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How to keep subjects still?

Started 6 months ago | Discussions thread
Joseph S Wisniewski Forum Pro • Posts: 35,461
Get up much earlier. And read much more
3

pawn wrote:

Hi

I have seen amazing closeup photos of insects (like jump spiders, etc.). What are the technique in keeping live subjects from moving around?

Mainly, shooting them in the cool of the morning.

Then, learning the routines of your particular insect. Some have a feed/torpor cycle. A jumping spider sits and sits and sits and sits, until it has something to jump on. Don't be that "something".

Pick and choose your critter. You may be saying "ah ha! I found the rare ruby crested demon butterfly" and set up to shoot a specimen that's nearly warmed up and ready to take off, while three-feet away there's another one who's still in the shade.

Set up where they will be, not where they are. If you see an insect feeding on a flower, odds are it's like 80% done (unless it's really rare or spectacular, which pushes the probability up into the mid 90s).

But if you learn how to pick the most desirable flowers, rotting berries, etc. you can set up where they will be, and when they are where will be, you have as long as they are there.

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The term "mirrorless" is totally obsolete. It's time we call out EVIL for what it is. (Or, if you can't handle "Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens" then Frenchify it and call it "LIVE" for "Lens Interchangeable, Viewfinder Electronic" or "Viseur électronique").
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Stanley Joseph Wisniewski 1932-2019.
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Christine Fleischer 1947-2014.
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Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.
Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.
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Ciao! Joseph
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