Macro photography of insects

Thank you Mattias for inviting me as a guest writer to your blog. My name is Lasse Andersson and I have been photographing since 2008. I mostly photograph a lot of nature, abandoned places and space, ie both large and small. You will find some of the photos I took on Instagram @fotograf_lasse_andersson, so feel free to follow me there. What I got hooked on pretty quickly was macro photography of insects, preferably different kinds of dragonflies. By the way, did you know that there are 65 different kinds of dragonflies in Sweden? What do you do then to take good insect pictures? There are lots of ways to succeed and here are my tips on how I did to succeed in my opinion. For me, it has meant a lot of early mornings but also a lot of preparation the night before (and an understanding wife 😉) I often drive out to a meadow in the evening just as the sun goes down to see where the insects settle for the night's rest. The insects remain in the same place in the morning, not if they are nocturnal insects, of course. After being out and about, it is to go home again and pack the camera bag with the right lens, freshly charged batteries and the camera of course. The lenses I use most for macro photography are canon 180 mm and Canon MP-E 65 mm. The camera I started with was a Canon 20D but over the years I have changed camera a few times and now I have a Canon 5 DsR. When I shoot macro, I always have a tripod, macro slide and remote shutter release. This allows me to get close to the insects, get good sharpness and avoid shaking blur. So when everything is packed, it's time to set the clock very early, because it's important to be in place before the sun rises. And sleeping can be done later in life 😀 Of course, it is important to keep an eye on the weather as well. Rain is not good nor is it windy. But it can be foggy and cold because then you get nice dewy insects or even insects with ice crystals on. When the bell rings in the morning, or in the middle of the night, it feels like sometimes, all you have to do is carry the equipment in the car and go to the place I rode the night before. Then just mount the camera equipment and look for the insects where they are. They sit perfectly still in the morning and do not start moving until the sun's rays hit them. If you are lucky, you have time to capture a few pieces in the picture before they shake off the dew and start flying around again. Hope you got some useful tips on how to catch the beautiful insects that are found in our nature. Have a nice day🤗 Lasse Andersson