Brighter images would be easy enough, either directly on the studio strobe or in post ... though I admit to liking images just a bit on the darker side so as to avoid the inevitable cringing I feel at seeing any hint of clipped highlights. But my guess is that the softness to which you refer may be primarily a result of the rather thin DOF displayed in these photos. Personally, in the end my own feeling was that the photographic effect which resulted suited these particular images quite nicely in a surreal sort of way. But from a technical standpoint getting a DOF much better than these would have required a rediculously tiny aperture. These were shot at about 4X with an MP-E at an effective aperture of about f/22 ... and as you probably know, while an aperture in this range typically gives a very reasonable DOF at 1:1, the same cannot be said as the magnification increases to 4X-5X and beyond, with it becoming a mere slice at 10X. At these powers focus stacking really comes into its own as being the only way in which one can produce images of any reasonable clarity.
Needless to say, expecting a mantis to sit absolutely motionless while shooting a stack of 100 or more images is wishing on the moon ... or so I thought until I noticed that one species which I'd just hatched, the Creobroter pictipennis would occasionally, with a fair bit of patience on my part, do just that! Quite a pleasant surprise to end up with several stacks such as this one.
