Sometimes subjects come flying at you and just land at your feet ! 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.
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?!
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.
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!