Stick insect

[StephenM]

Hi all,

I found this stick insect in my garden this morning, so grabbed a few shots with my 50mm macro. I think he/she was as interested in my camera as I was in it! Focus isn't perfect, but here they are...

Cheers,
Stephen

[acropolite]

Hmm invisible stick insects...:confuse3:

[StephenM]

Thanks Phil..it's fixed now!

Cheers,
Stephen

[leon]

Nice one Steve, very clear and sharp, good stuff.

Leon

[Liz]

Haha, amazing funny fellas for sure, well done Steve. :thumbsup:
Are the eyes that entire large area (like a fly) then what are the little black dots, that look like little eyes??

[ejcruz]

Great capture Stephen, it look's like no flash was used.

Cheers
Eddie

[renormalised]

Those little black dots on the eyes are called the false fovea. It's basically where the light that falls on the surface of the ommatidia (the individual lenses) appears to converge (within the cells) and cancel out. It actually moves around as the insect swivels it's head about....it's more optical illusion than anything else. Insects don't have a true fovea, like vertebrates.

Here's something that will explain how an insect's eyes work....compound eyes (http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/C/CompoundEye.html)

[StephenM]

Thanks for the comments Leon, Liz and Eddie. You're right Eddie, I don't have a flash for macro photography yet, so I'm relying on natural light.

And thanks for the info about compound eyes Renormalised - I was wondering the same thing as Liz, but hadn't got around to searching out the answer yet.

Cheers,
Stephen

[Octane]

Stephen,

You're on a real kick with these macro shots. These two are great!

Just looking at that insect, it makes me wonder what purpose those little bumps on its body serve.

Regards,
Humayun

[StephenM]

Thanks Humayan.



I'm not sure, but these macros do pick up all sorts of strange details that would otherwise go un-noticed!

Cheers,
Stephen