Used the  Canon 65mm at about 3x magnification. An amazing lens for close up work, but quite difficult to use. As the lens has no specific focusing ring, one has to pull the focus by bringing the lens in or out from the subject. To make this somewhat easier I used a Manfrotto micro positioning plate. With it you can control very finely the lens to obtain accurate focus. Because the insect  is nocturnal, it was completely dormant during the shoot.  It was so still, l that I could take  a whole series of shots at different focussing points, to achieve a greater depth of field. These were used in Photoshop to create one good final image. The latest version of photoshop can do this automatically and in my experience always achieves excellent results as long as you focus on all the relevant points. Lighting was with a honeycomb from the left hand side,  fill from a head bounced from a white ceiling and some  more fill with a strip light from the righthand side. The insect had to be lit with a lot of side lighting as the lens is so close to the subject that it is difficult for light to hit the subject. The alternative would be to use a ringflash, but I prefer to work with this lighting set up. Happy at the results, any comments would be welcome.

[View with PicLens]

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!