Macro Boxelder Bug

Just wanted to mention that I appreciated the good humor and great questions at the macro discussion at our last meeting.

While chatting with you, I took a few quick shots of the boxelder bug in the insect studio and thought I'd post one of them. The fact that I just got around to processing the photos says something about how busy I've been.

This photo was taken with:

Canon 5DmkII
Canon MP-E65mm macro lens
Canon 430 EX flash

Aperture f10, Shutter 1/160, ISO 250

As a recap, I shoot on manual allowing the TTL functioning to set the amount of light from the flash. This is really a nice way to do it as I get to set both to my parameters. As a result, I choose depth-of-field and motion stopping shutter speeds (although the flash stops most movement as it is the main light source). The flash and camera act in concert then to set the amount of light from the flash.

I like the background in this shot. It was just far enough in the distance that it's nicely blurred but still light enough that the dark boxelder bug is nicely set off against it.