This is a longhorn beetle that I preserved in diluted "White Vinegar" six months ago as an experiment to compare preservation between using denatured alcohol and white vinegar as an alternative.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how well the beetle had preserved and maintained a fair degree of mobility of its limbs. Denatured alcohol is a good preservative, however, it tends to stiffen the specimens and the colors tend to fade over time. This does not appear to be the case with white vinegar's acetic acid when diluted with distilled water to 3 to 5%.

I staged this focus stacked session using the 85mm 1X-5X super macro lens and the LED soft light panel with no diffusion.

This is a longhorn beetle that I preserved in diluted "White Vinegar" six months ago as an experiment to compare preservation between using denatured alcohol and white vinegar as an alternative.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how well the beetle had preserved and maintained a fair degree of mobility of its limbs. Denatured alcohol is a good preservative, however, it tends to stiffen the specimens and the colors tend to fade over time. This does not appear to be the case with white vinegar's acetic acid when diluted with distilled water to 3 to 5%.

I staged this focus stacked session using the 85mm 1X-5X super macro lens and the LED soft light panel with no diffusion.