Comments on: Making a killing jar

By: V

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:52:51 +0000

This is stupid and amateurish on so many levels. Learn to shoot macro photography correctly, or else get a telephoto. There is absolutely no reason you need to fabricate the scene of a nature photo by killing an insect (or anything else for that matter) unless you just suck at using your camera.

By: Leonardo favio

Leonardo favio — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:48:31 +0000

Insects have very short lifespans, at least as adults, and have great reproductive rates. Indeed, that is why they are the dominant form of life of the planet (in number of individuals and in number of species).
Because of that, not matter how many insects we kill (to collect, study or shoot) you can’t stress his population numbers (only may be in some butterflies).
The insect nervous system is much more simple that our complex mammalian nervous system, and are incapable of any worries, sadness and suffering.
In resume: Yes, go ahead an kill them if you have to.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:08:38 +0000

Everybody through away all of your insect spray cans, NOW, You Killers! & how about your Fly swaters.

By: Woody Pulps

Woody Pulps — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:15:59 +0000

Everyone here might benefit from reading any of the following books:

Kill Jar: The Ethics of Insect Collecting by Lars Laramore

The Zen Master on Entomology: Dont Bug Me by Ling Ting Tong

I Married a Monster: The sadistic story of the man who froze bugs to take their portrait. by Barbara Dahl

Roach Stomper: The Awful Tale of A Mindless Serial Killer by I.M Raid

All are available through your local bookstores and online. Be sure to enter the Special Purchase Code: katydid.

Woody Pulps

By: Pat

Pat — Tue, 06 May 2008 04:11:13 +0000

I love running into love bugs. It’s that season again in Florida. Also took an entymology class at U of F, and made a bug collection as part of the class. As insects are, as a group, the most populous on the planet, a few less won’t upset me, although I tried to stay away from the butterflies since in my opinion there’s no need to destroy beauty without good reason. But I’ll stomp a cockroach, and swat mosquitos, and eat steak, and catch fish, as often as I can…

By: Bridget Reynolds

Bridget Reynolds — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 21:08:35 +0000

I love photographing insects. It begin one day when I found a dead dragonfly on my patio. I however, have never killed an insect to photograph it. It doesn’t seem right. If you look long enough you will find a dead insect somewhere. I think it’s more exciting and a challange to try to photography them while they are alive. I did this with a giant wasp nest once.

I wanted to photograph them coming and going. I probably won’t do something so risky again but I was at a safe distance.
Of course I started to feel like someone on Wild Kingdom and really understood their derring. I would rather stay alive to shoot more photos, though. Orange flies, dead or alive—that’s a challenge.

By: SR

SR — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:10:45 +0000

I personally don’t think it comes down to size but more or less brains…larger animals tend to think more and have more personality then lets say an ant (that has no personality) who’s whole life comes down to following a trail to get to food (I know some ants do a little more then this but you get my point). and as for killing the insects painlessly they can’t feel pain, they can’t be sad and they can’t fear us like a dog, cat, or other animals you compared to killing insects, so is it okay to kill insects? Sure why not its not hurting any thing , literally insects don’t feel pain remember =P, so any ways my point killing a insect is different then killing lets say a frog not because of size (there are some insects bigger then some frogs) but because of brain power.

Now I’m not saying go out and kill all the insects Far from it I would say avoid killing them if you can, try the freezing thing see how you like it, but don’t feel sorry for all the bugs you killed its life you kill things every day weather you like it or not do we feel sorry for all the bacteria we kill when we wash are counter or eat some food that happens to have some on it? No we don’t its just some thing that happens and can’t be avoided.
Really though I don’t think I can change any ones minds about any thing people are still going to stick up for the poor insects and probably even get mad at me so it really just comes down to how you feel about it not what other people feel about it.

By: Taran Morgan

Taran Morgan — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:32:21 +0000

“If you make one of these jars correctly, you can kill insects quickly and painlessly.”

