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Monobella grassei Through Photar 25mm
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 6:50 am    Post subject: Monobella grassei Through Photar 25mm Reply with quote
These springtails are about 2mm long as adults. These were living on the undersides of rotting logs on the soil.

The coarse granulation of the skin is a feature of this family of springtails.

They were framed with a FOV 5mm wide, cropped to 3 or 4mm.

Olympus EM-1 (manual mode), Leitz Wetzlar Photar 25mm f2.5 macro at f11 or f16, single TTL flash, hand-held with support.

As they walk along they frequently press one or the other antenna tip on the substrate.










PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 8:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Wonderful. I'm surprised at how clean they are, as they appear to have soft bodies, yet I can't see how they could clean themselves.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 8:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sciolist wrote:
Wonderful. I'm surprised at how clean they are, as they appear to have soft bodies, yet I can't see how they could clean themselves.


Thanks.

I think it is more about lack of disturbance of the surroundings. The powdered rotten wood, spores, etc which I disturb in finding these creatures (and slime moulds, etc.) cause me ongoing grief by getting onto my sensor when I change lenses on location. Sensor dust only shows up significantly at very small effective apertures, which I am obliged to use.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
...

Last edited by Blazer0ne on Tue Feb 22, 2022 4:55 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Blazer0ne wrote:
I like the way the ambient light diffuse through their body.

You must have been very close with that lens, even as they are crops of a 1:1 x m4/3.

Can you comment on your technique of capturing at the point of interest with such a lens; as they moved?


The working distance in front of the lens is about 20mm. The magnification before cropping is about 10:1 in terms of full frame (that is, at the sensor).

Tracking them is difficult and a tripod is out of the question. I have to move my hands to maintain the distance and focus. There is often need to anticipate, not least because the subject often changes direction and this often requires the substrate (lump of rotting wood) to be turned around. I work on an outdoor table (picnic or pub type) which enables me to sit.

If the sun is shining things tend to go well. In dull weather, at such small effective apertures (maybe f56 - not a typo) the sensor "hunts" to form an image and the image is neither still nor focused and I have to guess. To overcome this, I use a high intensity diode torch which I have modified to fit on a table-top tripod:



There are many rejected images! That the insides of the body can be seen can confuse me when focusing.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 6:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
They look like lemon flavor but I doubt they are.

Smile


PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 7:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
KEO wrote:
They look like lemon flavor but I doubt they are.

Smile


I haven't checked, but the colour of adults gives them away to the naked eye.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 10:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ah! I'd came back to ask if you could show how you set it up, but I see you've already done it. Thanks.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sciolist wrote:
Ah! I'd came back to ask if you could show how you set it up, but I see you've already done it. Thanks.


Yes and no.

That lump or wood is one of the larger ones and finding the subject on the cut end is a luxury I would like to enjoy more often. That one was for a slime mould not springtails. More typical would be a wrist-thick, knobbly stick which needs props (stones.etc.) to stop it from rolling into an inaccessible angle.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 1:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
...

Last edited by Blazer0ne on Tue Feb 22, 2022 4:55 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Blazer0ne wrote:
Better to have many images to reject than no images at all.


Yes. I upload, on average, about 1-5% of my macro images*. All are individually framed and focused, none of this "burst" nonsense, not that my flash would recycle nearly fast enough.

*I don't miss many days on the specialist macro sites.
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