Georgeous shot!

Are you still using a single softbox with your mpe?

Nice shots cozdas.

I was looking at some of these yesterday and I am pretty sure those are aphid exhuvia that it is eating. Also known as greenfly round here.

I had no clue what the mites were though, thanks.

Yeah, they have lots of uses, probably multiple on the same plant, like collecting pollen etc

wow, I dream of a frame filler like this mag.

Pretty sure it's a trichome, lots of sticky bug catching plants like the sundew have them but this one is pretty small

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichome

Hi, great compositions, #5 especially looks like a huge cavern.

The mid tones are a little flat, perhaps some more light to lift the darker spots?

nice work getting the prey in focus on all the shots

Fascinating creatures, is the last one a mix of flash and UV or only UV?

It shows the actual form and glow really well.

How did you light this? Purple gel and black tile perhaps?

Striking image, do the grains all look the same?

I really like the stacks you posted, razor sharp but for me the highlights on the non cropped one pop out a little too far above the scales. It didn't stop me looking at it for 10 minutes, about 3 times now :) I have no equipment for deep stacks quite yet but i'm itching to output some stereo images...

Cheers for adding the lighting shot. How long are your exposures with this lighting and setup?

Some first instar Chinese mantis stacks in PS, all 2 frames. Canon 450D, 2 sets of kenko tubes and 100mm macro. Speedlite with mini softbox. Really happy with the last one, the rest not so. Advice welcomed. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/__GF-pzx2ndQ/TUyxzcyC91I/AAAAAAAAAI0/EYVkV1uBEB4/s800/%237%...

First and last ones for me, the backgrounds just work. It's always surprising how much you get in focus, my head wants to imagine seamless stacks even though I know you don't.

How come no compound elements are not visible in the eye, are they totally smooth or is this an effect of diffusion/lighting?

Thanks for the details Brian, is your left hand palm up or down when resting the camera/lens on it? Do you hold your breath for multiple shots? Do you get many groups of shots that you can't stack when shooting or is this techniques 'down' for you now? I guess i'll keep trying, it's really helpful t...

Nice captures while it was stunned, . Roughly how many frames and aperture for these? I'm also wondering if you have a garden 'rig' like you use indoor for stacking. I'm finding it almost impossible to grab more than 2-3 frames above 2x that are aligned well enough for ZS to handle. Or maybe I just ...

The first shot look gorgeous without diffusion, i'm kinda surprised. Looks dreamy