Although the relatively small depth of field in macro photography helps give unobtrusive backgrounds, I sometimes have problems to overcome, especially when using flash. The fall off in illumination when using flash may lead to dark or even black backgrounds. Whether this is desirable or not depends on circumstances and the photographer’s preference – a black background can certainly make the subject stand out.
Background without flash
Flash fall off giving dark background
Flash fall off giving dark background
If an insect is located on a large flower, it may be possible to fill the background with petals and therefore avoid capturing distant, dimly illuminated objects.




Fall off in illumination is obviously worse when ambient light is low and the flash provides most of the light in the foreground. In sunny weather, I can adjust my camera settings to avoid a dark background, still keeping a high enough shutter speed to freeze action. When using very high shutter speeds to capture insects in flight, however, my main concern is subject illumination and using a small aperture for depth of field rather than concentrate on the brightness of the background.


The above remarks apply when I am walking around ‘in the field’ and have limited control over conditions. In my garden, I can prune unwanted plant stems from the background and rotate plant pots for optimum lighting. Going a stage further, I have even produced my own background sheets by photographing out of focus foliage and printing out the images. Mounting the prints on card makes them easier to keep in position. This technique works best if insects such as bees regularly visit a particular flower. As the background is already out of focus, the print can be moved close enough to the subject to be brightly illuminated.



Background sheet placed on outside of aquarium