A Psychedelic and Nightmarish Macro Look at Mosquito Larvae
Jens Braun of the YouTube channel Another Perspective offers a disturbing close-up look at mosquito larvae in his latest video.
The extreme macro footage shows the lifecycle of mosquitos up close and personal under different lighting conditions, including polarized light.
“I have put a linear polarizing filter on the light source and one on the lens,” Jens tells PetaPixel over email. “When you orientate them 90 degrees only polarized light will be recorded which looks as if the muscles, etc., start to glow depending on its orientation.”
“When you then add any kind of transparent adhesive tape, the glow will start to shine in psychedelic colors,” Jens continues.
This is not the first time that Jens has used polarized light to reveal incredible details of tiny animals. About a month ago, he shared a video of a water flea (daphnia) under polarized light, showcasing spectacular and zany colors.
In the video above, Braun shows how to use transparent tape to affect the way that light is polarized and strikes the subject.
Jens is no stranger to using extreme macro lenses, like his Laowa 25mm 2.5-5X and Laowa 60mm 2X macro lenses, to show somewhat gross and disturbing subjects in incredible detail.
A few months back, PetaPixel featured another video Jens created showing a snail eating a strawberry. Snails undoubtedly have a more positive public image than mosquitoes and fleas, but it is still a rather revolting subject.
Part of what makes the Another Perspective YouTube channel so great is that Jens shows subjects in new and exciting ways. Even when those subjects are slightly scary, Jens himself says that the mosquito larvae will “give you nightmares,” they are no less worthy of admiration. Seeing tiny details brought to life in a big way allows viewers to have so much more appreciation for the complexity of nature.
Another of Jens’ recent videos demonstrating how everyday objects can be beautiful when viewed up close is his timelapse of a lion’s mane mushroom.
Many more of Jens Braun’s amazing macro videos are available on Another Perspective‘s YouTube channel.
Image credits: All images © Jens Braun / Another Perspective
