How to get Bugs to stay still for Macro Photography
What do you do when you can't travel far or are just having a lazy day but want to take photos? Macro photography, obviously. It allows you to take really interesting shots without having to leave the comfort of your house or garden depending on what subjects you use. Some of the most interesting photographs are of everyday things but from a different perspective, which is why macro photography has always been so popular. Your subjects could be anything from household objects, water, flowers and plants or even insects. The lucky thing about most of those options is that they don't get scared and run away when you hold a camera within a few inches of them.
Insects, on the other hand, do, so how do you stop them from flying or running away long enough for you to focus on them and capture your image? The answer is simply to cool them down. The easiest way is to catch them, put them in a jar, and then put them in the fridge for a few minutes. The length of time would depend on the type of insect and also the size of the container. The larger the container, the more heat the air in the container can retain and therefore the longer it will take before the environment inside the container takes to cool down. I would suggest to start with about 5 minutes in the fridge and see if it slows down the insect at all, if you need to put the little guy in the fridge longer, just catch him again and go ahead. Make sure you don't leave it in the freezer longer than 20 minutes, as that will likely kill the insect and that's the last thing we want. Once you have finished photographing the insect, make sure you put him back where you found him. That way it will warm up and be on it merry way without any adverse effects.
If you time it right, what you will get is an insect that will likely stay where it is placed until it has time to warm up which should take a couple of minutes. This is the time when you should be photographing the little model. Some people who really get into macro photography will keep insects as pets and that way, even in the winter, they can take great macro shots.