Cyanide Millipede (Harpaphe haydeniana)

frankw · Post by **frankw** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:36 am

Some times referred to as Cyanide Millipedes, these guys have a very effective chemical defense system! Their high gloss exoskeleton is a challenge to light, this took many tries to get to this point, and there is still a lot of room for improvement, in my opinion!

MaxRockbin · Post by **MaxRockbin** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:00 pm

Sometimes matte is overrated. If gloss looks good on a Ferrari, sometimes it's going to look good on a bug too. This photo looks pretty great!

This must've been a pretty deep stack...

frankw · Post by **frankw** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:09 pm

Thanks MaxRockbin,
appreciate your comments! I think I'd rather be making payments on my camera gear than a Ferrari

(though I wouldn't mind a Toyota 4Runner...shiny or not!)

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:20 pm

Very nice - yes that counts as shiny!
I wonder how crossed polarizers would work on that.

frankw · Post by **frankw** » Fri Apr 03, 2015 8:17 am

Hi Chris, thanks for your comment. I briefly considered the idea, but I was concerned about losing textural detail. That plus the fact that I don't have the necessary polarizers

abpho · Post by **abpho** » Fri Apr 03, 2015 10:53 am

From the cross polarized images I have seen the textural detail is phenomenal.

abpho · Post by **abpho** » Sat Apr 04, 2015 4:31 am

I can't find the one I'm thinking off. I'll keep looking. Worst case you can try it out if you have the hardware.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sat Apr 04, 2015 10:58 am

Cross-polarization can be helpful, but it can also be a disaster in terms of eliminating surface texture. See HERE for some discussion and examples.

--Rik

frankw · Post by **frankw** » Sat Apr 04, 2015 5:46 pm

Thanks for the link Rik, I thought that I had read this, but now it all comes back to me

regards,
Frank

Chris S. · Post by **Chris S.** » Sat Apr 04, 2015 10:15 pm

Frank, wonderful image!

Regarding X-pol, which I often use: I think it's a mistake to think of cross-polarization as an all-or-nothing technique. It's more like a dimmer switch for surface reflection. For most images where I use it, I allow a bit of surface reflection to remain, while using enough X-pol to reveal what is beneath it.

In landscape photography, polarizing filters are often used best when rotated to somewhat less than full effect. Bodies of water, for example, can look dead with full polarization--they need a bit of sheen to look alive, but reveal most with something less than the full sheen that comes with no polarizing filter. So experienced landscape photographers have learned to (sometimes) rotate their polarizers a bit away from full effect. Cross-pol is similar, in my opinion: It is a very useful tool, but often used best when dialed back a bit from full effect.

--Chris

frankw · Post by **frankw** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 7:22 am

Thanks Chris, Just when you think you are starting up the learning curve, you find another slippery steep part!