Master Yoda’s explanation of the Force to Luke Skywalker (see Related Resources, below) features the following memorable quote.
Luminous beings are we,
not this crude matter.
One of many reasons I like the “Meet Your Neighbours” technique for photographing natural subjects against a pure white background is that it seems to reveal the luminous beings that odonate exuviae are. Feel the force by looking at the full-size version of the following image.
Common Green Darner (Anax junius) | exuvia (anterior)
Related Resources
- Meet Your Tiniest Neighbors Using Macro Gear and a Field Studio Setup – an interview with Clay Bolt, co-founder of the “Meet Your Neighbours” project
- Meet Your Neighbours – The Field Studio e-Book, by Niall Benvie, co-founder of the “Meet Your Neighbours” project
- Master Yoda Quote (ALLY) | Star Wars V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (1:00)
Tech Tips
I added a Raynox DCR-250 close-up filter to my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 24x superzoom bridge camera for a closer view of the anterior of the odonate exuvia.
The camera was set for 1-Area Focusing. The focus-and-recompose technique was used to focus on the eye of the subject.
A Godox X2To/p wireless flash trigger for Olympus and Panasonic was used to fire two off-camera flash units.
- A Godox TT685C Thinklite Flash for Canon Cameras (manual mode), fitted with a “Vello Bounce Dome (Diffuser) for Canon 580EX II Flash,” was used to light the underside of the translucent white plastic background; the top of the flash unit was ~30 cm from the bottom of the white plastic.
- A Godox TT685o/p Thinklite Flash for Olympus/Panasonic Cameras (manual mode), fitted with a Lastolite Ezybox Speed-Lite 2 flash modifier, was used to light the subject from above.
Copyright © 2019 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
Tags: Anax junius, BoG Photo Studio, Common Green Darner dragonfly, exuvia, Family Aeshnidae (Darners), female, gear talk, Meet Your Neighbours, studio photography
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