Discover the hidden world of insects

"Before starting macro photography, I honestly wasn't a big fan of insects," says French photographer Pierre Anquet. "But now I think they are very beautiful if you take the time to look closely."

"I started out shooting landscapes and portraits, but I saw a video by American macro photographer Thomas Shahan, and that was it: I just fell in love with macro," he says.

Incredible close-ups might seem like the territory of experienced photographers with the most expensive kit, but they can actually be achieved on a range of budgets. You can experiment with close-up focusing using your kit lens before upgrading to a dedicated macro lens.

Although a true macro lens offers incredible magnification, a standard zoom can focus close enough for excellent shots of larger insects.

"For these shots, I found a species of mantis called Empusa," Pierre explains. "It's roughly 3-4cm long, which meant I was able to fill the entire picture using the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens. The biggest challenge will be getting close enough to the insect to take the picture – I'd recommend waking up early, as dawn is when they are less active."

The EF-M 28mm f/3.5 Macro IS STM and EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM lenses have built-in macro ring lites, which put interesting and creative lighting effects that were previously the domain of professionals into the hands of beginners.

As an alternative method to using autofocus, Pierre achieves maximum magnification by zooming the lens to its longest focal length, switching to manual focus and turning the focusing ring until it's at minimum focus distance, then gently moving the camera backwards and forwards to bring the subject into sharp focus.

Pierre prefers shoots without a tripod but they can come in handy for shooting macro as any camera shake is accentuated. "They are way too large and get in the way. The 18-55mm lens is perfect for shooting handheld, as it's very small and the Image Stabilizer is really useful."

A compact, razor-sharp lens like the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM is a great entry point into the world of macro. It gives life-size (1x) magnification when it's set to its minimum focus distance, which means details will be focused on the camera sensor at the same size as they are in reality.

One thing to consider when shooting close up is that the depth of field is wafer thin. Using smaller apertures, such as f/11 and f/16, will increase the depth of field but also reduce the amount of light. This leads to slower shutter speeds, which can result in a blurred image if the camera or the subject moves.

To combat this, you can increase the ISO to give shorter exposure times. "With the EOS 90D, I can go up to ISO2000 without any problems whatsoever. But you need to expose the image correctly – if you try and increase the exposure later in software, you get a lot of noise."

Focus stacking is a popular technique that macro photographers use to increase the depth of field. This involves taking a sequence of identical pictures and manually shifting the focus position for each one. The in-focus areas of each image can then be combined in software to create a photo with more sharpness.

The Canon EOS 90D has a built-in focus bracketing feature that can automatically take the shots you need to make a focus stack in Canon Digital Photo Professional . "With practice, it's easy," explains Pierre. "I select the continuous drive mode, set the focus manually on the closest part of the subject and then slowly move the camera closer to the insect, as I fire a burst of shots."

Accurate focusing is critical when working at such a high magnification as 5x, as any errors will be equally enlarged. To ensure accuracy while photographing insects, Pierre monitored the image using the large rear display of the Canon EOS 90D. "I can zoom in manually and see exactly where I'm focused," he says. "First I turn the ring on the lens to set the magnification, then I move closer to the subject, and when I see on the screen that it's perfectly in focus, I take the shot."

You can get started in macro photography by shooting objects at home, whether it's a pattern in a carpet or a house plant on a windowsill before moving on to capturing detailed insect shots.


Written by Marcus Hawkins