Yeah, the approach to live things would be drastically different.
The approach for live specimens can be three-fold: 1) time of day, early morning for larger subjects for still air and decreased mobility; 2) in-studio, taking a sample of the environment to create a natural'istic' image; 3) selection of species, i.e., those less likely to move about. [One of the reasons I stack crab spiders, and other 'sit-and-wait' arthropods: they 'hold still' for stacks
]
Everything in my stacks are dead and preserved as specimens.
As is the practice of most stackers. You fooled me: I thought the jumper was alive.
I know folks who borrow stock from entomological displays. Generally, they have a working relationship with the curator: "you provide me with bugs, I will take great images of them for you"
I try to buy them most of the time, but sometimes I have to make my own.
Have to?
Personally, I question the 'obligation' to kill wildlife to photograph it. For example, it wouldn't go over well if bird photographers began to kill avian wildlife as a hobby, so they could prop the bird corpses up, to spend hours taking intricate photos of the feathers. I realize it is more 'acceptable' for the mainstream that some photographers do this with arthropods, but (conceptually) to me it is tantamount to the same thing.
I know a local seller where the money he makes goes towards breeding and infrastructure of the rural area he's in. Pretty good specimens at great prices.
A dubious enterprise, IMO. But to each is own.
I
do intimately realize the difficulty in taking photos of arthropods, and the desire to make them 'hold still.'
[Hence my targeting "ambush predators" (or camouflaged prey), for stacks, which have a tendency to hold-still by nature. With active arthropods, rather than stack, I use a flash with small aperture.]
My preference is live "
in-situ" nature photography, but often, I have to collect them with a sweep net and attempt to create a natural'istic' image (esp. for tiny specimens), but I return the arthropod to the area where I found it when I'm finished.
Personally, I
could be persuaded to take stacks of dead specimens "for science," but not for pleasure. I'd have to check myself. My own view is a desire for an arbitrary photograph of an animal should
not be more important than that animal's right to life.
For me, my entire joy in nature photography is to capture an animal I chance upon, in its environment, without disturbing its sanctity. Sweeping for bugs is a deviation from this, I realize this too, which is why I keep it to a minimum. But I'm okay with it, as long as I take the animal back to where I found it. It's a compromise that I am okay with, but we all have our own parameters. Anyway, sorry for the digression ... and thanks again for the photos and tip on the lens
