Ethical Insect Photography
I'm on the Ethics Committee for the North American Nature Photography Association, promoting ethical and humane practices for wildlife photography. Insect photography is an area often overlooked in the field of ethics because of the diminished way people tend to view these small animals. But they are also living beings, critical to their own ecosystems, and subject to stressors, sometimes significant, because of us. So, with any images I shoot, including insects, I do not stage nor otherwise manipulate animals for the sake of a photo.
Ethical practices include: not refrigerating/freezing insects for photos (a common practice); not staging images by moving insects from their natural perches or habitats; not posing them with other animals, especially their predators. People will sometimes spray insects with formulas like glycerin droplets to create a dew-like effect, but any interference, especially with materials that could potentially harm them physically, should be avoided. (The same and more is true for reptiles and amphibians.)
The important operative: "for the sake of a photo." I don't believe any animal should be harmed or stressed deliberately for the sake of a photo op.
I first saw the silhouette of this grasshopper through pond foliage while I was photographing Pacific chorus frogs. I snapped this just as s/he peered above the leaf.
The animal -- and his/her well-being -- is *always* more important than the photo
Ethical Insect Photography
I'm on the Ethics Committee for the North American Nature Photography Association, promoting ethical and humane practices for wildlife photography. Insect photography is an area often overlooked in the field of ethics because of the diminished way people tend to view these small animals. But they are also living beings, critical to their own ecosystems, and subject to stressors, sometimes significant, because of us. So, with any images I shoot, including insects, I do not stage nor otherwise manipulate animals for the sake of a photo.
Ethical practices include: not refrigerating/freezing insects for photos (a common practice); not staging images by moving insects from their natural perches or habitats; not posing them with other animals, especially their predators. People will sometimes spray insects with formulas like glycerin droplets to create a dew-like effect, but any interference, especially with materials that could potentially harm them physically, should be avoided. (The same and more is true for reptiles and amphibians.)
The important operative: "for the sake of a photo." I don't believe any animal should be harmed or stressed deliberately for the sake of a photo op.
I first saw the silhouette of this grasshopper through pond foliage while I was photographing Pacific chorus frogs. I snapped this just as s/he peered above the leaf.
The animal -- and his/her well-being -- is *always* more important than the photo