Going to the Light
A 365-day Photo Journal

Monday, August 31, 2009

Day 31: ...only a mother...


Be sure to click the larger version for this one.

Disclaimer: No grasshoppers were physically harmed in the making of today's photo. Psychological damage is unknown.

A face that only a mother could love, certainly describes this fellow. I found him in the back yard while watering the flowers and decided he was ready for a close-up. This is basically the same setup as the flower 2 days ago except I used f/16 to try and get even more depth of field. You can see that even at f/16 it's very shallow when positioning the lens so close. When I caught this guy, I kept him in a clear glass that I could focus thru. By the way...manual focus is a must with this setup. When I got the focus I wanted, I slowly lifted the glass and quickly took the photo then covered him back up with the glass. Another thing I do is use a remote shutter release to eliminate all vibration. Here's a link that shows the setup (please note that the grasshopper had already been released unharmed).

5 comments:

Kristie said...

If you think I'm clicking for a larger close up you are on drugs.

Alisa said...

Oh I did click- and I am beyond freaking out.
It will be haunting me all day. I am getting a twitch.
How did you raise the glass and it didn't hop away?

Tex said...

I'm pretty impressed with the lighting. And, personally, I wouldn't care if a grasshopper was injured in the making of this photo, but I'm speaking out of my farm-girl background, I'm sure.

Adjective Queen said...

I think he's a handsome fella.

Jim Smith said...

Alisa...very slow movements...I had to recatch him at one point.

Tex...the lighting I used for this is not at all practical for the field, but I'm waiting to get a ring flash that mounts to the end of the lens and provides lighting on all sides. You may have seen them on any TV show where they do forensic photography. As for harming the subject...this guy was just a baby and I don't have any wheat fields in my back yard.