new rig, metal threaded nut stack of 75

PaulFurman · Post by **PaulFurman** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 2:10 am

Yeah, I know another test subject, I caught a little beetle & made a mess of it trying to pick it up & position it, and a bunch of other stuff recently... I rebuilt my bellows/focusing/positioning rack to be more stable & useful so it's good for 1/6 second shown here instead of 6 seconds to let it settle. I added a bunch of milk jug diffusers & learned a lot about getting the lighting right.

full size here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edgehill/4 ... 5/sizes/o/

Canon MP-B 35mm f/2.8 at f/4, 0.6 sec, minimum extension of 70mm shot inside the cut handle of a translucent plastic gallon jug. Stacked from 75 photos. Cropped to 16:9 aspect ratio, darkened, contrast added & sharpened 75% at 0.5 pixels.

*'MP-B 35mm' is my made up name for the old Canon 'Macro Photo' bellows lens

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:14 am

learned a lot

Indeed!

Not the easiest of subjects.

PaulFurman · Post by **PaulFurman** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 9:58 am

A lot easier than bugs though. I caught a 5mm long Bradycellus - Carabid beetle and murdered it in the freezer to no good end... how the heck do you even pick something like that up, it's so slippery! I devised a little cork pin mount on the stage & managed to get a pin jammed into it by holding it down with a piece of cork & looking through a loupe but by that time it had squirted out of my grip to the ground several times, covered in dust, hairs & antennae broken, try to blow the dust off, lost the mount, tried again, broke off the head, glued the head on a pin with white glue, etc. And it's as shiny as any metal. Argh!

g4lab · Post by **g4lab** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:03 am

*'MP-B 35mm' is my made up name for the old Canon 'Macro Photo' bellows lens

Very nice image!

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:11 am

PaulFurman wrote:A lot easier than bugs though. ... Argh!

That post is a wonderfully fine description!

Been there, done that, expect to repeat the experience soon, but couldn't describe it nearly so well!

--Rik

AndrewC · Post by **AndrewC** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 3:52 pm

PaulFurman wrote:A lot easier than bugs though. I caught a 5mm long Bradycellus - Carabid beetle and murdered it in the freezer to no good end... how the heck do you even pick something like that up, it's so slippery! I devised a little cork pin mount on the stage & managed to get a pin jammed into it by holding it down with a piece of cork & looking through a loupe but by that time it had squirted out of my grip to the ground several times, covered in dust, hairs & antennae broken, try to blow the dust off, lost the mount, tried again, broke off the head, glued the head on a pin with white glue, etc. And it's as shiny as any metal. Argh!

Get yourself some insect mounting pins - they are a lot sharper than ordinary pins. Put your subject on some lint free cloth, trap it in a fold even. Stab away !

Andrew

The BAT · Post by **The BAT** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 7:20 pm

AndrewC wrote:[Get yourself some insect mounting pins - they are a lot sharper than ordinary pins. Put your subject on some lint free cloth, trap it in a fold even. Stab away !
Andrew

Hi Andrew,
I remember that you advised someone to do this once before?
Can you let me know where I can get some 'insect mounting pins' ???
Thanks,
Bruce

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 7:40 pm

The BAT wrote:Can you let me know where I can get some 'insect mounting pins' ???

Google entomological supplies australia. (It's a surprisingly common query!)

You might find the headless pins HERE to be especially helpful for "stick shots". (Normally I just break off the plastic heads with pliers.)

--Rik

The BAT · Post by **The BAT** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 8:14 pm

Thanks Rik.
I won't hijack the thread, but I would certainly like to have a discussion with you about pinning/presenting subjects for photography.
Bruce

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 1:07 am

The BAT wrote:...would certainly like to have a discussion...about pinning/presenting subjects for photography.

I suggest to start a new thread. I'll be happy to contribute, but quite frankly there are other members who know a lot more about that area than I do.

--Rik