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John Harvey Photography | profile | all galleries >> Bugs tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Bugs

Ants
gallery: Ants 		Bees, Etc
gallery: Bees, Etc 		Beetles, Etc
gallery: Beetles, Etc 		Caterpillars, Slimy Bugs, Etc
gallery: Caterpillars, Slimy Bugs, Etc
Creepy Crawlies
gallery: Creepy Crawlies 		Flies, Etc
gallery: Flies, Etc 		Jumping Bugs
gallery: Jumping Bugs 		Spiders
gallery: Spiders

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casey 09-Aug-2009 13:20
awesome
ragnarandren 15-May-2007 21:05
Finally I found you again! A couple of years ago you and a few other bug-shooters gave me inspiration. Somehow I lost the address of your galleries but today I found it again, and I'm still very happy to see your pictures! Sharp, sharp, and sharp again; good compositions, funny and whatnot! Thanks very much for sharing! Ciao, Ragnar
Nicholas Baumgartner 22-May-2006 12:09
Fantastic shots! Voted.
M. Plonsky 20-Sep-2005 19:34
I like your work as well as your sharing of knowledge and technique.
John Harvey Photography 09-Sep-2005 16:21
Kostas, most bugs stop every now and again if you can contain their movement, maybe using a match to round them up, or by using a small stick for them to run along. A mirror can be a useful surface as it's slippery and the bug can't run away so easily when you tilt it. For flies, they're much easier if they're dead. When the bugs stop, you need to be ready. I like to have the camera manually focused and move it in and out to get the focus right for the shot. I also use appropriately diffused flash and accept that there will be lots of shots that don't work.
John
melissakos 09-Sep-2005 11:16
Hi John!

I had asked you below how you find the spiders. Well now that I looked more closely and found them myself, I have another question for you: how the hell do you make them stay put for shooting them??? And that too, spiders are still ok; how do you shoot flies, that don't even let you come close ?
I am having trouble even shooting snails: by the time I have set up the shot, the snail has moved (very little, but still too much for the extremely shallow DOF...)
Some explanations would be really helpful.

Cheers!
Kostas
feeber12 31-Jul-2005 04:35
It is unbelievable how close you get and the detail in those bugs is awesome! Great work!
anonymousguy 21-Jul-2005 06:29
Have had a look through your "Bugs" & find your images exceptional. Am amazed at yr ingenuity at getting the "light" you want. You commented (thanks)on my "Flying Hornets" & I can see the huge difference, not only in quality but also aesthetic appeal. Looking at yr images & use of light can see what I would like to do with my pics. I have a long way to go to get anywhere close, but your images have sparked a direction.
Have only glanced through your other galleries (no time), but can see that with yr understanding & feel for light & colour you should be able to take any picture well. Very nice galleries.....AGuy
Dang 16-Jul-2005 13:59
John, I love trying my hand with macro, but this has to be the Best macro gallery I've seen on Pbase. I can't come close to this, amazing work. Thanks for your commentaries, and for shareing. Voted.
Dan Coleman 08-Jul-2005 16:52
Your bug photos are great. The macro tips are useful as I try to learn this fascinating mode.
Jose Paulo Andrade 08-Jul-2005 13:27
Hi! Very good gallery of macros! And I also like your galleries concerning your settings - very useful to me!
John Harvey Photography 07-May-2005 11:06
G'day Ragnar. Thanks for your comments. Let me assure you that it took thousands of shots to get this many keepers, albeit that there was a fair degree of learning along the way that took a bunch of shots to do. Where possible, I definitely recommend diffused flash (with manual flash setting for predictability), ideally in high speed sync mode. It can do wonders for the clarity of macro bug images. Cheers, John
ragnarandren 06-May-2005 21:31
Thanks a lot for showing all these wonderful pictures of bugs. I am most impressed by your technical skill and composition and that you can find focus so well with a handheld camera. I am also almost depressed when I compare my humble tries with your sharp, crisp photos with a lot of DOF. However, it's not fun to be depressed so I will keep trying and learning (about bugs for sure, hopefully also about photography, maybe using flash?) and having fun and learning more and getting happier and so on....
I have found several lovely pictures, let me just mention the hover fly hovering, the close-up of the face of the huntsman spider, the caterpillar's feet on skewer and the face of the small centpede, the last photo but one in the gallery.
Best regards from the other side of the globe!
Ciao, Ragnar
John Harvey Photography 21-Oct-2004 12:46
Thanks Dubbellu. As you can see, I enjoy playing around with bug macros and am building up a bit of a collection. Cheers, John
Rob Smit 07-Oct-2004 15:37
I love macro's, can't make them myself yet but until that time I look at great sites like yours...
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