Do you guys shoot insects dead or alive?

As I have become quickly hooked on macro because of this forum and only being aboard about 3 months now, this thread just confirms what I have been seeing with macro shooters and insects. That is, the pride and complete respect for the insect world by enjoying these incredible creatures with a camera and not for the sport of killing them.

I myself have never really enjoyed the killing of our wonderful wildlife on this planet. I have done hunting and all of course when I was growing up, but even then I did not really enjoy the kill. I no longer participate in hunting with the purpose of killing. I now use the camera for the hunt without the killing.

As I have become more and more involved close-up with the insect world, I cannot possibly even consider killing these beautiful creatures we have been given here on this planet.

To see all those here take these incredible pictures of all these insects and enjoy them with the camera itself, is a pleasure for me to be a part of here at this forum.

It has also been an eye opener and education for me to enjoy this small world that surrounds us daily.

Hopefully as I gain better understanding with the camera and its ability to take these macro shots, I will also be able to show this insect world close-up with the beauty it deserves.

GRD wrote in post #8942878
As I have become quickly hooked on macro because of this forum and only being aboard about 3 months now, this thread just confirms what I have been seeing with macro shooters and insects. That is, the pride and complete respect for the insect world by enjoying these incredible creatures with a camera and not for the sport of killing them.

I myself have never really enjoyed the killing of our wonderful wildlife on this planet. I have done hunting and all of course when I was growing up, but even then I did not really enjoy the kill. I no longer participate in hunting with the purpose of killing. I now use the camera for the hunt without the killing.

As I have become more and more involved close-up with the insect world, I cannot possibly even consider killing these beautiful creatures we have been given here on this planet.

To see all those here take these incredible pictures of all these insects and enjoy them with the camera itself, is a pleasure for me to be a part of here at this forum.

It has also been an eye opener and education for me to enjoy this small world that surrounds us daily.

Hopefully as I gain better understanding with the camera and its ability to take these macro shots, I will also be able to show this insect world close-up with the beauty it deserves.

I can relate to you very well! In my teens and 20's I loved to hunt and was very successful at it, perhaps too successful. It didn't take long to realize the thrill of the hunt was in the chase. So I started hunting with a muzzle loader. That didn't last long either and I switched to a bow. After a bit I decided I preferred competitive rifle shooting which I did for many years and I was very successful at it too. Then I burned out on that and have picked back upon photography which I had done off and on for many years. It is a newly rediscovered challenge which I can immerse myself again. A new challenge with a great amount to learn.
Lyn
Edited to add: If I can become as good "shooting" a camera as a rifle, I just might become good enough to approach some of the wonderful pictures I see posted here! (Yea, right...maybe in my dreams!)

I found a couple of dead bee's in the house that me and my girlfriend are building the other day. I picked one up and put it on the counter for some shots, but I've never purposely killed an insect just to get a shot. My girlfriend is still extremely freaked out by bugs, but I now have her screaming at me to come get it, instead of her just stomping on it and killing it. If I can, I'll get some shots. If not, I'll just release it outside. I've found that most bugs don't mess with you if you don't mess with them. I only have the Canon 60mm macro, so my working distance isn't the best. But I've found that bee's, flies, moths, wasps, hoverflies, etc... will let you get pretty close as long as you don't touch them. They don't want to hurt you any more than you want to hurt them. Dragonflies and darterflies I can not seem to get close enough too though. I need to get like the 150mm or 180mm macro soon I think. Haha.
Personal opinion on the posted topic though...I would never harm an insect just to get a shot. Respect what you shoot, and it will hopefully respect you back.

For things like dragonflies, you might find your 50-250 does the job. I often use my 70-200 for them.

Add me to the list of people who do not refrigerate or freeze subjects -and I shoot critter in all kinds of weather conditions (cool mornings, heat of the day, etc.). You just have to take the time to learn their habits and quirks. I'm not above cutting the perch a critter is on, putting it in a wood clamp, and moving the whole rig to a comfortable place to shoot:

Nice to see you here Dalantech (I'm one of your watchers on deviantart)

Thanks Tendy

Dalantech wrote in post #9057551
... I'm not above cutting the perch a critter is on, putting it in a wood clamp, and moving the whole rig to a comfortable place to shoot:

How the heck did you snip that without the critter flying away.

gjl711 wrote in post #9066425
How the heck did you snip that without the critter flying away.

Early in the day -the critter is still trying to wake up

that or superglue ?

Dalantech wrote in post #9066662
Early in the day -the critter is still trying to wake up

I've gone out early to shoot mantis as they are really slow, but they don't fly, at least not easily.

I know this is an old thread but as I was about to ask the people what do they think on this subject and was planing to open a new thread, decided to do the search first and got here.
I have been shooting macro photos for almost 10 years, until recently with extremely low-end compact digicams and DIY macro lens. I have always enjoyed the thrill of 'hunting' and 'stalking' the insects in their natural environment and this is how I took all my photos and this was the style of shooting I was always advocating.
Then not long ago I discovered the fascinating world of high-magnification stacked macro photography. Unfortunately this is not something you can do with live subject so I have started freezing a few insects every now and then so I could photograph them. This killing part is not something I am indifferent about and certainly do not enjoy it but the final photos almost always turn up great! I understand that I have basically killed the insect that otherwise didn't have to die simply to make a nice photo. It sounds terrible. Paradoxically it sounds worse then when we have to exterminate millions of insects for some reason. Apparently the same irrational reasoning applies to people. It has been repeatably shown that we have a much stronger emotional reaction to the suffering of one individual than to the suffering of a larger group of people. The larger the group becomes the less we seem to mind.
With that in mind, is killing one insect to take a photo really worse than spending the day in the 'wild' photographing the insects in their natural environment? Just consider how many hundreds or thousands of insects you killed beneath your feet during your 'beautiful day in nature'. You can argue that it's completely different because it wasn't intentional but that is not exactly true. You knew this would happen. The insects died for your enjoyment. You could have decided not to go out and thus save the insects but you decided that their death, as unfortunate as it is, is worth it. I also don't own a car so have probably killed less insects in my life than most of you. Does that make me a better person? You again trade the lives of a few insects for the convenience of travelling by car. If you took the train or the bus you would have been responsible for far fewer deaths.

Insects are everywhere and we are all guilty of killing them so our lives would be (usually in some completely trivial way) a bit better. When we are extremely careful to photograph a butterfly without in any way interfering with it's life while at the same time standing on a hundred dead ants, bugs, worms and other insects, it's all about making ourselves feel good and proud, not about the insects. Let's not kid ourselves. People have no problem with killing insects. It's only when you have a bad form of being so obvious that they cry out in outrage. The appearance of 'decency' is all that is is required.

As one with a well developed sense of empathy, I don't like to kill bugs, even the microscopic ones I shoot these days.

On the other hand, there are companies that deal in dead and preserved bugs that unless you were to go to Borneo or Sumatra, or some uninhabited island in the South Pacific, you would never, ever see, let alone get to photograph. And maybe not then, unless you could climb a 100 foot coconut tree.

There are whole cottage industries selling pins, special thread and mounting media to mount these long dead insects to for realistic poses. There are chemicals and dozens of websites to describe and teach you how to boil, preserve and mount your prized possessions. I have seen some of the images shot and stacked using this technique, and they are equal to or better than any live bug, and unless the artist tells you how he did it, you would never know.

Do you honestly think National Geographic only shoots live subjects? LOL

I only shoot dead bugs when a live bug is involved

Is that a tear drop I see?