3 ms·
“To capture tiny parts of the creatures in perfect focus, Danke puts his camera on a high-precision macro rail that can move in the micrometer—one millionth of
by Jun8 2y ago
“To capture tiny parts of the creatures in perfect focus, Danke puts his camera on a high-precision macro rail that can move in the micrometer—one millionth of a meter—range.”
I was amazed by this and thought such a high-end rail would be thousands of dollars. Nope, there are models on Amazon for $200!
- hermitcrab 2y agoYou need a rail and dead insect to get the sort of super detailed photos in the article. But you can get decent photos of live insects handheld with a macro lens and flash (and some patience!).
- sohkamyung 2y agoIndeed. That's how I shoot insects: live and in the field with a macro lens. It's quite a challenge, especially for the smaller insects (2-3 mm in length).
- hermitcrab 2y agoIt is a bit easier if you photograph them in the morning, when they are still cold and sluggish. You can get a similar effect by putting them in a container in the fridge for a few minutes. But don't leave them in too long! And warn your partner...
- sohkamyung 2y agoI'm more into shooting insects in the wild, when they are active and doing their thing, so I can also catch their behaviour. I contribute to iNaturalist, and a few of my observations have ended up as documentation in some scientific papers by local scientists.
- hermitcrab 2y agoCool. Can you link to some photos online?
- sohkamyung 2y agoYou can visit my iNaturalist profile and see the photos. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/sohkamyung https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/sohkamyung And here's a Singapore Biodiversity Report that included photos from me (Figs 10-12) [PDF] https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/NIS-2023-0005.pdf https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/0...
- hermitcrab 2y agoNice. The Black and white Spiny Spider is quite striking looking. Nothing like that in the UK, as far as I know.
- VWWHFSfQ 2y agoI wonder how he got these perfect specimens to photgraph? Capture them in a buglight jar and suffocate them? He had to have been doing it fairly quickly so their carcass didn't deteriorate before he got the photos.
- galkk 2y agoOne of the approaches is putting insects into freezer
- Uncorrelated 2y agoWhile nothing like the photos in the article, I've gotten neat footage of living insects (and other arthropods) by putting them in a little makeshift container under my microscope, with strong lighting from the side. This is very much not a good setup, but it's allowed me to capture things like a front view of an earwig cleaning its antenna. I typically do this when I find a little arthropod inside; instead of killing it, I give it a free trip outside without (intentional) harm, for the small price of experiencing an alien abduction.
- NayamAmarshe 2y agoThat's really nice!
- hermitcrab 2y agoI can just imagine the bug trying to tell his buddies that he was abducted and examined by a massive alien creature, but no one believes him. ;0)
- robwwilliams 2y agoDanke will be stacking images to keep this extreme detail at all depths. Impressive.
- Loughla 2y agoI use a cheap rail and just stack the photos to get a decent end result. I literally know nothing about photography and can do really high quality macro shots. Technology is amazing.
- melagonster 2y agoThere is a replacement method: thrusting the insect by your tweezers. thank you did this search, it is a useful information.