KATYDID

This morning, coming back from a walk, I saw what I thought was a leaf stuck to the side of the stone entrance to our home but that was actually a katydid that was very lethargic because of the cold (around 40 degrees).  I brought the katydid inside hoping to take a few pictures with my macro lens.  This proved more difficult than I anticipated.

My plan was to use my tripod, hoping to get closeups of the katydid from various angles.  But in the warmer environment of the house, the katydid began walking determinedly toward the edge of the table on which I had placed it.  This meant that the tripod simply wasn't going to work, as the insect kept moving out of the focal plane.  To compensate, I ramped up the ISO to enable a faster shutter speed and got the following shots that were in fairly good focus.

These were taken at an ISO of 2000 at f/20 for 1/15th second.  The tripod eliminated camera shake but didn't keep the insect from moving.  Even at a slow pace it was generally not possible for me to keep the insect's eyes in good focus.  Still, not too bad.

I then moved the insect back outside onto the black plastic cover or our cooking grill.  The lower temperature slowed the insect down, which helped some.  I also abandoned the tripod, realizing that it was better to take handheld shots at a significantly higher ISO.  There was more ambient light on the deck, which helped with shutter speeds.

The above shots were taken at an ISO of 5000 and an aperture of f/25.  Shutter speeds were at 1/50 and 1/125 seconds.  Because of the relatively strong light, the higher ISO did not create much "noise."

I did want to take some shots looking into the katydid's "face."

Here I focused on the insect's eyes and let the remainder of the body fall out of focus.  The above shots were at an ISO of 5000 and an aperture of f/14, with a shutter speed of 1/320 second.  I liked this last shot best.

Here is a cropped closeup of this image showing the katydid's face.  Note what appear to be dust motes on the insect's eyes.

Katydids are a great example of evolutionary mimicry, as the insect's wings have a very leaf-like appearance, including shape, coloration, and veining.

John