[Keith Alan]

This young fellow was hunter and hunted tonight, trying to catch insects on my patio with six much bigger lizards closing in for the kill.
I broke up the party by taking photos, but chances are good he's being digested right now.
Such is life.

[Irma]

Great picture... Very nice detail... Are those poisonous ?

This is one of the pictures I am missing... I have never taken a picture of a Mantis... .... we don't have them here...

[Keith Alan]

Not poisonous, but skilled hunters.

Here he is from another angle.

[Toad]

Great expression on #1. Good captures all around.

[Wedding Shooter]

The expression oh his face in these two is fantastic - he really looks like he is looking to see if he is being followed.

[Keith Alan]

I can't think of another insect that has such personality.
Most bugs just look like bugs, and it's impossible to assign human qualities to them.
But when a mantis swivels it's head towards you, then tips it to the side like a puzzled person...it's creepy and wonderful at the same time.

[lfmundy]

All of the photographs are beautiful! Well done my fellow photographer.

[Keith Alan]

Thank you very much, and welcome to Shuttertalk.

[rdegro]

Hmmm.... I could still fly! Great close-ups, I like the first one best, seems to exude more personality (if an insect could do that).

[Keith Alan]

Thanks, Rene.
And welcome to Shuttertalk.
It's getting to be like the old days over there at that other site, but with a more advanced and nicer bunch--including me these days.


I never mentioned that another factor that makes the first photo my favorite is the lighting.
I was shooting on my porch at night and the light out there is a plain tungsten bulb which is giving the reddish cast on his underside.
The main light is a handheld LED lamp with 8 diodes in a row, covered with thin tissue for diffusion.
The camera (F717) was on flourescent white balance which almost compensates for the bluish/white colorcast of the LEDs.

The second photo is LED-only, and suffers a bit for it.
But his expression/pose in the first would make me happy lit either way.

[rdegro]

The main light is a handheld LED lamp with 8 diodes in a row, covered with thin tissue for diffusion.
The camera (F717) was on flourescent white balance which almost compensates for the bluish/white colorcast of the LEDs.

The second photo is LED-only, and suffers a bit for it.
But his expression/pose in the first would make me happy lit either way.

I'm a fan of these new high intensity LEDs. You probably saw my previous write-up of the ring light I built on another forum. It sure does put out the light but I didn;t like the result around my lens using it for close-up work. You've got me thinking on another to be mounted on the hotshoe. If anyone needs a schematic and a source for the LEDs let me know. BTW I still use my Sony F828..

[Keith Alan]

Yes, I remember your ringlight and have always kept it in mind.
Lately I'm thinking along the lines of using LEDs in a layout similar to macro strobes, in rows or blocks at or around the 10:00 and 2:00 positions, with the ability to rotate the whole thing somewhat to accomodate any subject/camera positioning difficulties.

Like you say, ringing the entire lens has a certain 'look' to it that may or may not be someone's cup of tea.
I like a bit of shadow involved in my photos because to my eyes it adds drama or at least some individuality.

I'm also interested in getting enough light that I can stop the aperture down to f 5 or smaller.
Strobes are out of the question since I do most of my macro work at night, when dependable handheld focus on moving critters is nearly impossible without plenty of constant light.

[rdegro]

How about about about ten LEDs on each of two flexible stalks to be positioned out from each side of a lens. Something like this?

[Keith Alan]

That's what I'm talking about exactly, Rene!
(Nice rendering!)

Keeping in mind that most of my macro subjects are within an inch of the lens (but that's not always the case) a little adjustability is needed.
So when I saw this little gooseneck LED lamp I've been using lately I knew it was a must-have, at least for experiments.
$3 at the flea market, I should have bought a few more when I was there.

It's what I used for the mantis, plus my toad photo from a month or so back.
Tonight's Toad

I just now took the snapshot below using an old floppy Mavica, with a small LED flashlight for some added light.
The blue colorcast is pretty accurate for what the lamp puts out, but flouro (or better still custom) white balance fixes it fine with a touch of photoshop color correction.
Chop off the bases on two of them, mount the goosenecks together onto something that attaches to the camera's hotshoe or tripod socket, or velcros around the lens barrel.
They are 3xAAA, so that's 4.5v.
2 lamps= a 9v battery which is more compact and lighter.

I was going to wait until I was further along on this project, but what-the-heck?
It probably won't be as bright as I really want, but I have already proven the concept so it's only a matter of getting the most powerful and whitest LEDs I can find before I start cutting and soldering.

[Keith Alan]

For this series of shots I used a handheld AA MiniMagLite with a difference.
I found a module that replaces the bulb and reflector with 3 LEDs and some circuitry for $5 at Target/WalMart/Lowes.
It's several orders of magnitude brighter than a standard MiniMagLite or the lamp shown above.
And the light is much closer to white, so when using just the flourescent WB setting the color is almost dead-on.

A few of these little modules are probably the way to go, but adding goosenecks to the system will require much more custom fabrication.

I'm in no hurry, but I have a good feeling about this project.
South Texas is hot (even in the middle of winter we have random days that hit 90*f or more) so some of my favorite subjects only come out at night or lurk in the shadows during the day.
Flash isn't an option, so anything else I can do to add light and get some more DOF and a faster shutter is worth the trouble.

[rdegro]

I'll have to get an order up for some more LEDs, I only have a few left and some orange ones I was using for directional signals on a motorcycle. Is there a manufacturer source for those LED lamps you are using?

:/

[Keith Alan]

This page shows mine, plus an even better one: http://www.glowbug.com/index.php?main_pa...7e46006c75

My minimaglite LED conversion module is from Nite Ize.

[rdegro]

This is my source for LEDs, I found them to be the most reasonable in price and of high quality. I use the 24,000 mcd white lamps. The site also has calculators for choosing the proper resistor(s).

http://www.theledlight.com/

[Old Jim]

Great shots Keith! The Mantis is my favorite insect. I almost forgot to reply as I got wrapped up with the LEDs. Keep them coming.