Blatta orientalis
Oriental Cockroach
The key to this image is the soft lighting. A strobe fired into a white box produces an even white light, allowing us to see the subtler tones and textures on the surface of this common pest insect. You could almost sell this roach on ebay.
Photo details: Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens on a Canon EOS 50D
ISO 200, f10, 1/160 sec
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It is quite the glamorous shot. As close to cockroach chic I've ever seen. Did you give it extra prints for it's family?
yuck!! I love ants, but no roaches for me!
You got that at f10? I guess it falls away a bit towards those hind tarsi, but I am very impressed at the depth of field you achieved. I need to put together one of these white boxes.
Unlike most of the bugs I shoot, this roach a pretty big insect. The camera wasn't anywhere near as close as the 100mm can focus. The distance has the effect of making f/10 not as shallow as it can be.
Sure to be a classic among roach devotees!
As this roach is naked, I consider it more of a boudoir shot. Probably not appropriate for the little roachlets.
Very nice.
Was this a live specimen? I haven't seen these alive before and the back legs seem a bit splayed for a natural walking position.
It was indeed alive and walking at the time I took this photo, although a few hours later I sacrificed it for a student insect collection.
Oh my. It's my Achilles' heel. Cockroaches. Still, that's a mighty good photo of it.
And I'm glad you explained the f-stop. I was wondering how you got that much DOF.
I never thought a roach could be so beautiful!
Nothing better than a simple setup to create such sweet lighting. Very nice.
Blah, I hate roaches ever so much. I never had to deal with them until I moved here to Phoenix, and then I made the error of moving to an apartment complex that was absolutely infested. I kept my place clean and had an exterminator in there every month, but it still got to the point where they were coming out of the power outlets and had gotten into the inner workings of my microwave oven. I could see them crawling around on the inside of the LED display. That was not by way of being a good day when I saw that.
Fortunately when I moved away (and left the microwave and a couch behind), I moved to a place where there aren't any. I saw about two right after I moved in (stragglers who came with me, I guess), and since then none. It's been two-and-a-half years now. It's a happy thing. :)
I like it!
sweet insect :) and now Alex, Gromphadorhina portentosa please :)
very good shot