Millipede invasion

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NikonUser
Posts: 2693
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Location: southern New Brunswick, Canada

Millipede invasion

Post by NikonUser »

Several of these characters have taken up residence on the garage ceiling in the last few days.
I suspect they belong to the family: Parajulidae.

This, of course, is the head end; the rest of the body just goes on and on as a series of 4-legged segments.

The body is a highly reflective cylinder and I am finding it difficult to photograph. This is the best so far, with 2 flashes at the anterior end diffused through a styrofoam cup.

Note the clear mid-line region bounded by an upper and lower duller bands. These dull bands are in focus and quite sharp but on a curve that appears to cause flare in the lens.

El Nikkor 63/2.8 @ f/6.7 27 frames @ 0.1mm Zerene Stacker PMax


Image
NU09192
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives

elf
Posts: 1416
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2007 12:10 pm

Re: Millipede invasion

Post by elf »

NikonUser wrote:Several of these characters have taken up residence on the garage ceiling in the last few days.
I suspect they belong to the family: Parajulidae.

This, of course, is the head end; the rest of the body just goes on and on as a series of 4-legged segments.

The body is a highly reflective cylinder and I am finding it difficult to photograph. This is the best so far, with 2 flashes at the anterior end diffused through a styrofoam cup.

Note the clear mid-line region bounded by an upper and lower duller bands. These dull bands are in focus and quite sharp but on a curve that appears to cause flare in the lens.

El Nikkor 63/2.8 @ f/6.7 27 frames @ 0.1mm Zerene Stacker PMax

NU09192
How about using masking off the section of the styrofoam cup that is reflecting in those areas with the ProtoStar flocking. Alternatively, how about removing the styrofoam diffuser and using flat panels to reflect the flash onto the subject.

rjlittlefield
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Re: Millipede invasion

Post by rjlittlefield »

NikonUser wrote:Note the clear mid-line region bounded by an upper and lower duller bands. These dull bands are in focus and quite sharp but on a curve that appears to cause flare in the lens.
I don't think this is flare. The grayed-out bands looks like a specular reflection of the wrap-around foam diffuser. The clear section down the middle is where dark environment is being reflected, like the camera lens. It's just like Charlie's avatar with the wigged-out eyes, except reflected from a cylinder instead of a sphere.

Shiny cylinders are tough.

I suggest not using a wrap-around diffuser. Instead, position diffuser material close to, but not touching, the head of each flash. You want the diffuser positioned so that the flash casts a fuzzy-edged spot of light on the diffuser. That way the specular reflections of the diffuser will also have fuzzy edges, so they won't look as much like bands or spots.

You might also want to consider using crossed polarizers to kill or subdue the specular reflections. That's not practical with a wrap-around diffuser, but it's pretty straightforward with a planar diffuser in front of a flash. See HERE and the links therein for some theory and practice.

--Rik

NikonUser
Posts: 2693
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:03 am
Location: southern New Brunswick, Canada

Post by NikonUser »

Thanks Elf and Rik.
Tried various setups but not crossed polarizers; never did eliminate the reflections. As I will probably never again try to shoot a shiny cylinder I will stop 'playing around' with these beasts.

A single flash above and as close to the lens as possible, diffuser on flash + double layer of tissue diffuser + flat white panels opposite side of flash gave an OK image.

But perhaps the best so far (and the final attempt; I'm getting lazy) was the chicken egg as a diffuser around the millipede, below:

El Nikkor 63/2.8 @ f/6.7 39 frames @ 0.1mm ZS PMax.
2 Nikon SB-R200s; Chicken egg diffuser
'white' = full frame,
bottom: 800px selection from the original 4,288 pixel-wide frame.
Image
NU09193
Image
NU09194
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives

Charles Krebs
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Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:02 pm
Location: Issaquah, WA USA
Contact:

Post by Charles Krebs »

Could be time to time to play around with sheet polarizing material... :wink:

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