freshly emerged cicada hanging onto its skin while drying

[Gato Moteado]

for the last several months, all night long, cicada larva emerge from the soil and dry their wings off around the lagoon at my place in golfito. it's strange they do it at night this time of year because, first of all, there's no sun, and secondly, it's rainy season. here's one i captured with the nikon:

[Alice Kramden]

1. How beautiful

Great shot!

[Gato Moteado]

11. thank you!

[Diamond_Dog]

2. Stunning shot!

[Gato Moteado]

12. thank you!

[elleng]

3. WOW!

[Gato Moteado]

13. thank you!

[Demovictory9]

4. Both pretty and ewww

[Gato Moteado]

14. thank you!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. This is an amazing shot, my dear Gato! Love the transparent wings.

And the discarded skin is gross! But fascinating.

[Gato Moteado]

15. thank you, peggy!

[AllaN01Bear]

6. get ready for them to go bzzzzzzzzz.

[Gato Moteado]

16. they do....all night long

[flying_wahini]

7. The turtles at my creek love to eat them. I like it when they leave their perches and race to them.

[panader0]

8. What a great shot. It looks unreal.

Good to see you Gato. Hay mucho mota este ano aqui. Maybe even enough to be able to travel.
After my stay in Tamarindo I'm hooked on Costa Rica. Hasta luego compa.

[Gato Moteado]

17. pura vida, mae!

tuanis!

[nature-lover]

9. Wonderful photo! These are a favorite food of copperheads.

[Gato Moteado]

18. thank you!

no copperheads in costa rica....but plenty of fer-de-lances, eyelash vipers and other venomous snakes!

[alfredo]

10. The wings are incredible.

[Gato Moteado]

19. thank you!

[alfredo]

20. You seem to have a firm grasp on this macro thing.

[Gato Moteado]

21. i dunno...

...it looks like you've done a fair amount of close-up work so you know as well as i do, there's really no getting a firm grasp on it. so many challenges from limited depth of field, to camera shake or subject movement, to lighting.

when i don't want to stack or when the subject is too active for that, i've found i can stop down my nikkor micro lenses to f/29 without losing sharpness, and the amount of DoF i get is plenty for shooting small animals like frogs and lizards, etc....it's probably even enough for small insects if you line them up to be parallel to the sensor. but getting more magnification than 1:1 is going to make all those things much more challenging.

[alfredo]

22. My closeup is using a Laowa 17mm 1.8 that can focus down to less than 6"

I then crop. I’m very unsteady due to vertigo, so I try to time the shutter
I set the aperture to around f8.

I’m one of those manual focus twits

[Gato Moteado]

23. do you use speed lights or just available light?

[alfredo]

25. Available light. Every now and then I will use my ring light.

[Gato Moteado]

24. i just looked at your laowa lens....

it's not a macro lens......you're getting 0.2x magnification, explaining why you mentioned that you have to crop. i think you're shooting olympus....if you want to have fun, pick up the olympus 60mm f/2.8 macro lens. i have it and use it with my lumix G9....it's super sharp.

i think this is the one you have now:
https://www.juzaphoto.com/recensione.php?l=en&t=venus_laowa_17mft

this is the one i highly recommend for micro 4/3:
https://www.juzaphoto.com/recensione.php?l=en&t=olympus_m60_macro

[alfredo]

26. I have to go cheap because I am on SSI. I have extension tubes and a diopter.

I forgot, I do have a reverse ring.
Adult stuff like a new dryer has precedence.

[Gato Moteado]

27. yeah, i get it....it can be an expensive hobby.....

...but it doesnt have to be. if you have the reverse mounting ring, the tubes and the diopter, then you have a lot of options to get some nice magnification. use the ring light when you're shooting insects so you can stop down the lens a bit and keep the ISO low....you'll be amazed at the results.

which diopter do you have? the raynox DCR250?

[alfredo]

28. I have my ring light. I have the DCR 150

I mostly shoot handheld so higher magnification is a pain in the ass.

[Gato Moteado]

29. yeah, you definitely want a tripod...

...and even a rail when shooting high mag.