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The face of a drumming katydid (photo)

Hi all,

OK, I think I have sorted out the problems I was having with stacking images. The photo below is of an immature drumming katydid (Meconema thalassinum) that I compiled from a stack of 41 images. Its head was no more that 2 or 3 mm across. What do you think?

Now it is time to move on to some other subjects. I especially want to spend more time photographing aquatic insects. I also want to shoot more scorpions. I am getting a group of Orthochirus soon...they should be good for photography...

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com


katydid face copyright Ernie Cooper 2012 sm for post by ernie.cooper, on Flickr
 
Looks great! What is your camera setup like? More than one flash?
I just got myself a flash(nikon sb-23), and have a snyc cord on the way.
 
Looks great! What is your camera setup like? More than one flash?
I just got myself a flash(nikon sb-23), and have a snyc cord on the way.

Thanks!

From my blog:

"The equipment I used was an Olympus E-620 digital SLR and Zuiko 50mm F1.8 reversed on an Olympus OM auto bellows. A bellows is fitted between the camera and the lens and is used to extend the distance between the lens and the camera sensor, significantly increasing the magnification of the image. The bellows and 50mm lens are both “heritage” pieces. I have had both for more than 25 years—they are part of my collection of Olympus OM system 35mm camera equipment. Unfortunately Olympus doesn’t manufacture a bellows for their digital SLRs, but they do offer an adapter for attaching a modern body to an OM lens (or bellows). You can’t attach a modern lens to the bellows though, which is why I am using a “heritage” lens.

The handy thing about using a bellows is that the entire unit sits on a focussing rail to allow you to move it back and forth to focus the image without changing the magnification. This is important for image stacking as you want each image in the stack to be at the same magnification, but focused on different planes of the subject. For lighting I again used an Olympus ring flash, but I inserted a translucent white plastic cup (with the bottom cut out) as a diffuser between the flash and the sow bug
."

For most of my photography I try to stick with the "KISS" principle: Keep It Simple Stupid! So I try to stick with one flash. For much of my close-up photography I actually just use the on-camera flash.

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com
 
Let's hear it for heritage/legacy equipment. Have you tried enlarging lenses yet on your bellows? Many enlarging lenses use the Leica 39mm thread so all you'd need is a Leica to OM mount adapter. Failing that you can get a Leica to M42 adapter ring and put that into a M42 to OM adapter. I play around with various lens combinations on my old Minolta bellows and focus rails now that I have a glassless Minolta to Pentax adapter.

I've been looking for a nice solution to add diffusion to the Yuzo/Nissin/Lester Dine macro ring light I have. I taped some white tissue paper which worked great but have been looking around for a more elegant solution. The most elegant solution would be to vacuum form a cover to slip on over the ring but I don't have the room available or the motivation to make essentially a one up rig to do this. I think the "dimples" on the side of an old Sparklett's 1 gallon water bottle might be perfect though.
 
Let's hear it for heritage/legacy equipment. Have you tried enlarging lenses yet on your bellows? Many enlarging lenses use the Leica 39mm thread so all you'd need is a Leica to OM mount adapter. Failing that you can get a Leica to M42 adapter ring and put that into a M42 to OM adapter. I play around with various lens combinations on my old Minolta bellows and focus rails now that I have a glassless Minolta to Pentax adapter.

I've been looking for a nice solution to add diffusion to the Yuzo/Nissin/Lester Dine macro ring light I have. I taped some white tissue paper which worked great but have been looking around for a more elegant solution. The most elegant solution would be to vacuum form a cover to slip on over the ring but I don't have the room available or the motivation to make essentially a one up rig to do this. I think the "dimples" on the side of an old Sparklett's 1 gallon water bottle might be perfect though.

No I haven't...at least not yet. I have an adaptor on the way that will allow me to attach microscope lenses to the bellows. I'll be able to get much closer, but with next to no depth of field. So I am trying to perfect my image stacking techniques in advance...

Here is a quick photo of what I did...just a white plastic cup with the bottom cut out. When the bellows is extended the front of the lens is so close to the subject that it is inside the cup. This produces a nice diffuse light.

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com


bellows labeled sm by ernie.cooper, on Flickr
 
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