What equipment is useful for photographing insects/arachnids?

Question

Recently I picked up a super cheap set of extension tubes for my camera and I've been getting into macro photography, especially that of my fine arachnid friends.

However, unless I'm just taking shots of them in their natural habitat, it's rather difficult for me to get them to sit still. I don't want to kill them, but it would be nice to have some kind of container that I can put them in to take photographs.

Unfortunately, glass jars while being readily available have pretty horrible optical quality. So do plastic bags, like this one:

Is there any kind of equipment that I could use to contain an arthropod temporarily while I snap some shots of it? Preferably something that would let me take photos from top, bottom, and sides.

Answer 1

You could use something like a glass-bottom culture dish, which will provide better optical quality. Even then, the trick is to get the large amount of light required for macro shots into the container, and on the subject, without bouncing it off of the outside surface you're shooting through. This can require some creativity and experimentation. It's probably easier to avoid shooting through glass unless it's the only way to get a ventral view (and honestly, the easiest way to get a ventral shot of Latrodectus is to find a web in a low place, since they like to hang upside down).

If you're going as far as putting the critter in a jar, you may want to try refrigerating it for a short while, as many people who photograph arthropods do, in order to induce a temporary dormancy. You could then more easily photograph them outside of a container. I personally think it's more fun to try to photograph them where I find 'em, though.

Answer 2

First, close the aperture (set to to 11-16) to get sharpness on larger inteval. Of course, now the images will be darker, shaked or noisier. So you'll need more light, much more light. Use an external flash. To avoid sharp transitions between light and dark areas use a diffuser for softening shadows. The best is to use one of the variants of so called macro flashes.

About the method of taking photo it is better to study the settings and use manual instead of automatic, also use manual focusing - it is achiveable in three ways: using focus, moving camera back and forth or using zoom if it is a zoom lens.