Two more photographs taken with my new diffuser, this time the spectacular Cicindela pulchra (beautiful tiger beetle). Which one do you like better?
Photo Details: Canon 50D w/ 100mm macro lens (ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/16), Canon MT-24EX flash w/ oversized concave diffuser. Standard post-processing (levels, unsharp mask).
Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2010
Beetles In The Bush 
I think they could hypnotize their prey with those eyes.
They sure hypnotize me with their colors!
Hi Ted
Thank heavens for your blog. I’m learning how to use my camera much more efficiently because of you.
Thanks so much. I’m going to try the diffuser trick.
Dave Rentz
Hi David – I’m more student than teacher myself, but I appreciate the comment.
That is a ridiculous amount of shiny prettiness. I would love a copy of this for my office.
You are, however, inducing a wicked case of camera-envy…curse you!
The gear only gets you so far. In this case it allowed me to get close – it was the completely free homemade diffuser that got the shot. Compare to this photo, which is about the best I could manage with the old diffuser setup!
Well, the freebie’s certainly doing the job, the colours are ravishing!
Call me old-fashioned, but I like the picture with the old apparatus on a more natural background better than either of these on white.
Okay, you’re old-fashioned. 🙂
I think I like the first one better in general because the exposure for the head is just about perfect. The second one is a better picture of the wing covers and general abdomen area, though.
I like the first one best, since that one shows the head better.
If I could combine the head of photo 1 and the colors of photo 2, that would be a winner.
Combine-Z or the like will do the trick!
Actually, I think I need to do a little work optimizing the aim of the flash heads with this diffuser.
I’m just catching up – oh my gawd, that’s a gorgeous beetle. I’m all about the color – and blue is my favorite. Dazzling. If I had to choose, I’d pick the first photo as my favorite – all about sharp focus on the eye, and the overall exposure is better, IMO. We get to see more of that brilliant, bright, metallic blue on the second photo though. Awesome, Ted!
Thank you, Amber. It really is a stunning species, isn’t it?