Bilsa reserve, Ecuador II

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

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pbertner
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Bilsa reserve, Ecuador II

Post by pbertner »

Wandering spider (Ctenidae) with frog (Pristimantis sp.) prey:

Image

Camouflaged stick insect:

Image

Riodinid butterfly (Sarota sp.):

Image

Calling rain frog (Pristimantis sp.):

Image

Camouflaged stick insect:

Image

Male tarantula:

Image

Leaf-mimicking katydid (Orophus tesselatus) displaying erythrism:

Image

Glass frog:

Image

Polydesmid millipede:

Image

Rainbow katydid-mimicking butterfly chrysalis:

Image

Thanks for looking and commenting,
Paul

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

Gorgeous chrysalis! I've never seen anything like it.

Beatsy
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Post by Beatsy »

Beautiful series! Thanks for posting.

Yawns
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Post by Yawns »

I get so jealous when I see those "exotic" animals... :oops:

The Leaf-mimicking katydid is so beautiful (and well photographed).
Tnahks for sharing
YAWNS _ (Y)et (A)nother (W)onderful (N)ewbie (S)hooting

MarkSturtevant
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Post by MarkSturtevant »

Fan-tastic! Thank you for sharing those.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

pbertner
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Post by pbertner »

Thanks everyone, always much appreciated!

anvancy
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Post by anvancy »

Amazing as always Paul!

How do you maintain such beautiful light?

When I use my diffuser there is still lot of washed out leaves colors etc because of the light spill. In your photos, it doesnt seem there is a flash.(Or you dont use flash at all?)

Anvancy
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pbertner
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Post by pbertner »

My lighting setups are generally quite complicated. For shots less than 1:1 I use an XS Photoflex lightdome and bounce the flash using a large reflector. For shots at or greater than 1:1 I use a a 3 layer diffusion setup over an Mt-24EX twin flash which includes customized Lumiquest softbox III, stofens, packing foam, vellum paper inserts, and gary fong puffers. I often use reflectors in addition to this, as well as ratio control and radio controlled third triggers. Each shot is generally setup slightly differently and thus difficult to offer any kind of broad advice.

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

Quite a burden in a rainforest! Wonderful results, though :)
Chris R

anvancy
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Post by anvancy »

pbertner wrote:My lighting setups are generally quite complicated. For shots less than 1:1 I use an XS Photoflex lightdome and bounce the flash using a large reflector. For shots at or greater than 1:1 I use a a 3 layer diffusion setup over an Mt-24EX twin flash which includes customized Lumiquest softbox III, stofens, packing foam, vellum paper inserts, and gary fong puffers. I often use reflectors in addition to this, as well as ratio control and radio controlled third triggers. Each shot is generally setup slightly differently and thus difficult to offer any kind of broad advice.
So two questions here:

1. That XS Photoflex seems like a small sized softbox. Bigger than the lumiquest Softbox III I can assume. The softbox must be interfering and hitting the leaves/branches etc when you approach the subjects?
2. Can you post an image of your customized lumiquest softbox III? are you using one softbox per head or putting both the heads of the MT inside one main softbox?

Anvancy
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pbertner
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Post by pbertner »

I set the flash up on a tripod and shoot with radio triggers. It is only really good for slow moving or small subjects that won't get too far.

The twin flash setup is cumbersome and not really ideal, it involves lots of work and then it's tinkering a lot with in-camera settings. It's not really as straightforward as typical diffusers. I also put in/take out inserts based on subject reflectivity. It's really best just to experiment as much as possible and gradually refine your design until it gives you a result you're happy with.

anvancy
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Post by anvancy »

pbertner wrote:I set the flash up on a tripod and shoot with radio triggers. It is only really good for slow moving or small subjects that won't get too far.

The twin flash setup is cumbersome and not really ideal, it involves lots of work and then it's tinkering a lot with in-camera settings. It's not really as straightforward as typical diffusers. I also put in/take out inserts based on subject reflectivity. It's really best just to experiment as much as possible and gradually refine your design until it gives you a result you're happy with.
Thanks Paul for the explanation.
www.anvancy.com

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Antonym
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Sarota sp.

Post by Antonym »

Hi Paul,

Would you mind if I were to post your wonderful picture of the little Jewelmark on my UK butterfly site? I know the members would be delighted to see such a wonderful insect.

Tony Moore.
Antonym

Antonym
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Post by Antonym »

Further to my last, I think the photograph shows Sarota chrysus. . Wonderful insect!

Tony M.
Antonym

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