Only a moron would make a statement like this.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 12:58:36 +0000

I found putting them in a jar in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes slows them down significantly depending on big of a hurry you are in. It puts them in a dorment state without killing them.

By: Athoub

Athoub — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:05:15 +0000

I just bought your book, I’ll be reading it by the time I’m done with the one I’m reading in present days

Regarding the insects, I’d never dare to kill any for the sake of photography!
I once burst into tears when I decided to freeze a butterfly. I just couldn’t tolerate the fact that I’m torturing this beautiful creature. At the end, I set her free :)

By: Susheel

Susheel — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:14:23 +0000

Sounds like you’re making killing fields… not really. I think this is a great idea. Can’t wait to get my 100mm f/2.8 now…

Cheers!

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:37:57 +0000

I have been trying to catch that perfact insect photo. To date I’ve not had much luck. I have thought about killing my prey in order to get the photograph I want. It has gone no further than a thought. I don’t think that it is my place to take a life that I did not put here in the first place. I have no way of replacing that life either. Few things that are worth getting are made easy. It’s called life. I hope that you blog readers will visit my sight and sign my guestbook so that I know you were there.

By: Chuckles the Clown

Chuckles the Clown — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 18:17:18 +0000

I almost became interested in photography. However, if this forum is a typical cross section of the mindless dribble I would contend with in this hobby, I’ll stick to raising chickens. Oh, I don’t use a killing jar for them, I put their neck in a killing cone and slit their throats. Anyone want a picture?

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:34:52 +0000

This technique works wonders with small children as well.

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 02:15:36 +0000

OK this is weird. I read the question with interest because my son is bug expert and he gets them to sit still all the time. I read the responses to see if any one had suggested my son’s formula (10minutes in the freezer) for getting your bug to hold still without killing it, and someone named Josh had already made the suggestion.
I’m of the let it live school of thought. Kill a bug if you have to but not for the lame photo you will invariably file in the waste bin.

By: Mr. Burns

Mr. Burns — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 23:46:01 +0000

All photography is a lie. As soon as you compose a shot you are taking a subject out of context since you can not see what is out of frame. Long exposures lie, timelapse exposures lie. There have been techniques used in the dark room since the creation of the medium that contribute to the image being manipulated. In the modern day we use Photoshop in a similar fashion as using different films, chemicals, filters, burning, dodging.

If you are looking for truth you will not find it in photography in my opinion.

As it relates to the killing of bugs for photography purposes, I don’t have a problem with it. I don’t do it but I don’t have a problem with it anymore then I have a problem killing the ants that seem to follow me everywhere I go. The worst being when I am on the freeway traveling at 65 MPH and an ant starts to walk across my face inside my helmet. That would make a good photograph.

By: arczi

arczi — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 10:39:01 +0000

I’v done a lot of macro-photos and only one insekt that I was photographying was dead (the fly). All insect survive photo-meating with me without any deamge.

Here are my insects (for now there is something about 370 photos): http://www.arczi79.yoyo.pl/index.php?option=com_expose&Itemid=37

By: nate

nate — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 01:11:05 +0000

the picture of marines raising a flag at iwo jima was staged. is it somehow less “iconic”?

to compare shots of bugs (live or dead) to the icons of photojournalism is like comparing poorly composed birthday shots to ansel adams. or a sears portrait to the mona lisa. bugs are insignificant stock images, alive or dead. a shot of bugs isn’t going to change the world

By: edward przydzial

edward przydzial — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 16:48:32 +0000

i don’t disturb or manipulate what i shoot, so killing the bugs is of no interest to me, if i can’t get the photo on my own then it’s not worth shooting.

By: Lee

Lee — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 02:23:57 +0000

Are you just trying to see what people will say? Good one! Your shot on EarthshotsFreedom fells) is pure relaxation. Thanks!

By: Dewi Morgan

Dewi Morgan — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:18:38 +0000

One aspect that nobody seems to take into account is the viewer.

Are you lying to your viewers?
Are you trying to make them think “this is an alive creature”?
Would they feel cheated if you said “this is really a dead creature”?
Would they be horrified if you said “I slew it specifically for this photograph”?

