Mosquita larva

[Michael Lloyd]

These things are not the easiest to photograph

EOS1DMKIV manual
MP-E 65mm lens with ring flash. Hand held

ISO 6400
1/60s @f5.6

[Vida van der Walt]

Hi Michael. They sure are difficult to shoot. I could be wrong, but I think you have photographed the tail end of the larvae. They normally hang upside down with the tail on top and the weird little face on the bottom. You captured nice detail (tail or not). I normally shoot between f8 and f16 with this lens.:)

[Desmond Chan]

I like the idea, but wish the water were cleaner :) . I guess more DOF wouldn't hurt either (could be difficult when shooting hand-held). Right now this image kind of looks like an abstract to me :D

[Michael Lloyd]

Vida- You are correct. That is the tail end (I think they breath through that end... as opposed to some humans that I know talking from that end :D ). I took shots of them with various points in focus. I have another shot of the "head" (sort of, it was facing away from me) at ISO 400, 1/60, f8 and the flash on manual (1/8 power if I remember correctly). The difference in DOF between f5.6 and f8 was pretty minor but as I'm sure you know, the MP-E 65 isn't known for it's depth of field

Desmond- I shot these in a bucket of rain water, ie natural setting. It's spring here and everything has pollen on it or in it. DOF- that's a luxury that the MO-E 65 doesn't afford. Even at f16... but it's a fun and challenging lens to shoot.

[Julie Kenward]

So, basically, he's mooning us, is that right Michael? :D;):D I like the detail here and the way the larvae trails off into the murky water. I'd probably leave the smaller particles of debris because this is part of its environment but would probably clone out the really big ones. Neat to see this - I can't remember a mosquito larvae on this forum before.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Michael,
did I read correctly....ISO 6400? This is one of those cases that powering up the flash may have helped. Very cool subject.....agree with Jules on the large stuff in water removal.

[Michael Lloyd]

So, basically, he's mooning us, is that right Michael? :D;):D I like the detail here and the way the larvae trails off into the murky water. I'd probably leave the smaller particles of debris because this is part of its environment but would probably clone out the really big ones. Neat to see this - I can't remember a mosquito larvae on this forum before.

I have to agree with cloning out the big stuff. The two big white ones especially.


Hey Michael,
did I read correctly....ISO 6400? This is one of those cases that powering up the flash may have helped. Very cool subject.....agree with Jules on the large stuff in water removal.

Yep- I should probably tune up my flash skills. My ISO 400 shots with manual flash were as good or better than my ISO 6400 ETTL shots.