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Allow me to share with you, one of my personal pet peeves. This is one I encounter daily, in my work as an image inspector, and I call it: Bugs on Flowers! For every 100 photos I inspect, 5-10 will be some kind of insect sitting on a plant of some sort. That in itself is not bad, but a lot of the photos themselves often bug me. Pun intended. It's really just because I find the subject pretty boring, unless presented in either an aesthetically pleasing or radically different way. My Twitter followers have noticed me complaining about these photos, and before any misunderstandings arise, I thought it was time to act.

So, because I'm such a nice guy, I'm going to offer up five ideas on how to make the average bug-on-a-flower photo be less, well, average. Because if one is going to complain about something, one should do so constructively.

Before I do, I should mention that the two images used here, are two examples of bug-on-a-flower photos that I really like. The first one (top left) is simple and no-nonsense, but also perfectly lit, composed and cropped. The second one (below) is made up of several exposures, showing a bee working a flower and flying away - all in one photo. Focus is very nice and just shallow enough. They were shot by iStockers creativepictures and proxyminder respectively.

1. Get in There!

Very often, the bug will be too far away, for me to make out exactly what it is. But more importantly, insects are generally cooler looking, the closer you get. Bees look amazing, for instance, when you get close enough to see all the pollen they're carrying. Praying mantises look like they're looking right back at you, if you get close enough to see their eyes.

2. Avoid Harsh Light

If the bug is sitting on/hovering over a plant in direct sunlight, you will get very harsh lighting. Which sucks. There are several solutions. Either diffuse the light by putting something in front of it, move the bug onto another plant in the shade or bounce the light to soften the shadows. I mention this especially because there's often a lot of shadowy parts, where there are leaves, petals etc.

3. High Shutter Speed / Open Aperture

Many bugs move fast or have fluttery wings, and you'll want to freeze those in motion. Or rather, you'll want to avoid motion blur. If you're shooting a dragonfly, I want to see the texture of their wings. Up the open up the aperture, up the ISO and have plenty of light and don't shoot in auto or program mode.

4. Clear the Way

If part of the flower is covered by the shade of another plant, get it out of the way. Bring attention to the actual subject by making it stand out. Don't bury it in shade, unless it actually fits the image. Don't be afraid to manipulate the environment to get a better shot, as long as you're not destructive, only good will come of it.

5. Short But Sharp

Shallow depth of field is your friend and can really make one flower stand out among many others. But make sure that the part that's supposed to be in focus, really is in focus. Sure, wind is making the flower move, the bug is buzzing around, but don't let that be an excuse for having a misplaced focal point. If there's a bug in there, I don't focus to be right in front of it or on the back half of its body. Wait for the right moment and/or set your camera to shoot in burst mode and use a good lens.

Oh, and be selective when you look at the images later. Don't upload ten marginally different photos of the same bug on the same flower. Unless you combine them into one, like above. Happy bug-shooting.

Rasmus Rasmussen is on loan from iStockphoto, where he is part of the image inspection team.