Taking photographs of insects in flight is a fun challenge. When I first started getting serious about nature photography I would occasionally notice that by pure chance I had caught an insect in flight near a wild flower. I thought those photos were really cool and eventually I started practicing taking them. Lately I have been having more and more success.

Most insects such as bees, wasps and butterflies move erratically and rapidly while in flight. With a modern professional camera you might think that their sophisticated autofocus and high speed burst abilities would be the best way to capture these images. I enjoy a more intentional approach to photography however and I do not use burst mode, all my photos are single shot. Additionally my favorite lens for this work is an older 200mm macro that has to be focused manually on my Nikon Z6II camera.

I have found that the key to success has been to simply spend a lot of time observing how pollenating insects behave around the wild flowers. Big old bumblebees for example are in constant motion while on a flower, and they frequently take flight for just a moment to reposition themselves. So focusing on the bumblebee and waiting for it to lift off is a good strategy for them. It also pays to keep an eye out for bees on nearby flowers as they will sometimes fly over to the flower your camera is pointed at. Learning the behavior of the wildlife you photograph not only leads to better photos, but is also a lot of fun.

The other thing I have learned is that shutter speed is the most important camera setting. I typically use 1/1500s to 1/2000s and will push the ISO speed as as high as necessary along with using the maximum aperture of my lens (F4 in this case).