An optical experiment with a P. wahlbergii mantis ...

[papilio_]

I thought I'd have a go at emulating the very interesting effects of the brand new and unique Venus Optics Laowa 15mm Wide Angle 1:1 Macro lens. Taking an old Nikon D40 and 18-55mm kit lens set to its widest end, I used a few step-up rings between the lens and camera body serving as a short extension tube to allow it to focus much closer than normal, giving it macro capability -- in this case the mantis is just half an inch from the lens. Modeling clay and velcro were used to hold the lens and camera together.

Setting the lens to its smallest aperture of f/22 in order to keep the background recognizable required hand held exposures of 1/4 second at ISO 400, while the foreground/mantis were lit with a well-diffused fill flash.

 

[Bloodtkr]

Amazing !

 

[Davedood]

Very nice!!

 

[twolfe]

Those turned out nice. I forgot how photogenic the wahlbergii is at that stage.

 

[MantidBro]

I thought I'd have a go at emulating the very interesting effects of the brand new and unique Venus Optics Laowa 15mm Wide Angle 1:1 Macro lens. Taking an old Nikon D40 and 18-55mm kit lens set to its widest end, I used a few step-up rings between the lens and camera body serving as a short extension tube to allow it to focus much closer than normal, giving it macro capability -- in this case the mantis is just half an inch from the lens. Modeling clay and velcro were used to hold the lens and camera together.

Setting the lens to its smallest aperture of f/22 in order to keep the background recognizable required hand held exposures of 1/4 second at ISO 400, while the foreground/mantis were lit with a well-diffused fill flash.

Nice shots!

 

[Jay]

Wow - that's great. I would have to say the 3rd is my favorite. The color of those flowers suits the model quite well.

 

[Domanating]

That's a very interesting effect. It's like the mantis and the flowers are jumping out of frame, specially noticeable in pics 2,4 and 5.

Please tell me there was no software involvement in the making of these pics

 

[papilio_]

Amazing !

Thanks very much Bloodtkr!

Very nice!!

Thank you Davedood!

Those turned out nice. I forgot how photogenic the wahlbergii is at that stage.

Thanks a lot Tammy! Yeah I really love them at this instar, a nice balance of color and tone as they grow from black nymphs to white adults.

Nice shots!

Thanks MantidBro!

Wow - that's great. I would have to say the 3rd is my favorite. The color of those flowers suits the model quite well.

Thank you Jay! Several of these were shot into the late-afternoon sun, so the translucence of the flower petals showed up with a nice vibrance.

That's a very interesting effect. It's like the mantis and the flowers are jumping out of frame, specially noticeable in pics 2,4 and 5.

Please tell me there was no software involvement in the making of these pics

Thanks Domanating! Only the usual RAW conversion and post-processing workflow were done with software, nothing done to enhance the 3D effect which the Wide Angle macro concept tends to exhibit.

The new lens which creates the effects I was hoping to reproduce can be seen at

http://petapixel.com/2015/06/29/review-the-venus-optics-laowa-15mm-f4-11-wide-angle-macro-lens/ .

The primary drawback of this lens, which was also the situation in the rig I put together, is that it has no auto aperture control so the photographer is required to focus while looking through the stopped-down aperture. Not only does this make what's seen through the viewfinder nearly too dark to be seen, but determining critical focus at something like f/22 is pretty hit and miss.

Once I'd arrived at the proper settings to display the background properly I ended up ignoring the viewfinder and just held the camera up to the mantis while looking on from the side, in order to place the front lens element about half an inch from the mantis (which I knew from my experiments to be the proper focus distance).

If I were to pursue this approach at some point in the future I think I'd use something like the very good but affordable Tokina AT-X 16-28mm f/2.8 together with a 10 or 12mm extension tube. This would restore the aperture control and make the technique far more practical. For a description of this approach along with some gorgeous photos check out

http://thesmallermajority.com/2013/01/04/getting-low-and-wide-part-1/

and the author's photo gallery at

http://naskrecki.smugmug.com/

 

[Domanating]

That's pretty impressive! I didn't even know of the existence of this effect! I need to try this out.

Thanks for all the info, m8!