All bugged out

Author: Eric Delmar (aka Cerumen)
Location: Montclair, NJ
Eric's Site
Years Shooting: 20+

Camera Type: DSLR
Camera Brand: Nikon D70
Aperture: f16
Flash: Nikon SB-800 and Lumiquest lightbox and a slaved old flash
Lens Used: Sigma 105 f2.8 macro coupled to 72mm of Kenko extension and 1.4 converter

Note: Click on photo to see larger version at Eric's PBase site.

Eric writes...

I shoot a lot of bug pictures, and typically use a macro lens coupled with one or more extension tubes. My goal for this image was to maximize the reproduction capabilities of my equipment and discover some of the challenges of the world of ultra-macro, especially regarding bug imaging.

For those unfamiliar with extension tubes, they come in various widths, and contain no optics. They function as a spacer between camera body and lens, allowing the lens to focus closer. Extension tubes can be used with almost any lens, but work best with focal lengths of 50mm and greater. For this shot, which is uncropped, I used three extension tubes in combination with a 1.4x teleconverter (providing even greater magnification).

Light was provided by an sb-800 thru a Lumiquest lightbox at 12 o'clock position, and a slaved old flash at half-power was fired thru a red gel to provide a bit of color on the fill-light.

The fly was gently chilled in the fridge in a Tupperware container for about 25 minutes (never use the freezer--the insect will be killed if frozen).

The slightly chilled fly was placed on a piece of elevated plate glass (from a picture frame) for the shot. The glass allowed the red-gel flash to be positioned so that its light illuminated the side and below.

I got off nine shots before my model flew away.

Full-frame with this setup is about 8mm, yielding a reproduction size of about 3x. Depth of field is kind of nano, in the neighborhood of half a millimeter. In the image, note how little is actually in focus. At this magnification, I tripod, and likely a focus rail, are necessary.

For the record, I almost never chill my subjects, and my website reflects hundreds of images captured without any assistance from Kenmore. Just bugs in the wild, very alive and in their natural state. However, for this image, some assistance was necessary due to the challenges of the assignment.