This shot is one in a series that I took of this springtail. For those not familiar, these little cartoon-like characters are not insects but hexapods, and this one is probably roughly the size of poppy seed. This is a globbie, short for globular springtail. Springtails have some varied appearances, some, for instance, being more bristly.
I used my “extreme” macro set up for this one, a reverse lens plus 60mm of extension tubes. I’m not sure the focal length setting of the lens, but it was likely in the 18-24mm range. These weren’t my best results, as I had some trouble seeing to focus — hence a little softness compared to this previous shot — possibly due to my glasses (I’ve got a different pair now, thankfully) and a lack of light. I tried to position a flashlight to boost the visibility which definitely can help, but can also be hard to maneuver. I compensated with some extra sharpening in post-processing.
Anyway, this critter was having a grand old time inside his dandelion palace munching away on (I am assuming) pollen. I’ll be posting more of this one in the future.
This is amazing
Thanks!
Welcome😎✋
I like this as much as the previous shot, maybe a little better because (for me at least) it’s a more interesting angle. Sometimes, but not very often – at least not for me) less than perfect technique can be offset to some degree with other factors.
Thanks, David. I agree about other factors mitigating technical shortcomings. And softness can actually be pretty interesting in its own right; I have many “bad” shots that are soft or downright out of focus that I can’t bear to delete (yet anyway).
Also just to clarify because I don’t think I made it clear this post is of a different individual (same species) at a different time from the one pictured in the older post that I linked to.