Beetle

[Norm Dulak]

Nikon D300 w/Nikkor 105mm micro lens + Kenko 36mm extension tube, tripod mounted.
ISO 400; f/22, 1/60 sec.
The beetle was placed on a translucent white acrylic sheet and illuminated from above by twin wireless SB-R200 speedlights (with extreme close up diffusers attached) and by another from below the sheet.
Minor standard CS6 adjustments were made.

Depth of field was not all that I would like, and in the future I'll back off more to improve that. But I wanted to test the extreme close up diffusers, which require a short distance between lens and subject.

I don't know which beetle this is, although it may be in the stag beetle family because if its large mandibles.

All comments are welcome and appreciated.

Norm

[Jonathan Ashton]

Norm you are not far off the mark with this one! Your exposure is excellent, judging by the size of this chap I would be surprised if you needed extension tubes. You have a couple of specular highlights but he is a very shiny surfaced little chap isn't he? I think your idea of backing off would do the job, maybe lower the flash just a little, I think this might reduce the highlights a tad.... then Bob's your uncle!

[Mitch Haimov]

I like it, Norm. Very cool eyes. Angled composition works well; I think it would do even better if you crop from top and add canvas to left (or possibly add to left and bottom).

How do you convince your subjects to pose on the acrylic? Pop 'em in the fridge first?

[christopher galeski]

nice one,like the detail on this,love the jagged pinchers.

[Norm Dulak]

How do you convince your subjects to pose on the acrylic? Pop 'em in the fridge first?

Hi Mitch.

Yes, I did chill this one a bit to slow it down. That doesn't work very well with smaller insects, that quickly warm up and become very active. What I do with them is cover them on the acrylic sheet with a petrie dish, let them run around under the dish, and hope they will eventually tire. Then I lift the cover and shoot quickly.

I used that approach yesterday with a couple of harlequin bugs. But I must say they have stamina, and getting a good shot was very difficult!

Norm

[Mitch Haimov]

Thanks, Norm. I will have to try that technique at some point.

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks everyone for looking, and for your comments.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Excellent capture Norm! Given the position of the beetle, I have no problems with the shallower DOF. Like the harlquin bug, it seems there is a little too little light coming from the top. You might want to try to put a white sheet above the subject too, so it reflects the light from the flashes back to the subject. If I remember correctly, this is how Ken Childs (former macro moderator) used to do it. You could also stop down the lower flash a little, to get more balance.
Although I'm not familiar with the American species, this is a beetle from the Ground beetle family (Carabidae), subfamily of Tigre beetles (Cicindelinae). Bugguide.net tells me that there's 109 species in North America (http://bugguide.net/node/view/375)

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks, Jerry. I'll try the sheet idea to improve illumination balance.