Lanternfly - Pyrops pyrorhyncha

*Specimen; native to Malaysia

My lanternfly specimens are pretty fragile, but I am going to try to relax them and open their wings.

comments (12)

Flavio

Lion

Wow! Mind-blowned! :-O
Posted 3 years ago
1. Christine Young
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks, it's a cool insect for sure! Posted 3 years ago

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Love it! Very well positioned too, is it in mid-air or laying flat? Posted 3 years ago
1. Christine Young
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks! It's in mid-air (stuck to clay on top of an insect pin). Black background is a pair of surf shorts, lol. I discovered that fabric comes out much more black in photos than paper/plastic. Posted 3 years ago
2. 1. Ferdy Christant
    
    Lion
    
    It's a really nice accomplishment to achieve pure black during the capture, instead of it requiring post processing. Posted 3 years ago
  2. 1. Christine Young
      
      Lion
      
      Thanks. I recommend trying clothing if you ever need to go that route. Posted 3 years ago
    2. 1. Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        Good tip, I also have that very dark paint if you remember.
        
        There's also this technique where you don't require any background at all which only works when you have a big air gap behind the subject. If for a significant distance behind your subject the light does not hit anything, the background will effectively be black. Posted 3 years ago
      2. Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        I almost bought that paint too and might at some point. It'd be nice to have a painted background bc positioning my shorts everytime is annoying (I stretch them over a hardcover book and clamp the edges). ;P
        
        I read about the air gap thing! Haven't tried it though. I wonder if this concept is the reason why backgrounds in nature are sometimes black? I always wondered why that seems to randomly happen at times. Posted 3 years ago
        
        Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        That's exactly why it happens in the field: with no background close to your main subject, light quickly drops off to zero as distance increases. The reason it may appear "random" is because the variety of scenes, where backgrounds are at different distances.
        
        For a deeper explanation, check out section 10.3 from this article:
        https://ferdychristant.com/my-journey-into-extreme-macro-8ddef548e9f3 Posted 3 years ago
        
        Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        How could I have forgotten that in-depth explanation?! Thanks for the refresher. :) Posted 3 years ago
        
        Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        Welcome! And here's how to do the black background intentionally:
        
        Posted 3 years ago, modified 3 years ago
        
        Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        I really like that one. The lighting is very artistic. Posted 3 years ago