Independence Day Alien

nobody@flickr.com (Johan J.Ingles-Le Nobel) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:15:36 -0700

The shape of the head made me think of the nasties in Independence day, especially with the large flat edge at the top =) Not that this was my intention, just a happy accident and well, these things can look pretty freaky closeup!

In fact it's Nicrophorus vespillo, a burying beetle (also known as sexton beetle), the undertakers of the beetle world. They are attracted to the corpses of small mammals and birds by sulphur chemicals given off during decay. Once a pair of beetles have taken possession of a body - sometimes fighting off other pairs to do so - they will bury it, by digging away at the soil underneath. They then use the buried body as both home and food for their larvae.

Anyhow, this is a little stack (only 55 shots combined) that I shot and literally put together in under an hour start to finish which really is a record for me, I'm getting faster. On the other hand I'm also perfectly aware that there are areas for improvement =). 120µm was a bit of a muppet choice for step size, it should have been more like 50µm. But I wanted to do this as a demonstration of principle rather than a supergreat slabbed stack, but my weekend is horribly full so kind of rushed it. ooops.

But, what's the interesting bit, is that this isn't shot using the usual bought-for-purpose reversed enlarger lenses, but part of my bodge job homemade mp-e 64 project, using this thing at its maximum magnification. Anyone following it, I'm sure you're aware that "at maximum magnification" was the end I had real trouble with but, I've found a setting that I think can work. Which makes me happy =)

Technical: BG output onto SmallHD via HDMI matrix used as background; rear curtain sync 2s exposures; 55 photos just pMax, finished off with CS4, NoiseNinja & Topaz Detail. Step size of 120µm, polystyrene chip cone diffuser. Resized to reduce noise. Mp-e 64 at about 3:1; 3 flashes @1/32 perpendicular @2,6 &10 o clock. First stack using my shiny new Pentax K5, and I must say what a lovely thing it is too.

May I take this opportunity to make an observation. The camera that I just bought and this is taken with, the Pentax K5, is nearing its end of sale and with a shiny new model coming up from Pentax the price is really competetive right now. If you're looking for a new cam, you could really do a lot worse, especially at its price of $600 or so. Just a thought.

Nice, thank you! #2 Explore, 7 September 2012

Uploads from Johan J.Ingles-Le Nobel, tagged buryingbeetle

Independence Day Alien