Research Into Insect Portraiture Photography

As soon as I typed "Insect Portraits" into Google, I was immediately presented with a huge range of incredible photography.

Insect photography search on google

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Figures one to four are the first 4 images that I found when I made my initial search on Google Images for "insect portraits".

I have found 2 fantastic galleries of Insect portraits on Flickr.

The first is called "Mug Shots of Insects" Mug-Shots of Insects Gallery on Flickr

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Figure 5.

This is my favourite shot from this gallery of images. 

I find it the most striking because of the droplets of water on the eye and how this has resulted in the increased magnification in that area. This is something that I have seen before and will try to incorporate into my research.

The second is called "Insect Portraits Flickr Blog" Insect Portraits Blog on flickr

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Figure 6.

I like this image because of the lighting and the purple colours of the beetle's shell. The composition is also similar to the vision of what I want to achieve.

Another website that I have found is by a photographer called Frank Phillips

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He has a website called "Beautiful Bugs" that is dedicated to the macro-photography of insects. Beautiful Bugs by Phillip Franks

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Figure 7. "Bird on a Wire" by Frank Phillips.

I like this image as in figure 6 because of the colour and also the way that It is captured at an eye-to-eye level.

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Another practitioner of insect photography that I have found through my research is Lynn McDowell.

McDowell's website has a section dedicated to insect portraiture. Lynne McDowell Insect Portrait Gallery

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I really like the simplicity of this shot. It utilises a very shallow depth-of-field and is incredibly well-focussed on the eyes of the fly. From my own practical experience, I know just how difficult this is to achieve and definitely appreciate the result the McDowell has achieved.

Igor Siwanowich article in the Telegraph

I have found an insect photographer from Slovakia called Dusan Beno.

Dusan Beno's insect images on Skunkpot

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This image particularly stands out to me as it is of a Damselfly which is one of my favourite insects.

The image is brilliantly composed and the level of detail in the eyes is excellent and incredibly sharp.

The focussing in this image is something that I want to be able to draw on in my own work.

The facial are of the damselfly's head is brilliantly focussed but the there is no detail in the back ground only a blue bokeh.

The background is one area where I have been having difficulty with my work and I think that the use of a coloured background is something that I will certainly try to experiment with on my next shoot.

After looking at Beno's work, I can see that there has been some very good post-production involved to great effect and this is something that I need to research further.

http://www.colinhuttonphotography.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqRn3at0H60