A couple of questions... What do my fellow stackers use to kill bugs? I've been using my freezer, stick the bug in there for an hour or so has usually done the job, except I just caught a wasp in the house the other day, did this, left it in there /overnight/, started shooting a stack and the little...

The third is a sort of tiger beetle - they are ferocious predators, quite difficult to get close to as (unusually for larger beetles in my experience) they take off and fly away when you get near them...

I always shoot RAW, stacks or not. The only issue I have is that huge 500gb hard disk I added to my setup last year is going to be full in a couple of months, so I need more HD space. My computer is not very up to date (AMD Athlon barton core 2600, 1.5gb ram) but I don't have any speed issues dealin...

Fungi keep me occupied when the bugs dissapear!

Thanks so much! That does indeed sound like a plan! Guess I'll find out if you've forgotten anything when I come to bolt it all together!! ;) I'd spotted the tripod was a problem but I hadn't worked out what else to use, I have a little Hama table clamp but it's not sturdy enough to hold this rig......

After a picture post turned into a bit of a Q&A session, Rik sensibly suggested I post this over here, so here goes! My current macro setup which is far from ideal, consists two components, the camera 'unit' and the subject 'unit'. First the camera unit. This consists (from the bottom up) of a tripo...

Thanks again to all for the kind words and tips! Paul, I already have the subject rigged up in an XYZ stand (an old but functional Prior micromanipulator), but I find it difficult to line up the camera/subject axis so that I can move the subject directly towards the camera for the slice moving. This...

Thanks for the kind words guys! I look forward to having more worthwhile shots to post... :) Rik, I do have about 4 stacks including this one that I'm quite happy with, but that's from about 100 attempts!! (since last autumn when I finally got a bellows), it's the frequency that some of you guys pos...

This is some sort of solitary "digger" wasp (possibly ectemnius?) I found making holes in my garden (there were quite a few of them so I didn't feel too bad sacrificing one for my stacking practice!) http://www.lauriek.demon.co.uk/misc/pm2/New-Out99993_99992.jpg I originally shot around 20 shots in ...

For one tantalizing moment, my 55-year old finger looked pink and smooth as a baby's bottom...which should tell you something about how well that setup hid the actual surface texture. :lol: --Rik Been lurking here for a while now, too scared to post any images!! It's good to know I've got a few yea...