Photographing creatures in containers - discussion

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davholla

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David
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I have actually photographed the insect below outside of a container and obviously it looks better (It is Volucella Inanis).


HoverflyIMG_5736 by davholla2002, on Flickr

However sometimes in the field for rare creatures you have to photograph them in containers because they might fly away and you have to get the shot of unknown x.
Any ideas on how to do this so it looks better - things that look better than this test tube?

HoverflyIMG_5615 by davholla2002, on Flickr
 
Its not something I will be doing David
 
Big Andy said:
Not an expert on things like this but you could try putting in a container and then cooling it as that can make a lot of bugs sit for a while until they warm up. Note I did say cool not freeze.
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Thank you, but tricky away from home.
Let me explain a bit my thinking. If you want to identify a bee, it can be hard to do from that a photo because you don't always get the details.
In a test tube you could do this - but it does not look so good.
I would like to be able to get the details but without paying a visual price, before investigating, I wonder if anyone had any ideas. I have tried before but without success.
 
Not my idea of fun! but the circular nature of the test tube means that you will always be onto a loser. If you had a container with rectalinear sides you would stand a much better chance, but even then it needs to be super clean (unless you can get the vessel out of focus and the target in focus). Lighting needs to be very diffuse to avoid any hot spots.
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Not my idea of fun! but the circular nature of the test tube means that you will always be onto a loser. If you had a container with rectalinear sides you would stand a much better chance, but even then it needs to be super clean (unless you can get the vessel out of focus and the target in focus). Lighting needs to be very diffuse to avoid any hot spots.
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I was hoping to find an alternative to test tube. In the book Extreme Close up by Julian Cremona, he mentions making things for this - but they were not that easy. Hence the thread, also I thought best to investigate before starting.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Extreme-Close-Up-Photography-Cremona-ebook/dp/B07FPWXQ5J
 
Take a look at NIall Benvie's work. Amongst other things he shows how to set up an outdoor 'studio' for photographing insects, etc.
 
Lighting transparent containers tends to be tricky, with reflections causing big headaches.
Polarised lighting might help especially with a crossed polariser on the lens but is somewhat of a pain.

I've tried shooting encased insect specimens (where the insect is embedded in perspex) & found marks on the surface, reflections both internal & external & changes in refractive index of the plastic make it impossible to get good results. One of the best I managed after cloning out blemishes is
https://flic.kr/p/S8dcdS
View: https://flic.kr/p/S8dcdS


I think your best bet would probably be to put together a special enclosure, which has a glass face, lighting inside & inside faces of low reflectivty.
A square sided fish tank with flash guns at either end & a coloured card insert might work
 
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Petrochemist said:
Lighting transparent containers tends to be tricky, with reflections causing big headaches.

I think your best bet would probably be to put together a special enclosure, which has a glass face, lighting inside & inside faces of low reflectivty.
A square sided fish tank with flash guns at either end & a coloured card insert might work
Click to expand...
I was hoping for something smaller and more portable but thanks.
 
davholla said:
I was hoping for something smaller and more portable but thanks.
Click to expand...
Some of the tanks I've seen are under 4" in each dimension, but I've not seen those in glass only plastic. Something like a petri dish might work but the ones I've seen are a little shallow for lighting...
 
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