Photographing Small Fast Moving Subjects

Have you tried to photograph a small fast moving subject and been totally frustrated because it doesn't stop long enough to be able to focus on, or a flower in the breeze that keeps moving? Or an active creature that you get in focus – but you lose the feeling of what it is doing.
What can you do?

To still the movement you need very high shutter speeds, sometimes 1/800th sec & above, but too high and the subject looks frozen. You can reduce the shutter speed a bit so that most of the body is sharp but the wings can be moving – maybe down to 1/500th or lower. Juggling the exact speed to get enough blur to look like it is moving, but not too much so the wings disappear is a lot of trial and error. And depends on the subject and how fast it is moving.

For fast moving subjects that flit about, find a spot where they are likely to come, and wait. Then you may get a series of shots. Use auto focus for this.

How you display your shots can change how they look. A series of still shots, although each individual shot does not show movement, showing them as a series can. For instance, a Digger Wasp in picture 1 can be digging, picture 2 pushing soil back, picture 3 & 4, carying a pebble
away and so on.

When something is blowing gently in the wind, find the still point, pre-focus and wait until the breeze drops and it returns there. 

Another choice is to use your movie setting. This would be particularly good for creatures
digging holes, where the dirt is flying out or the insect is carrying stones away, or legs moving rapidly. Also it is good for butterflies flying or flowers blowing in the breeze.

Beware though - Make sure you know how your movie setting works on your camera before you start. Each camera is different. It may not be as simple as pressing a button! You will also need a high capacity, high speed memory card. I got caught out on both counts and missed the shots of a digger wasp digging a hole.