Two Horse-fly eyes

Images taken in a controlled environment or with a posed subject. All subject types.

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rolsen
Posts: 148
Joined: Tue May 01, 2018 1:21 am
Location: Finland

Two Horse-fly eyes

Post by rolsen »

Yesterday I opened the freezer and got two late horse-flies out for a photo shoot test. I used Canon Auto Bellows for the first time with 80D and Lomo 3,7x. Have to admit that bellows is sooo much easier to work with than tubes. Definitely have to test it some more. It was bit late and I was too tired to shoot the specimens properly, but got two eye shots at least. -Just to notice that both horse-flies had dried out during the night and all the fantastic eye colors washed out :( Have to organize things better next time, only one sample out at a time and shoot it properly. Well, life is learning. ZereneStacker used and rest in LR.

ImageHorse-fly eye by Rane Olsen, on Flickr

ImageHorse-fly eye by Rane Olsen, on Flickr

BugEZ
Posts: 850
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:15 pm
Location: Loves Park Illinois

Post by BugEZ »

rolsen,

Nice images.

Some eye color can be restored by rehydration, a bit hard on the subject though.

I have tried two methods. One is essentially to soak the entire specimen in warm slightly soapy water. The soak requires an hour or two. This is described here.

http://www.nadsdiptera.org/News/FlyTimes/issue48.pdf

A second method shared by another forum member is to apply ammonia solution to the eyes. This is faster acting and has the advantage (if done carefully) of not disturbing the wings and legs etc.


http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... ht=ammonia

Keith

rolsen
Posts: 148
Joined: Tue May 01, 2018 1:21 am
Location: Finland

Post by rolsen »

Keith, thank you very much for those tips, I saved the PDF for later use and testing. Have to check that ammonia method too.

- Rane

Smokedaddy
Posts: 1953
Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:16 am
Location: Bigfork, Montana
Contact:

Post by Smokedaddy »

Very nice.

JH
Posts: 1307
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2013 9:46 am
Location: Vallentuna, Stockholm, Sweden
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Post by JH »

Nice pictures!

This is a mosquito eye that dried/overheated;
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/u ... 2014_1.jpg

To "restore" the eye I kept the mosquito next to a moist piece of a cotton swab, in a petri dish, in the freezer, overnight;
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/u ... 2014_1.jpg

Pictures from this thread;
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=25487

Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo

rolsen
Posts: 148
Joined: Tue May 01, 2018 1:21 am
Location: Finland

Post by rolsen »

Thank you Smokedaddy and Jörgen!

Jörgen: Quite impressive mosquito and that restoring method is also a good tip, thanks.

- Rane

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