buying dead/dried native insects online

stormcrow

stormcrow

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Dale
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I was wanting to have a go at doing some stacked macro shots and seeing as I have enough problems trying to get one shot in focus due to them moving I thought it would be interesting to try photographing dead insects.
Does anyone know anywhere online in the uk where I can buy dried insects such as bees wasps dragonfly etc nothing too fancy though I'm really just interested in native species.
Has anyone else done this and what was your experience of photographing dead insects good or bad?
 
I've tried shooting a dead dragonfly and a long tailed blue butterfly I found last year and while they were both in very good nick, to me they looked dead in the shots, I just wasn't happy with them. Mind you that maybe because I'm too fussy and not good enough!
Would never occur to me to try and buy dead models though

Tara
 
Insect activity is temperature dependent, so if you can catch some live specimens, giving them a brief visit to the fridge might slow them down enough for you to take some shots, when they warm up they can fly/hop/crawl off or whatever insects do.
 
I think you'll find that a lot of insects lose their colour and vibrancy once they die. They look, well, dead. Chilling live specimens in the fridge is a pretty common solution to the problems you're having. I have some reservations about doing this for competitive macro work, but perhaps that's just me.
 
Thanks for the replies I know it is a strange request but I though it would be a useful exercise for a rainy day.
I've found a few sites that sell exotic insects and they seem to have retained their colour I think they are for people who collect insects there is probably a very long name to describe them :)
I'm aware of the practice of catching and then putting in the fridge but I'm not to comfortable with that and besides I've not seen that wide a range of insects around where I live and I've still to see a dragonfly in the wild.
suppose I'll have to keep looking for that ideal subject who knows how to keep still :)
 
Thought I'd link to the pages that gave me the idea of using dead insects.
I found these photographers on 500px and they seem to do alot of their images with 30+ stacked shots which got me thinking how could they do that with live insects.

http://500px.com/pinar

http://500px.com/photo/3017494 Quote "Most of my studio work is done with dead subjects (prepared specimens)"
 
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I've used locusts before to practice macro shot's they can be brought from pet shops that deal in lizards etc they are cheap and easy to keep alive plus they don't move around to much once they've settled down.
 
[QUOTE
I'm aware of the practice of catching and then putting in the fridge but I'm not to comfortable with that and besides I've not seen that wide a range of insects around where I live and I've still to see a dragonfly in the wild.
suppose I'll have to keep looking for that ideal subject who knows how to keep still :)[/QUOTE]

do you have any small ponds in your area ?
a pond will be alive with insects on a good sunny day:)
I would have a look on google earth or an OS map for some likely places
Pete
 
LCPete said:
[QUOTE
do you have any small ponds in your area ?
a pond will be alive with insects on a good sunny day:)
I would have a look on google earth or an OS map for some likely places
Pete
Click to expand...

Got a pretty big lake nearby but I'm not aware of small ponds I'll have a look on google earth to see if there are any hidden away.
Done a bit more googling and it seem like I am after something called prepared insect specimens the colours are retained by soaking them in acetone!!
http://www.insectcompany.com/main/howto.shtml
It seems you can buy dried insects or catch insects and prepare them yourself I'd rathey buy pre prepared as I'm lazy that way :)
 
artyman said:
Insect activity is temperature dependent, so if you can catch some live specimens, giving them a brief visit to the fridge might slow them down enough for you to take some shots, when they warm up they can fly/hop/crawl off or whatever insects do.
Click to expand...

Please don't do this. The shock of quickly cooling down an insect means it is unable to recover quickly enough and just gets dehydrated and dies.
Instead just get out early or late before it heats up and find insects that are naturally cool (so less energetic).
Large animals don't move about a lot when they're hot but we don't go catch them and heat them up do we? You should treat insects exactly the same.

Good luck with your search for insects :)
 
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