Considering those questions, do you, as a photographer, feel that dishonest photography is OK, even when the lie might completely change a viewer’s feelings about a photograph?

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm22.html “[W]hen Lennart Nilsson presented the rewards of his work to LIFE’s editors several years later, they demanded that witnesses confirm that they were seeing what they thought they were seeing.” – you don’t get awards for making lies.

Would any of these photographs have meant the same if they were staged?

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm12.html If this were not an execution? Or if the photographer had *asked* for a prisoner to be executer so that he could take the pic?

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm11.html If this were never taken with a human hand, but was montaged together from dozens or thousands of telescope photos and satellite images?

http://static.flickr.com/34/64091304_f5b8f36ada.jpg is an iconic image: but would it have the same weight if you found out it was staged?

Whether the nature photographer photographs real nature or cadavers is a matter of personal morality: and so is whether they deceive the viewer (if just by omission) into believing it to be a true natural photo.

For me, I would feel like a liar, and I feel that anyone who respected their viewers, their craft, their subjects or themselves could feel it moral.

By: nate

nate — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 03:05:18 +0000

not by choice. i live in the state of denial, my official language is sarcasm

By: Luís Brás

Luís Brás — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:16:45 +0000

Nate, are you American? ;-)

By: nate

nate — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:42:13 +0000

kill them for fun! insects are poor subjects anyway

By: Jas

Jas — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:53:11 +0000

I think nate has a screw loose somewhere! As one of the earlier posters stated, why does size make a difference? Just because they are smaller than us does not mean they have any less right to be here than us humans. We are all here for a reason. It’s a spiritual thing, dare I say it.

If you have to, chill, but don’t kill them :-)

By: joshDubya

joshDubya — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:00:34 +0000

“…you can kill insects quickly and painlessly…”
“…put your insects in the jar, and leave them for a few minutes to kill them…”
Maybe the ethyl acetate numbs them from pain, but a few minutes seems an awfully long time to be suffocating/dying! If I absolutely had to kill an insect for a photo, I’d probably invest in one of those static electricity dischargers that look like tennis rackets.

By: Mie

Mie — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:26:34 +0000

There is a way to do this without killing. I don’t know if it is any better, but I have succesfully pfotographer several bees withiout killing them.

Just drown them into water (in jar FULL of water) and wait until they stop moving. Then you have many hours to photograph them while they stand still. Later they have allways come back to consciousness.

It is just much easier to stunn them with water that kill them without damaging their body.

By: Luís Brás

Luís Brás — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 22:25:17 +0000

Nate, care to cite some sources that support what you are saying about wasps?

Generally, wasps and other stinging insects only attack if you disturb them. You may not do it in purpose, but still they interpret your action as an attack, so they defend themselves by stinging you. Wasps only eat cicadas.

This article has good information about wasps:
http://www.argonaut.uidaho.edu/archives/072501/newsstory8.html

You may find the following excerpt particularly interesting:

“Wasps and yellow jackets have multi-use stingers with which they will sting a host several times in order to escape or stun them. This is why wasps are typically thought of being more aggressive than honeybees.”

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:36:01 +0000

Why couldn’t you simply capture the creatures and throw them in the freezer for awhile? Flash freezing insects will allow you to manipulate them while they’re still in a submissive state. You can even tie a string around you bee and take it for a walk once it’s thawed out!

By: nate

nate — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:38:35 +0000

you could kill all the bugs you wanted every minute of every day and you couldn’t put a dent in their populations. your argument is ridiculous. there are as many bugs on the earth as grains of sand. they are almost everywhere. should you use restraint with dragonflies/butterflies/ and other species that may be protected by law? of course. one example of a malaysian butterfly can get you serious prison time

wasps also attack because they want to eat you, especially in the fall right before hibernation. it seems ridiculous to us, but that’s what the poison in the stinger is for–killing and paralyzing prey. in wasps, it isn’t a defense, it’s an offense