Most of the insects are photographed in Gloucestershire, usually in the county's nature reserves. Details of your local Wildlife Trust can be found from the national body's website. Joining your local Trust not only supports their work but provides you with additional information through the regular publications you receive. National wildlife organisations exist for just about every species you can think of. Joining one or two for the species that interest you the most gives you access to more specialised information. The more information you have the more likely you are to find the subject matter you want and the better your photographs will be. For a list of common names and Latin names for most of the insects photographed please see the Species List.
Bright, overcast conditions provide ideal lighting for outdoor close up photography.
If cloud cover becomes too heavy photographs become very flat with dull, muted colours. Artificial light from a flashgun or torch can be used improve the colours and add sparkle to an image.
When cloud cover disappears entirely flash can be used to boost colours when working in the shade or to deal with overly bright backgrounds. More...
There is a large choice of close up or macro lenses available, with focal lengths ranging from 50mm to 200mm.
The focal length of the lens governs working distance and field of view. A greater working distance is an advantage when photographing insects but the image compression effects of longer lenses may be a problem with flower photography as it can lead to flowers appearing to lose shape. More...
All the panoramic pictures have been taken using an XPan. As can be seen from the images, this camera sees most use during the winter. Seeing panoramas can take practice but some locations, such as the Northumberland coast, seem to lend themselves to the format. The lenses are able to focus down to about three feet which enables close up photography if the subject is wide enough (or tall enough).