MACRO
The month of May is fast approaching and it’s the perfect opportunity to observe may flies. Catherine Régnier shares her tips for photographing these incredible insects
Trained as a nutritional engineer, Catherine Régnier followed an atypical path that led her to photography in 2022. Almost all her photographs are taken in her village in Normandy and highlight the often-overlooked beauty of nature at our feet. See more at catherineregnier19.wixsite.com/psychoetphotos/blog
Mayflies belong to the Ephemeroptera family, which comes from the Greek word ‘ephêmeros’ meaning ‘the time of day’ and ‘ptera’ meaning ‘with wings.’ Ephemeroptera owe their name to the life span of their imago (adult form), which may not exceed a few hours.
Note that this is the only species that has a sub-imago (pre-adult) stage to the winged stage, with dull wings and dull body colours, while the imago has shiny, transparent wings and a shimmering body.
Of the 2,500 species of Ephemeroptera already recorded on Earth, around 200 live in Europe. Until about 50 years ago, mayflies were found everywhere by the millions. Unfortunately, their population has declined dramatically.
I’m lucky enough to encounter mayflies regularly in my garden and at nearby ponds and rivers, but I’m sad to say that their numbers are dwindling.
Shooting tips
For flexibility, I encourage you to shoot handheld in natural light. With minimal equipment, you’ll have total freedom of movement for the best angle of view.
I set my camera to manual mode to give me full control over the exposure. I favour wide apertures as it allows me to isolate my subject from its surroundings and creates harmonious bokeh. Always pay attention to your background: trees or denser vegetation needs to be about 6 to 10 feet behind your subject. The reflection of light on ponds or watercourses all help you achieve the famous ‘bubble’ bokeh effect too.
Depending on the weather conditions, I switch between manual focus and autofocus, usually the latter in continuous mode when it’s windy.
Don’t be fooled by the shallow depth of field and remember to hold your camera as parallel as possible to the mayfly’s body, so that the whole of your subject remains in sharp focus.
To get the best composition and light, try rotating around your subject, moving slightly away and then closer towards it. In macro photography, a tiny deviation from your subject can radically change the mood of your shot. Low-angle shots are also worth exploring.
I regularly have fun shooting mayflies front and back, as the results are very different and just as interesting against the light as
