’m glad you asked though as there is so much sketchy social media advertising going on these days!
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I don’t see how this works for the flash. If you have more ambient light in one shot and near-total darkness in another, using the same amount of flash in both is going to throw off at least one. This is a case where the camera usually does a good job – you manually set the aperture and time for the DOF and amount of freeze you need, and then the flash adds whatever the correct amount of light is without you having to worry about the setting. If the flash is in manual as well, then you do have to worry about it.
What kind of camera/lens are you using? Because those are definitely not f/3.5 on an SLR…
Yes it is :-)
I use my Canon 650D and in most cases my macro lens Tamron 90.
For a long time I was shooting with completely opened aperature as I love the look and the depht of field one can create… since I am on iNat I diverged a bit from this practise and often even only shoot to identify and a bit higher aperature is often helpful… but I still seldom approach 7 or 8.
But when I am out for “nice” pictures I still open the aperature as much as possible.
It´s all about aligning yourself in the right way :-)
2.8 (open)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/38156990
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/38191845
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/38299336
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/38358026
3.2
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/38189665
…you get the picture :-)
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90% of my photos are done with one setting for flash, other 10% is for too bright conditions (which are very rare, insects don’t hang out in hard light) and really big objects, so what is the point of having it on auto, when it’s just one click to change?
Has any built and tried one of the Pringles can diffusers?
See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywGj3aMdLCI or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjjl_heLrjM
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I would say 80% of my shots are done with the exact same manual settings and require no adjustment (f/9, 1/250 shutter speed, 200 iso, 1/8 -0.3 flash). I’m typically shooting at very close range and my flash overpowers the ambient light. If I’m shooting a subject that is in direct sunlight, I’ll usually dial back the flash a couple steps, but that’s easy to do. I’ll admit it can be frustrating if you’re dealing with moving shadows, like strong sunlight through leaves, but usually there’s very little hassle. The flash makes the lighting more consistent overall. This is especially true if you’re doing extreme macro, where ambient light has minimal effect. If you’re shooting bigger subjects like butterflies, ambient light is going to be more of an issue.
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I guess it also depends on how you approach photography in general and what kind of subjects you photograph. For invertebrate photogrpahy there usually is not much ambient light anyway (atleast not when you work in magnifications beyond 1:1) and if there is, it is pretty much neglectable, unless you photograph in direct sunlight (which should be avoided in invertebrate macrophotography, anyway). I almost always shoot my subjects in the shade (either the subject already is in the shade or I cast a shadow on it with my body or diffusor). Therefore it almost always is on the “near-total darkness” side of the spectrum. If you want to play around with ambient light then it mostly affects the background (e.g. avoiding a black background by letting in more ambient light). But this won’t affect the illumination of your subject much as almost the entire light is coming from the flash.
As I said, I also sometimes have to change settings. But then I either just dial up or dial down the flash by one stop and just leave the rest (aperture, shutterspeed, ISO) at what it is. This can be done in half a second.
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I never tried these but just judging by the form of them I have to assume that they suck a lot (for invertebrate photography). The thumbnail of the second video shows that the diffusor creates a very harsh light. The diffusor reflections in jumping spider eyes are the best indicator of whether a diffusor is good or not. If you get a completely blown out hotspot in their eyes then it certainly does a terrible job at diffusing the light.
Such a diffusor would do a much better job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-f1KLrBADk
From my own experience I can say that using glue on the diffusor surface should be avoided as you can see it as darker spots in the reflection of jumping spider eyes. If you don’t shoot jumping spiders it won’t matter, though. Also, I would always use transparent plastic.
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