"I notice I'm shooting a lot of bugs, but I want to shift my territory to other subjects too..."

But why? Bugs are the best!

True! But I've seen so much other great things you can do with Macro's here on deviantART... But yes, bugs are definitely 'Da Bomb'!

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Mister Bug, can you pleeeeeease freeze for just 1/1000st of a second?
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Water droplets are fun too. Or food. All kinds of textures (walls, rust, fabric...). Plants. Everyday objects.
But none are as cool as bugs.

You might be right on that
Today I'm gonna buy an insect book to help me looking up / identifying the names of the insects I shoot. Do you use a book? Or the internet? What can you recommend?
Thanks,
John

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Mister Bug, can you pleeeeeease freeze for just 1/1000st of a second?
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I use a couple of different books and the internet as well. I've got a few ones on insects in general, and then some that are concerned with specific orders, like beetles or butterflies (I study biology). I've only got German and English books, dunno about Dutch ones.
The one I started out with was [link]d_bbs_sr_1/303-1472870-1713061?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184317450&sr=8-1 It has a short, general introduction to the different insect orders, and then introduces some of the most common or most noticeable families and species with photos.
I also use [link]d_bowtega_2/303-1472870-1713061?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184317542&sr=1-2 which has drawings instead of photos. Some people like photos better because it is closer to the real thing, other prefer drawings because you can work out the important details better. Maybe there are Dutch versions of these?

Beginner's Guide to Entomology by Rick Imes is an English one that I like a lot, but it was hard to get and doesn't help so much with individual species or genera, it mostly stays on the family level.

Anyway, those are my favourite ones to use for more superficial identification. Then there's lots of specialist literature too (beetles alone can take up several volumes because there are so many species), but you'd often need microscopes and stuff like that.

Maybe there's some kind of entomologic society in your country that could recommend a book to you. Or you just go to a good bookshop and check them out. Most should be fine (apart from a few mistakes, but it's not that much of a problem).

Thank you VERY much for these recommendations! I saw the Rick Imes book on Amazon.com. I'll probably buy it... I bought a decent Insect book with at least the most common ones here in The Netherlands. Not very complete, but for now it does the trick.
But I've also bought a book which I can recommend to everybody who is into macro shooting:
'Small Things Big - Close up and macro photography' by Paul Harcourt Davies! Awesome book with great advice, explanations and with shots of which you can't believe your eyes! I just payed 7.50 euro ! Wooohoooo!!

Thanks again! Really awesome you took your time to help me out! Much appreciated!

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Mister Bug, can you pleeeeeease freeze for just 1/1000st of a second?
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You're welcome, no problem.

Amateurs like us don't need complete books anyway; most of the time, you'll be happy to determine the family or genus, except for some really characteristic species. Hope you're happy with your book!

Thanks for letting me know about those macro photography books. I searched on amazon for books by Paul Harcourt Davies. He seems to have published a few on macro stuff, but most of them are either out of print or I'd have to order them from some marketplace sellers in the US. EUR 32,10 is the cheepest I found for the book you got, excluding shipment Seems you were very lucky!

Yeah, found it at a second hand book shop. If I find another one, maybe I can send it
I read in my little book exactly the same you say! There are just too many species...
But I'm quite happy just finding the right family!
Thanks again!

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Mister Bug, can you pleeeeeease freeze for just 1/1000st of a second?
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Lol I doubt you'll find the same book twice!
It's hard to find good second hand photography books here, English ones in particular. Or maybe I just don't know the right shops?