Unless you put a female on an arm and quickly focus and take the shots while its feeding, you don't have much hope. A dead mosquito collapses into an unrecognisable mess unless its freeze- or critical point dried in a laboratory. Pickling them in formalin or an alcohol keeps them recognisable for dissection and identification, but photography is out. They also feed on plants and you might creep around the garden covered in anti-mosquito goo. But if they sense your CO2 they'll leave the plant for your body in a jiffy. Bees are easier.
But perhaps you should try fly paper. If you can persuade some to on it you might just have a chance before they get their wings into the gum. Or make an alcoholic preparation of fly paper gum and spread it on some surface they might sit on - near a window in a darkened room for example. If the gum is very thin you might get some pictures. But don't take my word for this I've seen a lot of good pictures of mosquitoes. Don _______________ Dr E D F Williams http://personal.inet.fi/cool/don.williams Author's Web Site and Photo Gallery Updated: March 30, 2002 ----- Original Message ----- From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, June 09, 2003 9:09 AM Subject: Bug Hints? > Some mosquitos got into my house. Some have fallen to bug spray. > But a few I managed to trap in plastic containers, thinking they > might make interesting macro subjects. > > Uh, anybody got advice for slowing them down enough to shoot? > The one that starved to death curled up in a rather un-lifelike > posture. Do I need to get ahold of some ether somehow, or are > there more accessible tricks? > > -- Glenn > >
