A tadpole's worst nightmare!

[Steve Maxson]

An in-your-face view of the Predaceous Diving Beetle larva (Dytiscus spp.). This individual is only about 1/3 grown - the head is 5-6 mm wide. This gives a good view of the mouthparts - note that there are no chewing mouthparts in the larval stage. The large mandibles are used to capture and grasp prey. The mandibles have a hollow tube through which digestive enzymes are injected into the prey and later the body fluids are sucked up through these same tubes. 5D II, MP-E 65 mm, 1/125, f/16, ISO 100, MT-24EX macro twin flash (diffused), tripod, cable release. Photo taken in a 2 gallon aquarium. I removed a lot of tiny bits of debris from the water to clean up the image. NR on background and selective sharpening on the head. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Allen Sparks]

wow! what a perspective....great head on shot and love the inclusion of all the legs in the shot. Looks like escape is impossible. great lighting too...love it.

[bhavya joshi]

Excellent shot.. Nice Front view..super alien pose.. good one..:cheers:

[Roman Kurywczak]

You are just crushing these Steve! Looks like you are going to make me go out and buy and aquarium!
Awesome in your face view!

[OvidiuCavasdan]

I like the composition and sharpness on the head. Bg, color and legs position...all very nice. Excellent.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Wow. Great shot. Great DOF on the head. Scary.........:S3:

[Ken Childs]

Fantastic, Steve!

Because of these amazing shots you've been posting, I bought a 2.5 gallon tank a few weeks ago but I haven't had time to do anything with it so it's still empty. :-(

[Jerry van Dijk]

Wow Steve, this looks like the poster to the latest movie in the Alien series! Focal point is great and the composition is excellent with all those legs sprawling around in a geometrical pattern. I would consider this your most powerful aquarium image so far!

[Julie Kenward]

I wouldn't want to see THAT coming at me anytime soon! You nailed this one! I'd also wonder what this would look like with the BG converted to black but I guess the legs might get lost. Still...very inspiring!

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments everyone! :S3:

[Saravana Gurusamy]

Wonderful composition... Tack sharp front claws and those blurred ones waiting in the background... Just fantastic