I watched this Monarch laying eggs in the Common Milkweed next door. She was so intent that this one was laid on the top of the leaf, which is unusual. The late afternoon light, let the sun backlight the leaf. A 9 shot stack to get full dof on the leaf at about 1.5x lifesize magnification. The egg is about 1 mm diameter and 2 mm tall. (7D2, 180mm macro, 1/125 s, f/9, iso 800, tripod)
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That is so beautiful, Mark! You have such great details in the egg. And it’s beautiful background too. I hope it makes it!
Good eyes, Mark and good details. I think this qualifies for small in the frame!
This is quite the catch. I’m surprised however, that a focus stack was needed! I would have thought the 2mm tall egg would be sufficiently close to the plane of the leaf, and the leaf would be relatively flat, so that DOF would not have been an issue. I think I have a lot more to learn about macro photography!
Wonderful, Mark. Looks like a road map with a large water tower on the side of the road. The detail is amazing and the composition works very well. Very nicely done.
Mark, at this magnification (roughly 1.5 times life size) the depth-of-field at f/9 is about 1 mm (or twice the height of the egg). The leaf was significantly curled as well.
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That is very cool! Will you keep an eye on it? A series following the development would be interesting.
Bonnie, I went back yesterday. This egg has not hatched, but a second one that I watched get layed by the same female seconds later has. Here’s a link to a series from 2019 where I got lucky and actually watched the hatching. Monarch hatching series
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