Accidental Picture

Photographed a Ladybird for the cover of a small field guide of British Insects. The intention was to get a nice overhead shot of the Ladybird. The insect was quite shiny so I used a honeycomb as the main light, so to keep the highlight quite small. A reflector was used on the opposite side as fill in. Because I wanted no shadows, I put the insect on glass and lit a white board underneath the glass, but far enough away as to not light the subject.

Depth of field is a problem and to help keep focus I needed to keep the insect quite still. Putting it in the fridge for a while, seems to make insects quite ’sleepy’. So after a short period, I took it out of the fridge and was able to place it underneath the lens. The trick now was to photograph it after it started to ‘wake  up,’  and just enough for it  to start to move, so I could see all its legs. A bit hit or miss, but eventually I got what I wanted.

The picture above was not the one I intended, for when the insect woke up completely and became very active, the wings came out and it started to beat them rapidly. I took a quick ’snap’ and the result was really interesting, I really like the symmetry and the blur at the tip of the wings. The wings were beating so quickly,  that a relatively fast flash duration could not freeze the motion. After the picture was taken, the ladybird flew off the set and found freedom again!

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