An odonate exuvia was photographed against a pure white background using the “Meet Your Neighbours” (MYN) technique.
This specimen is a Dragonhunter dragonfly (Hagenius brevistylus) exuvia. Dragonhunter is a member of Family Gomphidae (Clubtails).
Dragonhunter is the largest of North American clubtails; accordingly the large size and shape of a Dragonhunter exuvia is so distinctive that it’s relatively easy to identify to the species level.
Notice the large, paddle-like antennae. They remind me of ping pong paddles.
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Tech Tips
The following equipment was used to shoot the macro photographs featured in this post: Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera; Fujifilm MCEX-11 extension tube; and Fujinon XF80mm macro lens minus the lens hood. The camera was set for both manual exposure and manual focus. That’s right, a switch on the camera body is used to set the type of focus. It’s a Fujifilm thing.
A Godox X2TF radio flash trigger, mounted on the hotshoe of my X-T1, was used to control two off-camera external flash units set for radio slave mode.
- 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 TT685F Thinklite Flash for Fujifilm Cameras (manual mode), fitted with a Lastolite Ezybox Speed-Lite 2 flash modifier, was used to light the subject from above.
Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 was used to spot heal and sharpen the image.
Practical Tips for the MYN Technique
A piece of opaque white plastic that is 12″ square is used for the background/”stage.” Actually, the white plastic background appears to be translucent when back-lighted by a flash unit at a relatively close distance.
The flash unit used to light the underside of the translucent white plastic background (Group A) was set for 1/2 +0.3 power; the zoom was set for 50mm in order to spread the beam of light sufficiently to avoid a hotspot on the white plastic background. The top of the flash head was ~10 inches from the bottom of the white plastic “stage.”
Next, take a test shot using only one flash — the flash that’s used to light the underside of the white background. Look at the histogram to check for correct exposure. You should see a spike on the far right side of the histogram that indicates the background is exposed properly (255, 255, 255).
Apple Aperture | Adjustments | Histogram
One or more flash units can be used to add “fill flash” from above the background/stage, as necessary. In this case, I used one flash (Group B) set for 1/64 power.
Use the 1:1 rule-of-thumb to determine how close/far to position the flash unit from the subject. The diagonal distance across the face of a softbox should be the distance to the subject [or less] for soft wrap-around light. Actually, the distance should be as close as possible without the softbox showing in the photo frame. Greater distances will result in a contrasty look.
For example, my Lastolite softboxes are 8.5” x 8.5” square (12” diagonally) so they should be one foot (1’) or less from the subject. In this case the front diffuser panel of a single softbox was placed ~6-8″ from the face of the specimen, off-set slightly to the left of the subject (facing forward).
MYN Field Studio setup
The following photo shows a behind-the-scenes look at one configuration of my Meet Your Neighbours Field Studio setup.
The exuvia is staged on the top from a clear plastic delicatessen container. This helps to reduce/eliminate the MYN “halo effect” by raising the subject a few millimeters above the white background.
There’s a flash that’s placed on a black plastic shelf below the white background/stage. It’s an old “bed shelf” from Bed Bath & Beyond that I repurposed for the MYN Field Studio.
Everything is mounted on a Promaster Deluxe Light Stand LS-2n using the following Manfrotto articulating arms and clamps.
Copyright © 2020 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
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