Say ‘no’ to insect killing
Dearie me, it seems as if we’ve got some truly pacifist photographers in our midst: My recent post on making a killing jar to easier be able to take macro photos of insects attracted 27 comments, largely along the lines of ’sure, you can kill them, but where’s the challenge in that?’ - with variations, of course.
David Harper felt particularly strongly about the topic, and went to the point of sending me a series of photos taken with a Canon SD-100, and argues that if he can take photographs like this with simple equipment without killing anything, then why should you have to? The man’s got a point…
A bit of further research shows that the vast majority of photographers shun the idea of killing insects to get photos of them - in our poll, a full 51% said that snuffing the little beasties was ‘absolutely not’ okay - and another 22% argue that, well, you can kill them if you absolutely have to. The point is, however, that it turns out that you don’t actually have to kill anything in order to photograph it.
Searching through pages and pages of amazing macro photos on Flickr is a truly humbling experience for a budding macro photographer - there are literally thousands of downright amazing photographs.
Interestingly, none of them feature insects that have been killed. And of course, if you feel like you can’t get the photos you need, there are many ways you can simply stun insects for a limited time - Check out the many insightful comments in this thread to learn more, and perhaps to get some inspiration, too!
Photos used in this post are all under creative commons licence, and found on Flickr. Big thanks to *micky*, Paco Espinoza and Tanakawho.
Have you read my Macro book?
I am rather proud of the fact that I have written a book about macro photography. It looks like that →
Hang on, did I just say a book? Sorry about that. All modesty aside, it's the book on macro photography. It's got a huge chapter on equipment, tons of info about the various styles and topics, a chapter on lighting, and even a chapter on digital darkroom stuff especially for macro photography.
Seriously, this book is 288 pages long, and it's got everything you ever wanted to know. And loads you probably didn't want to know, but that might come in useful anyway.
Get your copy of the book from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk today! If you prefer, you can buy a signed copy directly from me from this page.
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This entry is © Haje Jan Kamps / Photocritic.org, and was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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#1 - June 18th, 2007 at 19:20
I’m not surprised to find out that most people are against the killing of insects for photos. Personally I said ‘only if absolutely necessary’, but that’s just because I’m a brutal murderer.
I can’t think of many situations where it would be necessary to actually kill the insect to get the shot though, so as faras I saw this was a non-issue until I saw your post.
#2 - June 18th, 2007 at 19:51
I have to say that I often find that children won’t stay still long enough to get a good photo, but your article has given me some food for thought.
#3 - June 18th, 2007 at 20:04
Don’t forget that already dead insects are fine as well. Not as much of a challenge as live ones but you can get some interesting results.
#4 - June 19th, 2007 at 05:31
Actually it had never even occurred to me that it would be easier to shoot insects if they were dead. I use a manual focus telephoto lens and have many times thought of resorting to shooting stuffed birds instead of living, though.
The downside of shooting dead insects is that they are very difficult to arrange into a natural pose where they look like they’re doing something. Those little legs snap a little too easily, not to talk about trying to make a dead butterfly drink from a flower…
#5 - June 19th, 2007 at 09:11
Great follow up to the last article on the killing jar a terrible idea. I’m not sure about the stun for a limited time though. Next time Im at the beach and see a hot body, think Ill throw a brick at them to stun them just long enough to keep them still to get my photo. maybe not.
#6 - June 19th, 2007 at 20:44
Although I agree that you should not kill any living thing whenever possible, I will say that equating an insect’s life to that of a human’s is really really stretching and leaves your argument with little credibility. If you are going to make arguments like that then where do you draw the line of what is sensible?
#7 - June 20th, 2007 at 06:34
“if he can take photographs like this with simple equipment without killing anything, then why should you have to? The man’s got a point…”
I think he misses the point completely. You van take photograph like that without killing anything BUT you can’t take any kind of insect photos without stunning or killing.
Of Course it is better not kill, the questien is what to do when you have to hurt insect some way to get photo you like. Others stunn or kill insects for that and others choose not to.
#8 - June 22nd, 2007 at 18:11
Me, personally - I’m in favor of not having to kill something, even if it is an insect, to take a picture of it, unless you’re trying to make a statement with a picture of a dead insect, or something…besides, small as they are, there are a lot of them and they play a role in the ecosystem, too. Stunning photo examples, by the way!
#9 - June 24th, 2007 at 13:13
I think P&S owners have an advantage here.
For the dragonfly he used f/2.8 and still depth of field is great and he could use a very fast shutter speed (1/500).
Using a DSLR one would have to use smaller aperture and therefore shutter speed must be reduced.
#10 - June 27th, 2007 at 07:28
I’m against using dead specimen for nature photography. That feels simply fake if the picture tries to portray them as alive. On the other hand, set specimen are still the best for identification purposes and those can’t be alive. That is more like product photography, though.
#11 - July 20th, 2007 at 10:16
ah! the alternative… thanks for this post too…
#12 - September 29th, 2007 at 19:39
HELLO….McFly….anybody in there? GET REAL.
Although I’d never kill a dragonfly, honey bee, ladybug or Phidippus audax, excuse me, they’re BUGS! (OOOPS, Almost forgot butterflys and Praying Manti) Am totally amazed that the “have no life”, “bleeding heart”, liberal weenies have now taken on a new cause. Will we be picketing our local exterminator soon? “termites have rights too!” or mayhaps the ever popular, ” I bleed 4 mosquitos!” or maybe “Feed a roach, starve a fever.” While we’re at it, we could could start a new union for carpenter ants! Would it be OK to “Save a cricket….Kill a Mantis!” What about “Eat wood… 100 billion termites can’t be wrong!”
With all this hand-holdin’, sittin’ around the campfire singing kumbayah, and exchanging flowers,when is there time for photography?
BTW….Most of the large home buider stores stores have some nice fiberglass shower stalls that
can easily be converted into a quite serviceable makeshift “jar”.
#13 - August 8th, 2008 at 06:54
When I think bugs should be killed:
When they are threatening the food we eat
When they are threatening us with possible illness and/or death
When they are threatening our children with bites and/or stings
When they are threatening our homes (includes landscaping)
When the bug needs identifying for scientific purposes and it simply can not be identified by good photos or site, which is rarely the case today with the internet. Just check out whatsthatbug.com. They gotten some really strange bug photos and have been able to identify most all of them.
I don’t think they need to be killed for bug collecting purposes. Having a collection of camera caught bugs would be much more satisfying. I own the domain name, Collectbugs.com and someday hope to make a site out of it where kids and adults interested in collecting bugs can open a free bug gallery and upload their own bug photos with commentary.