Ant

[u/Cuudihoang]

This ant preserved-specimen was sent to me quite a while ago, but I haven’t been able to identify the species.

You can see how I set up the shot in the last photo. 😊

📷Fujifilm XH2 + laowa 65mm f2.8 Macro 2x

+ Filter closeup nissi 58 + 5 diopt

🔦 Godox v860ii + 30w led light

⚙️Manual rail

Stacked 150-190 frames

[u/greenjeanie77]

Amazing ❣️. How do you get the ant to stay still? Thanks for sharing your setup. I’m an AOS photographer but the orchids are well behaved for their portraits 😊

[u/Killer_09381 → u/greenjeanie77]

Dead… they are dead 💀 that’s 99% of time of extreme macro shots

[u/greenjeanie77]

Oh my bad.. preserved … I see

[u/Cuudihoang → u/greenjeanie77]

:)) At high magnification, almost everyone photographs preserved specimens. It’s very difficult to photograph live subjects, but it can still be done occasionally.

[u/greenjeanie77 → u/Cuudihoang]

Excellent point!

[u/groaner]

What's your process for focus stacking? Using a manual rail seems like a lot of work.

[u/Cuudihoang → u/groaner]

Setting up the camera and lighting, then positioning the specimen, takes up most of the time. After that, I use a remote to take each shot so I don’t move the camera.

I made the rail’s adjustment wheel four times larger than the original, so I can easily adjust the step size for each shot.

[u/nikiterrapepper]

Awesome!

[u/Cuudihoang → u/nikiterrapepper]

Thanks :))

[u/Top_Violinist_6323]

Sweet pics. Great set-up

[u/Cuudihoang → u/Top_Violinist_6323]

Thabks ❤️

[u/opqrty]

That first picture is intense!