Creos on a date

[RevWillie]

First of all - huge THANKS to SporeWorld and Precarious for all of their help and council! Mark sent me some great Creo. pictipennis and was gracious and helpful with all my questions, and Henry was very generous with his photographic information!

I had my first adult female - nicknamed Miss. Piggy because she eats everything in sight including tweezer-offered items - out for a photo session yesterday. She has been adult for barely 2 weeks but I thought I'd see what happens... so I looked her in the eyes and asked her if she was ready

I put the bigger of my 2 boys on the plant with her. Well she stretched out her arms several times and signaled with arching her abdomen and slightly raised wings, and with a little coaxing from me...

They were locked up for about 4-5 hours. He escaped successfully and it took some searching to find him.

Here's the happy couple: "Hey - that looks good, you gonna finish that?"

 

[lunarstorm]

Awesome pics! And I grinned at your descriptions. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Precarious]

Good job!

On a technical note, it looks like you're not getting enough light, and brightening them in post is causing color noise. That's only on the really close one. The closer you go the more light you need. Unfortunately upping the ISO will also add noise so you are left with increasing the shutter speed since you need all the f you can get when working that close (is that about f16?). I usually shoot manual at 1/200, ISO 100, f22 with the ef100. Did you end up getting the MT-24?

I have a rental MP-E 65mm to test against my current rig. Looks like my rig compares very well so I can stop stressing about buying one. :sweatdrop:

 

[RevWillie]

Technical jargon for 1st photo:

1/200, f32, 100mm Macro, Opteka 10X, MT-24, ISO 400, NIK SharpenerPro

I'm guessing the CA is coming from the Opteka or the post-processing sharpening. I'll try some more with f25, ISO 100 or 200, and see if that makes any difference.

I have a hard time getting them to look me in the eye when the lens is only about 3" from them... :lol:

 

[patrickfraser]

I am not knowing the technical jargon. I might have to take a class.

All I have is a point and shoot. I just leave it up to the camera.

 

[RevWillie]

And this morning, 4 days later:

 

[agent A]

they are quick to lay eggs, i miss my creo good luck with yours, they really are a nice species!!!

 

[RevWillie]

Thanks agent A!

Questions:

- How many ooths will a well-fed Creo lay? 3, 4, 5... more?

- How long before the ooths hatch at room temp? 1 month, 2 months?

Thanks!