Trawling for macros - David vs Goliath

After having some fun with the Ladybug, I thought to see if I had any other macros worth posting. This one was taken two years ago with just a single corded SB-800 bounced off a white brolly (thanks girls - still using it!).

This Rhinoceros beetle was most likely the cause of death for the poor papaya tree behind the Hash house in Indooroopilly. Everyday, for a long while, it would continuously gouge holes in the major roots of the tree. I gingerly handled this monster who wasn't particularly pleased at being displaced from his tree molestation. The shot was to make the beetle's eye the focal point, but an ant wandered by to have a look.

Getting the ant in the right focal plane was just dumb luck as it was already hard to best use the limit DoF on the 90mm macro at close working ranges. Even at f9.0 it's "wafer thin"! (@ mark 4:06)

Idle lunch - Ladybug

I had some Ph.D downtime as the power to our apartment was disconnected for about an hour, good thing the flash batteries were charged! Bright daylight, but still required 2 flashes. Corded 900 from above right and slave 800 from directly below. Went for f8.0-10 with 1/160 - 1/200 shutter. Spent 1/2 hour coaxing and waiting for the little dood to be ready for it's "close up", even so, only came up with two frames worth posting.

No ladybugs were injured in these photos, last I saw was the ladybug stalking some aphids on our balcony garden.