Here's some miscellaneous gear I use. In this photo, there's a dragonfly larva sitting in a 72-mm UV filter filled with distilled water. You can put a ruler underneath the filter and photograph the bug with the ruler in the background, to show its size. When I shoot dragonfly larvae, I use the strainer to "hose down" the bug before I photograph it. With the bug in the strainer, I squirt it with clean water, using a hypodermic syringe. That removes much of the vegetable matter from its sensilla. The red spatula that you see in this photo is particularly useful for avoiding damaging or injuring the bugs as I move them from place to place. It's very thin, and you can slip it under the bug without damaging legs or antennae. I once used it to pick up a Darner larva measuring 50 mm from the Pyrex plate -- he was not disturbed at all as I positioned the spatula beneath him, and then I lifted the spatula, leaving the bug high and dry (and immobile). I then easily transferred him to a glass box for photographing.