The crickets aren’t particularly mobile. Even though they can jump they tend to walk unless they’re spooked.

If a critter tries to do a runner, I gently blow on it. I think this causes some sort of instinctive reaction and makes them grip whatever they’re standing on, so they stay still for a second.

The spiders are a bit trickier because they’re evil and just want to eat me. When I was shooting “Arachnoid Yoga” the spider was determined to either escape or turn her back on me. When she was trying to escape I blew quite hard to turn her around. If she had her back to me I used part of a shrub to gently point her in the right direction. After a minute or two she’d get bored and would stay still.

I think it’s quite easy to capture this sort of photo in the macro box because there’s only one way out, and that’s past the camera.

I do recommend giving the macro box a go if you’re interested in this sort of photography. It makes shooting them so much easier, and you don’t need to re-point the tripod very much to keep the critter in frame.