Night Macro - a secret weapon

This is another slr macro photography tip i picked up. I talked about Night Macro before and it's not really any different from day time macro. You'll definitely need a reasonably powerful flashlight/torchlight to get around, look for bugs/insects and to help in focusing. You will need help to shine the flash on the subject so you can focus and compose. However, if you have the Canon MT24EX Twin Flash or the MR14EX ring flash, you can use the built-in focusing light.

You can also try adding a focusing lamp to your macro setup to aid in focusing. That way you don't need someone to help you shine light on your macro subject. Something like this:

A small flashlight/torchlight with adjustable angle


The small flashlight/torchlight attached to the macro rig. That's a DIY Snoot Diffuser attached to a speedlight. A DIY Snoot Diffuser guide is here.

Both images above courtesy of Chee Wai.

I have just acquired another secret weapon. Here we go:

Another flashlight/torchlight???


LED light mode..that is to be expect!


Laser beam mode..cool, but probably not very useful for night macro!


Hey, UV light, now we're talking. How is this going to help? We'll see.


With the help of UV light, you'll be able to find certain insects such as scorpion easily. I don't have any images of these yet but check out this link:

http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2006/11/13/fluorescent-scorpion-in-uv-light/

Go get yourself this cheap torchlight/flashlight so you can try out this simple slr macro photography tip. You can even use the UV light to check for counterfeit notes! :D