This picture started its life as 57 separate pictures, each produced with the Nikkor 24mm f/2.8, reversed on a D7000, all at ISO400, 1/2.5th or 1/3 of a second, in AP mode, at f/8 and -1 EV.
With that, I got approximately 20mm depth of field total, which translates to maybe 1/2mm per frame at most.
I’m fairly positive that I couldn’t handhold this, and so I very much wonder how the live-bug-eye shooters do it. I would guess by using flash, not shooting in raw, and firing on continuous capture at 8+ frames/second or better, while perfectly controlling their movements backward and forward to capture the half-millimeter (or less) of those eyes. This must be especially tough when shooting on extension tubes.
Anyway.
I could’ve made some modifications to the final image to remove some of the obvious falsehood of it, but I really like the somethingsnotquiterighthere-ness of it.
And I could’ve done better with the framing and general composition, but there are converging lines and all sorts of trickery to get your eye moving around a little bit, and, anyways, this isn’t meant to be an art piece, or a portfolio piece, or even a particularly good photograph. This was a test. This was only a test.
