Alan the entomologist

Male Monarch


Yellow Sulfur butterfly


Gulf Fritillary


All these butterflies were caught and preserved by Alan Taboni. I had the pleasure of photographing a few of them. I used several pieces of white foam core board, my reflector kit, SB-800 and SB-600. I set up one piece of foam core flat on a table and another propped up as a background. Shot my 800 and 600 from opposite sides through the diffusers in the reflector kit. We pinned the specimens to a piece of styrofoam and shot at an angle to cut it out. I used a macro attachment on the front of a Nikkor 50mm f1.4. Even with a bad magnifier on the front of the lens they turned out great. Once I took them to edit they really popped. Hope you think these are cool, and beautiful. If not slightly weird, because they are all dead and pinned.

Thank you so much for looking,
-Nick