Macro Monster

Subjects for macrophotography can pop up anywhere. Even in your sink.

I found a beetle either stunned or half-drowned after I dumped out some water in my kitchen sink. Since he was so cooperative, I posed him on a white sheet of paper under the fluorescent ceiling lights in my kitchen. Now that I have a DSLR I can use my macro lens and get some "monstrous" shots.

I'm not too happy with the lighting in the image but I was doing this on the spur of the moment. I didn't know if he was going to revive and scurry off before I could get my shot. It takes time to set up a tripod and adjust the lens for the magnification you want.

Even with the color balance on the camera set for fluorescent lights, I still had to adjust the color in my photo-editing program; everything came out with a pinkish tint, especially the white paper. Next time I'll custom balance before shooting if my subject is just hanging around, willing to wait for me.

After he was done posing, I put him outside. Maybe an entomologist in the audience can tell me if I let a menace back into the wild. Or whether I should have been wearing protective gloves.

(Click on image for larger view.)