Kalahari scorpion

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Scorpion (Parabuthus stridulus). These guys are only one of the reasons why you should always have your tent zipped up when camping in the kalahari.:D

This image is a result of team work, my little brother-in-law was lighting the scorpion with a torch from behind to get a shadow of the tail. I was forced to shoot handheld and unfortunately had to increase the ISO to 1600 to get an acceptable SS.

I know it is evident that it was made at night with the help of a torch and as a result does not look natural, yet I like it. Please let me know what you think.

Image made last December in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana

Camera Model Canon EOS 40D
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/125
Av( Aperture Value ) 8.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation -1
ISO Speed 1600
Lens EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Focal Length 100.0 mm
Image Size 3888x2592, cropp is app. 80% of original
Image Quality RAW
Flash Off
White Balance Mode Color Temperature(5200K)
AF Mode One-Shot AF

Vincent Grafhorst
www.khwaiphotography.com (http://www.khwaiphotography.com)

[Tony Kirkby]

I should probably say it has too many shadows isn't sharp enough etc but I like the sinister feeling it conveys. Nice shot.

[Robert O'Toole]

The strong lighting works for me with this image, its does look sinister doesnt it. DOF is difficult on a subject like this, I think the face, eyes, and stinger look sharp enough. If the claws were sharper we would lose on the face and stinger.
I like it.

Robert

[Ramon M. Casares]

I like the lighting a lot, maybe you could try working on the white blance so it doesn'y look so warm, but overall, I love it! Congratulations.

[Don Lacy]

He does look deadly, given the circumstances I think this turn out well.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Vincent, very cool pose and good DOF. I agree with Ramon on the warm look. Well done.

[Bob Reimer]

Nice scorpion! I wonder if it would be worth checking the colour temperature of your torch with a grey card to see if you could get a more accurate colour balance? Have you tried a UV torch? It might be scary how many of the fluorescing little critters you find :)

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Hi Bob, it is definitely on my to do list to photograph these critters with UV light. Have you done so? You must have many scorpions around there in the deserts of the Emirates!

[Bob Reimer]

Yes, I've tried it ... Here it is: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3293

There are some new LED UV flashlights available that look very useful: They're on my shopping list for when I'm back in North America this summer.

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

Great image, hope you don't mind I tried adjusting the colours in colour balance and it made an enormous difference, I have removed the image from my PC.
Jon