Night time macro
Macro photography or even just bug-spotting at night is a totally different experience to daytime and often really rewarding. It doesn't have to be in the dead of night either - sometimes just after dusk or very early in the morning is a great time to head out. If you've not done it before, I'd suggest grabbing a torch and heading out into your garden an hour after dark to see what's about. You're almost guaranteed to see something that you've not noticed before.
Different creatures come out to play or are more confident and less likely to run and hide. Spiders are especially fun, particularly if you like trying to get 'in web' shots. Here in the UK the Walnut Orbweaver (Nuctenea umbratica) is an almost guaranteed find if you know where to look and they make great 'in web' shots if you can find one in the right position.
You can also observe different behaviour - mating spiders, weevils and moths or hunting centipedes for example. Watching a male spider gingerly approach a larger female in her web while gently plucking at the strands of the web only to then retreat and try again is strangely absorbing to watch.
Location and what to look for.
If you haven't tried this before then just take ten minutes to try it out in your garden, along a local path or local park edge. You might not even take a camera with you the first time - just have a look around and see what you find and where you can find it. Using a torch really focusses your attention and means you're not distracted by everything else that you could see during the day.
A local fence line is a good place to start. Wooden fences provide plenty of hiding places for spiders and bugs during the day before they come out once it's dark. Hint - this is where you might find a Walnut Orbweaver. Their slightly flattened body lets them snuggle into crevices during the day before coming out under the cover of darkness. I've also had plenty of luck along a chain-link fence near my home before. A tip here is to find a fence that has plenty of vegetation at its base or ivy growing up the posts where things can hide during the day.
Other than fences you can look on taller plants and shrubs for patrolling harvestman or sleeping bees and hoverflies, check out low tree branches for spider webs, look in tall grass for sleeping butterflies and damselflies or just look at the ground for active beetles and spiders. If you have a pond then have a look for frogs or shine the light into the water to see water beetles and other creatures moving around.
It doesn't have to be the middle of the night either. You can stretch this night time macro into the evening and morning. I find just after dark is often best for spiders and foraging beetles while the morning is fine (if you're out early enough!) for sleeping butterflies, bees and dragonflies. Some of my best shots have been taken just poking around in the garden an hour or so after dark to see what's about.
Equipment and tips
If you do venture out with a camera or want to take pictures on your phone then there's a few things you'll need to bear in mind. The most obvious is the lack of light. As well as seeing where you're going, you'll need a constant light source to see what you're trying to take a picture of. When I first started, this is where I realised that I needed an extra pair of hands to hold everything! Balancing a torch or my phone to light a subject while trying to photograph it was not easy, but it is possible. If you only have basic kit, having a friend to hold the torch makes things much easier.
For actually taking the pictures a flash makes things much easier and it's almost essential if you're trying to take stacked shots of insects at night.
Purchasing my first flash diffuser from Cygnustech was a bit of a revelation when it comes to night time photography (I'll cover more on diffusers another time so don't worry too much about what that is if you don't know). The important thing here was the addition of a small light, a bit like a mini headtorch, that hides under the diffuser. All of a sudden I could use this to light my subject without worrying about a balancing a separate torch. It made night time macro work so much easier, especially for stacked shots. Just make sure to remember to switch it off after you've taken a shot - it's easy to forget and drain the battery while wondering around looking for your next photo opportunity.
- Make sure you have spare batteries for your torch and other lights - there's nothing worse than running out and realising that you didn't bring the spares. I'd suggest rechargeable ones just to save a bit of money if you're going to do this often - I keep some permanently in my camera bag.
- If I'm going out on my own to some woodland or away from a public area I'll always let someone know where I am and when I'm back.
- As I said at the start, you don't have to go anywhere fancy to take night time macro. Your garden or a local green space is as good as anywhere.
Good luck, have fun and see what you can find once it gets dark - all the images on this blog article were taken and night.
My night time macro kit
I realise that I've used a few technical terms in this article that beginners may not fully understand and that a useful blog may be an introduction to macro kit and terminology.
