Empty nymph skin (StackShot & ZS)

Alexrex · Post by **Alexrex** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:48 am

Canon 5DmarkII,EF100/2.8 L,MT-24EX
64 shots taken with StackShot and stacked with Zerene Stacker:

All comments welcome!
Alexander

canonian · Post by **canonian** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 2:08 am

Wonderful shots, interesting subject and nice background.
Did these came straight from the sensor? no post processing ?

Alexrex · Post by **Alexrex** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 2:24 am

canonian wrote:Wonderful shots, interesting subject and nice background.
Did these came straight from the sensor? no post processing ?

It was a bit of post processing, such as "levels","brightness" ,as usual.Of course, not counting processing in Zerene Stacker(DMap).

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:45 pm

Amazing. Even the wings.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 2:32 pm

Awesome work! The lighting and processing are perfect, and it's impossible to fault that combination of the 5D Mark II full-frame sensor and the EF 100/2.8 L lens.

Any chance of seeing a crop that we can salivate over?

--Rik

Alexrex · Post by **Alexrex** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:45 pm

rjlittlefield wrote:Awesome work! The lighting and processing are perfect, and it's impossible to fault that combination of the 5D Mark II full-frame sensor and the EF 100/2.8 L lens.

Any chance of seeing a crop that we can salivate over?

--Rik

Thanks,Rik,I really appreciate such comments from the author of the ZS.It works great!
A couple of crop (85-90% approx).Sorry for the small imperfections.

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:53 pm

Excellent. That Canon 100mm L looks a great lens.

Craig Gerard · Post by **Craig Gerard** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 2:24 am

Outstanding!

Craig

NikonUser · Post by **NikonUser** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:20 am

Has anyone noticed how clean the skin is?
This is (was) an aquatic insect with a large surface area.
Any other surface in a pond would get covered in 'hangers-on'. Some copepods I have looked at are almost completely covered with algae and small stuff.
This condition, pristine exosketon, is seen in all the NA Aeshnids I have looked at (quite a few).
In contrast, most Gomphids I have seen are covered in 'junk'.
Perhaps ship builders could learn something about the anti-fouling properties from Aeshnid nymphs.

Alexrex · Post by **Alexrex** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:37 am

Thanks for your comments!
I'm not sure completely, but it seems to me -Anax parthenope, the Lesser Emperor is a dragonfly of the family Aeshnidae.
Regards
Alexander

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:17 am

Alexrex wrote:Sorry for the small imperfections.

And very small imperfections they must be! I think I might see one, but I'm not sure...

NikonUser wrote:Has anyone noticed how clean the skin is?
...
Perhaps ship builders could learn something about the anti-fouling properties from Aeshnid nymphs.

Aha -- that's why these things are always so striking. I had never consciously noticed the cleanliness before, but surely that's a big piece of the "Wow!" reaction to an image like this.

Thinking back several decades to when I raised these things in an aquarium, I don't recall that they were fastidious about cleaning. Did I overlook something, or do these critters just naturally stay clean?

--Rik

Chris S. · Post by **Chris S.** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 6:46 pm

NikonUser wrote:This condition, pristine exosketon, is seen in all the NA Aeshnids I have looked at (quite a few).
In contrast, most Gomphids I have seen are covered in 'junk'.
Perhaps ship builders could learn something about the anti-fouling properties from Aeshnid nymphs.

Fascinating observation, NU. I wouldn't be surprised if you just provided somebody with a nicely potted thesis or dissertation topic, not to mention an eventual patent.

So now I'm wondering--is it active cleaning by the organism, as Rik suggests? Chemical repellency,such as might be provided through incorporation of certain metals that inhibit growth of some organisms? Mechanical defense, such as the spalling bark of sycamore trees? Some nanoscale surface feature that provides anti-adherent properties? What else?

NU, if you ever get any clues, I hope you'll share.

--Chris

Guido · Post by **Guido** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:10 am

Fantastic shots!

Did you use difussors on your flashes?

Guido

Alexrex · Post by **Alexrex** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 11:01 pm

Guido wrote:Fantastic shots!

Did you use difussors on your flashes?

Guido

Yes,I'm using a Sto-Fen omni-bounce diffuser + Gary Fong diffuser mounted both in a flash.
Alexander

Guido · Post by **Guido** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 2:18 am

Thx Alexander