Yackers' Photography Tips and Tricks: BEST FLASH FOR INSECT PHOTOGRAPHY

A flash or speed light is a useful bit of photography equipment for almost all types of photography (landscape/seascape photography are two exceptions) however when it comes to capturing close up photos of insects a flash is essential.

The working distance taking insect photos, i.e. the distance between the lens and the insect, can be millimeters (you have to get right up close and personal to the subject) so there is a massive loss of light which makes it impossible to get sharp handheld shots unless you use a flash to “freeze” the action.

A normal external flash is not suitable for insect photography and, in all honesty, a total waste of time. If you want to leave the flash on camera, which is my preference when I take photos of insects, the lens often puts the insect in shadow, and the flash can’t illuminate it. One way around this is to take the flash off camera and side light the insect, but this requires an off camera flash cord (which is cumbersome and gets in the way) or flash triggers (such as the Yongnuo 622s) which is even more photography equipment to carry around.

The other problem with taking the flash off camera is you are going to have to handhold it, leaving you only one hand to hold the camera, make the necessary setting adjustments and take the shot. I have to admit I lie to have both hands available to take insect photos as shooting single handed often leads to blurred shots.

One of the biggest problems with using standard speed lights for insect photography is they are simply too powerful, even one of the smaller and lower powered speed lights with low guide numbers. Okay, you can turn the power right down but even the lowest setting is too powerful when up close and personal to insects to take photos of them. The only way around this is to have an assistant to stand back and hold the speed light for you whilst you take the photos, but in the real world who has an assistant? You may be able to bribe your other half, pay the kids or something like that, but most of the time you are going to be shooting alone right?

The best flash for insect photography is not a standard external speed light, it is a ring flash. The ring flash is a circular shaped flash that attaches to the end of the lens via its filter attachment. With a guide number of around 14m a ring flash has sufficient power to correctly light the insect, but not so much power it creates over exposed photos.

Since the ring flash is placed at the end of the lens there is no way the lens can cast a shadow over the insect, which means you can leave the flash (effectively) on camera, which means you have both hands available to operate the camera.

You can buy a ring flash (which is a strobe) or a ring light (which are continuous lights). Ring lights are cheaper, as you’d expect, but they are not suitable for insect photography because the light spooks the insect and sends it scarpering before you get the chance to compose the shot and press the shutter button. The ring flash is the best solution, and it is essential you buy one with TTL technology.

Setting the flash power manually is a chore and when taking photos of insects you will miss more shots than you get as the insect will scarper before you get the right flash power. Using TTL (and adjusting the power using flash exposure compensation) is the best way, scratch that the only way, to get great shots of insects.

The ring flash I use for my insect photography is the Yongnuo YN14, which is like the Canon branded ring flash, just a lot less money. The Yongnuo YN14 is tough and sturdy, it is easy to use, it has TTL mode as well as manual mode and it has two independent strobes so you can set different lighting ratios. There really is no need to spend loads of money on the Canon, Sigma or Nikon branded ring flashes when the Yongnuo YN14 does exactly the same job for a fraction of the price. Check out my review of the Yongnuo ring flash.