My red palm weevil in Digital Photographer Magazine, nº 209 February 2019

My red palm weevil in the photography magazine Digital Photographer Magazine, nº 209 of February 2019, in the section

Story Behind The Still

Photographer: Javier Rupérez
Website: www.fluidr.com-photos-quenoteam
Location: Málaga, Spain
Type of commission: Personal work
Shot details: Canon eoS 50d, Schneider Kreuznach Componon-S 50mm f2.8 enlarger lens, Canon Auto bellows, 1.5secs, f5 @ iSo 100

About the shot: Macro photography never ceases to inspire the imagination, as it reminds us of how much of the natural world plays out under our noses, but goes unnoticed. Microphotography or ‘extreme macro’ takes things a step further into the macro world, revealing even greater levels of detail. Photographer Javier Rupérez is an expert at using precise camera work to
capture exquisite studies of small subjects.
“This type of largemagniication photography means working with an extremely small depth of ield, almost nonexistent,” explains Javier. “It requires the technique of ‘stacking’, that is using repositioning systems of enormous precision (microns) to move the entire camera, bellows and subject set. We then produce a series or a ‘stack’ of photographs and with the correct software, a perfectly focused picture. This is a red palm weevil, which are among the larger species of beetle and can grow as long as four centimetres (1.6 inches). Only male weevils like this have bristles on their snouts, which they use to detect signals from females. When shot very closely, the antennae can look like boxing gloves.”
To make this image, Javier brought his subject into a more predictable setting, for maximum control. “This was done on a macro studio table, in a totally controlled environment (framing, camera, lighting, positioning, etc). It would be impossible to control the movements of a live insect to fractions of millimetres while shooting a ‘stack’ of 68 photographs. The ‘extreme macro’ process often lasts an hour or two and an essential requirement is that there is not the slightest movement, keeping in mind that you may have to shoot a series of 200 or 300 photographs, depending on the magniication.”

Right
Red palm weevil
Our challenge is to get real-life scenes and that is difficult to overcome, however photography helps entomologists
identify and study millions of insects and arachnids,” explains Javier Rupérez
Read less