White box photographs of stick insects

I decided to try something a little different yesterday. I’ve noticed that it has become quite common for entomologists to photograph insect specimens using a white box, so I decided to give it a shot (so to speak). It took me less than 5 minutes to put together the white box that I used to take these pictures. I chose to photograph a couple of Macleay's spectre stick insects (Extatosoma tiaratum) partially because they don’t move around much. Last night on my blog I posted these (and other photos) along with an explanation of how to put together a cheap, simple white box.

I normally prefer natural backgrounds, but I have to admit, the pictures turned out nice. And there is no reason I can’t use this same technique with a more natural set-up for future shoots.

Cheers,
EC
macrocritters

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8455/8...caec9f8a_z.jpg
phasmid white box 2 copyright Ernie Cooper 2012_filtered sm for post by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8170/8...0a24e959_z.jpg
phasmid white box dorsal crop copyright Ernie Cooper 2012_filtered sm for post by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

That, sir, is worth reading. Thanks!

Very cool! The white box is a great idea - especially for critters like this, that would be hard to even notice in their normal environment.

A quick technical question - are you shooting RAW or JPEG? How are you getting your white balance? These look like auto white balance JPEG images to me. Are you interested in getting better color and contrast?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Photo-John

Very cool! The white box is a great idea - especially for critters like this, that would be hard to even notice in their normal environment.

A quick technical question - are you shooting RAW or JPEG? How are you getting your white balance? These look like auto white balance JPEG images to me. Are you interested in getting better color and contrast?

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These were just shot as JPEGs. To be honest, I hadn't used that particular flash for a long time and completely forgot to adjust the white balance before I took the shots and had to tweak it with photoshop!

Cheers,
EC
macrocritters