Although not his typical subjects, for his latest project commercial photographer Levon Biss decided to focus on insect specimens, a far cry from the world-class athletes that he’s used to taking photos of. Normally photographing the athletes in motion Biss’s newest subjects are far less lively and can be found at the Oxford Museum of Natural History.
What originally started as just a side-project photographing the bugs that his son would catch at home in an incredible level of detail has progressed into something much bigger and now Biss’s work is being displayed at the museum in an exhibition titled Microsculpture.
During the course of his selection from the museum’s collection Biss rejected more than 99% of the bugs he came across, only choosing those that were of the right size and colour. To capture these subjects in such immense detail, each part of the insect required a completely different lighting setup so that they look their best.
Due to this detailed and meticulous approach each final image is made up of anywhere between 8,000 and 10,000 individual shots as the camera is only moved ten microns (1/7th of the width of a human hair) between each shot. You can learn more about the project here.
Here’s a behind the scenes of how Biss creates these images:
h/t Colossal
