Awesome insect images
 

If you have any interest in photographing insects, check out this site:

http://www.pbase.com/rovebeetle/mostly_beetles

Notice how small the beetles are. He has combined multiple images to get increased DOF. The pictures are quite outstanding, and illustrate how beautiful beetles can be. Creepy crawlies? Hardly.

BRILLIANT. :cool:

Hence my thoughts on a precision focussing stage.

Don

Great site Leif, thanks

Beautiful creatures when seen like that. I just hope they were not killed deliberately just for the shot though as even with such small creatures that goes against the ethos of the wildlife photographer. What do others think?

Funny you should ask that question. I recently asked just that question on Bird Forum:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread....451#post914451

Mike's right, after all it makes it more challenging to try and creep up on the subject, if the shot works,great if not it can just become a tad frustrating.

Alan

Strange, but I came back to this thread to make a similar point. I can understand that for scientific study it may be "necessary" to kill the specimens but I am not prepared to do so just for the sake of getting a pretty photo. That is not to say that if I came across a dead specimen that I wouldn't take full advantage of the opportunity.

Dave

I agree with you Mike. When I looked at the site I went through the same thought process.

I am with Intermos on Bird Forum. It is all about having a sense of proportion.

If you cut the grass, you kill lots of insects, maybe hundreds, and no-one cries "mass murder" or even cares. Go for a walk in the countryside and you walk on some. Go for a drive and you kill huge numbers, most on the windscreen and some under the tyres. Few of us have a second thought about splatting an irritating fly. So taking a few common beetles (one per species) is no big deal, as long as the habitat is not destroyed, and as long as there are plenty of the species about.

The real problem is that modern agriculture is destroying the habitat, with fields that are little more than deserts of grass for livestock, or deserts of food crops, with pesticides killing the few insects that can live in those deserts. That is why I donate small sums to conservation bodies such as the RSPB.

Personally I would feel ill at ease taking anything uncommon such as a Stag Beetle, which I feel is so magnificent that it should be left. But a Nettle Weavil? Or a common species of Ladybird?

True but I still don't like deliberately killing just for my pleasure. As all wildlife is red in tooth and claw Leif's argument means it is for us to be judge and jury over what it is OK to deliberately kill so how about some birds or start some egg collecting and I'll decide what is OK - if its pretty I might let it live. Oh I am a stirrer aren't I? But it is interesting. However I'm not going to fall out with anyone. :)