long horned beetle

[Nancy Bell]

Sometimes subjects come flying at you and just land at your feet :S3:! This insect was easy to handle and I photographed it indoors, on softly textured paper and with macro lights. My biggest problem was that the antennae were so very long that if I included the entirety of them in the image, the beetle was too small. For this image I placed the camera at eye level to the beetle and was pleased with that head cock, showing curiosity maybe. After the photo session, I released the beetle back to the wilds of suburbia.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100 f2.8 macro, tripod, 1/80, f7.1, ISO 1000, flash comp -1/3.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Nice one Nancy...I love the head angle...it kinda reminds me of my dog when I say "want a treat" and she tilts her head like this :)

[Wendy Kates]

I like the expression on this insect, Nancy. I agree that it looks curious, but it seems a little sinister too! Of course I'm totally projecting human emotions onto this little critter, but on the other hand, who know?!

[Norm Dulak]

Very nice capture, Nancy, with a good ending for this interesting critter! And thanks for explaining why you framed it for posting as you did.

[David Cowling]

Nice capture of an interesting looking insect. It's very well lit and sharp in the areas in focus. If it were mine I might have stopped down to f16 or so to try and get more of the body in focus seeing that you had no light issues. Thanks for sharing.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Nancy. Long-horned Beetles do have some impressive mandibles - and I hear you about the issue of getting those long antennas in the frame! You captured an interesting in-your-face, eye-level pose and you have good sharpness within your DOF. Nice use of the flash. Now, if you just had a handy light box, the lighting would be even better! :S3:

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you everyone! Steve, a light box is a great idea. In the recent process of moving mine ended up somewhere and I must go find it :Whoa!:!