Materials and Methods

I started taking pictures of insects back in 2022 with a Kodak point-and-shoot and after graduating to a higher quality Lumix digital camera, got my first ‘real’ camera in December of 2024. I am loving my Rebel Cannon t6i more than I can say, and used with my 100mm EF Macro lens it can turn out some really stunning photos! In order to get enough light on my subjects I use a Godox TT685C II external hotshoe flash, along with an AK diffuser to soften and direct the light from the flash onto the subject I am photographing.

Ever since I started photographing insects, I have almost exclusively been using a reliable capture-and-release method for photographing insects that makes the process much easier. My younger brother Isaac and I would head outside with our nets and dozens of snap-caps and other assorted vials and collect the insects we encountered in them. The next step would be to stick them in the refrigerator for several hours. When I was ready, I would take them out and photograph the chilled and sluggish insects on a white desk or other white background. The insects would start to warm up and get more active as I photographed them, and by the time I was done they were usually very active and escape-oriented. The final step was to release the now lively insects outdoors in their natural habitat, completely unharmed. Since spring 2025 I have started photographing insects outdoors regularly, as I now have equipment to get the right lighting under different types of natural light. It lends a nicer and fuller tone to the images and captures more of the insects’ obscure lives in the picture. It still works better for me to photograph a lot of the insects we find inside using the refrigeration method, but I am migrating towards mostly outdoor photography.

I often take 50-100 pictures of each insect, and usually less than ten of them are decent. Since I will often unload my camera after it has upwards of 10,000 photos on it, that means there are significantly less than a thousand pictures that are presentable. Nevertheless, these okay photos need to be found in the huge mass of thousands and then cropped to size. This process takes an incredible amount of time and I often find myself way behind, where I am just sharing the photos I took three, four, or more months ago. So just a disclaimer that currently the process is a few months behind present.

I designed this website for the arthropod amateur. Not that experts cannot use and enjoy this site as well, but I tried to make this site in a way that preserved scientific accuracy, while also making it easy for an amateur to navigate and understand. I don’t always provide the finest identifications or the 100% clearest and most precise taxonomic details, but that is simply because I don’t need to. That is not how this site is designed. If you are looking for something like that, I recommend visiting a website like BugGuide. I personally tend to be very taxonomically accurate, which is why I include as much taxonomy as I do; it is certainly more than the amateur needs. Despite not making the finest and clearest taxonomy the top priority, I think even experts should find enough taxonomic accuracy here for their tastes!

As I have touched on elsewhere, this website is primarily designed to be a sort of educational resource for complete amateurs to those fairly competent in insect identification and taxonomy. I am trying to raise awareness for this hugely diverse but maligned section of God’s amazing creation, and to offer some education on them for those interested. Learning more about something is a great way to overcome fear and disgust and is often instrumental for leading to a deeper appreciation of a thing. I view my camera and macro lens simply as tools through which to view and show God’s tiny creatures, not something used to exhibit my skill or photography expertise. The clearer and more appealing the image, the more the natural inclination to appreciate the subject. That is why I strive to get the best photos I can of my subjects.