Lacewing larvae

[Brian Desjardins]

I saw some lichen moving around close to my feet while shooting birds , to my amazement it had legs, went and grabbed my macro gear and this is what i shot.
Sorry for the DOF but was focused mainly on his front appendages if that's what you can call them. He was always moving and rolling what looks like a wood shaving, I have not seen any of these amazing insects posted here so even though its not the greatest shot, I thought i would post it anyway for people that have never seen something like this.

Nikon D7000 , Tamron 90mm with a full set of extension tubes (12,20,36mm)
With flash Nikon SB-24 1/16th power, 1/250, f/8, iso 100

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[David Cowling]

Hello Brian, welcome to the forum. A very interesting image. It's a bit difficult to see what is happening as the DOF must have been wafer thin with all those tubes added but you have got the head and eye? in focus which is good. I am intrigued by whatever it is he has in his jaws. Well done for spotting and photographing this. TFS.

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi David , Ty for the welcome, I might have one from the front ,ill take a look and post one if the DOF is not too bad. He was very tiny that's why i put on the tubes. I have not seen him since I took this shot. Ill do my best and find one with a better view. TY again for the comment.

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Brian and welcome...
My thoughts pretty much mirror David's - great job in spotting this in the first place. That is quite some camouflage! Good focus on the head where it needs to be.
Allen

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Allen, Ty for the welcome and the comments,being a bit color blind i was kinda lucky it was moving or i would never have seen it, hope I have a better shot with a better DOF, will look later tonight, will post it if i do. Ty again!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Brian once again welcome to the forum. You have a really interesting subject and it looks to be well focused. Under these circumstances (time provided and subject to subject cooperation) I would have taken shots at varying magnification. There is always the temptation to fill the frame but the higher the magnification the less the depth of field (DOF); a little less close in and I think we would have probably had a more appreciable view and the DOF would have been greater.

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Jonathan, Ty for the welcome and comments, after looking at the results I fully agree. I have not had time to really look through the rest of the shots I took (will take the time today). One thing I didn't point out was from where I was shooting this, which kind of made it more difficult to really take my time, I was standing on a small ledge on the Mesa with my back toward a 100 foot drop down into the valley below. Not the smartest of moves but this was where this little guy decided to walk toward. Shot what I could and got out of there. I really appreciate the comments and tips and for the future I will try taking my time more and trying different magnifications , tube lengths ect. Ty again for the insight.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Very cool bug! A little more DOF would have been nice, but this is a complicated shot to make, especially when it's on the move. You did very well getting the head in focus. These larvea sometimes camouflage themselves with all sorts of debris that lies around. I'm not sure if they do the same as caddisfly larvaea (which are aquatic). There, the type of debris they build their shelter from is species specific and can be used to identify the species.

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi everyone, thank you for all your great comments. Sorry took a bit of time before i could get back and post another shot of this little guy.
Same setting as the last time, just a bit better DOF in this one. I do have one from the front but being new to this great site I was not sure if I could post multiple shots in the same post, I did read it was one post per forum per 24 hrs, maybe a Mod could tell me if I can post more then one per thread. Anyway here it is.
Thanks for viewing.


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[Jonathan Ashton]

Brian you are fine posting more than one image per thread, but I would ensure you follow the guideline of one per 24hr - this gives members a chance to view images and helps avoid cross referencing various images.
Another fine shot here Brian, same comments would apply from my perspective.

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Jonathan, Thanks for clearing that up for me and TY for your comments again. This and maybe the front one ill post later are the best one's of this set I shot. I will keep in mind what you mentioned when I shoot more macro in the future, TY again.