high-speed photography

Frozen in time: Incredibly detailed images of animals captured using high-speed photography

An archer fish jumps up at a cricket placed on a leaf above its tank, an osprey plucks a fish from a pond and a ladybird flutters from its leaf.

These stunning images were captured using high speed photography and show familiar animals in a series of spectacular action shots.

Photographer Scott Linstead, 33, went to extraordinary lengths to light fish, insects and reptiles with a flash gun for just a few thousandths of a second.

A ladybird is captured in incredible detail as it opens its wings

Even the water droplets falling from this frog's legs are caught using high speed flash

The former teacher spent up to a week arranging the lighting and phototraps, which triggered the camera and flash immediately the creature came into view.

The human eye and reaction speed on the shutter release button are rarely quick enough to take the photos manually.

Some of the pictures were taken in the wild, while others - such as the bee - were even staged on his kitchen table, in a warehouse or pet shop.

The stunning photograph of the Common Basilisk - or Jesus Lizard - running across water was taken in a warehouse using a high-speed flash.

The lizard earnt its name through its ability to walk on water.

Scott said: 'Recognising the moment that is critical in any animal behaviour is easy enough - choosing the proper technique and applying it is the challenge.

'Using the phototrap, I can not only photograph the elusive but also the unimaginably quick.

An Archer fish squirts water and then leaps up to grab an insect and is captured using a high speed flash

A bee comes in for landing on a flower as tiny motes of pollen float in the air

'I overcome the limitation of human reaction time and endurance for photographing phenomena that occur once a day and on no particular schedule.

'The two most obvious cases where the trap is essential is when the photographer cannot be there to trip the shutter or when the event occurs so quickly it is beyond the practical reaction time of the photographer.'  The outside shots were more often produced with 'traditional' techniques, using a hand-held camera with a fast lens.

Scott, from Quebec, Canada, said his obsession with high speed wildlife photography required a lot of patience but the results made it worthwhile.

He said: 'The most frustrating scenario is when all the variables necessary to make a great shot come together with the exception of one, minor variable that ruins the whole shot.

'This can be as simple as a curious bystander coming to ask a question and scaring off a wild subject.

'This is part of what led me to photograph in the studio.'  Scott imported the archer fish from Singapore and placed the live crickets on the overhead vegetation to encourage them to jump and squirt.

Using high speed shutter speed, the photographer managed to capture this incredible shot of an Osprey grabbing its prey

There's no escape for this locust caught by a Chameleon's sticky long tongue

He said: 'The tricky part is not capturing the 'squirt' but rather lighting the aquarium in a way so as to not show any reflections on the many glass surfaces.

'The breach behaviour was captured purely by chance while trying to photograph the spitting behaviour.

'When I lowered the 'cricket perch' too low to the water's surface, the fish would jump out to try to grab it manually instead of the more sophisticated method that it is known for.'  The photo of the bee was taken on Scott's kitchen table.

He said: 'This studio image was birthed out of the desire to have full control over the habitat and lighting for an insect flight shot.

'A custom-made Plexiglass device was used to guide the bee's flight path.

'I also oriented the set so that the flightpath pointed directly at my open patio door so the bee could fly right to freedom after tripping the camera.'

 Using high speed flash, an amazing shot of the 'Jesus' lizard left, so called because of it's ability to 'walk' on water and a bat is reflected in the still stream

His photographs of the treefrog, jumping green frog, sugarglider and chameleon were also taken in a studio.

Scott lured the BlueJay into his photo in Quebec, Canada, by scattering their favourite snack of peanuts.

The bat was photographed in the wild in Arizona, USA, where the extremely dry climate allows for a high frequency of bats flying in to drink.

And the moorhen was captured during a boat trip in central Florida, United States.

The Great Grey Owl was photographed during a snow storm in Ontario, Canada.

And Scott spent four days in a hide at the edge of a pond in Kangasala, Finland, to get his photo of the osprey.

He said: 'This location near the city of Tampere is arguably the best spot on earth to photograph this behaviour.

'Twelve hours per day in the hide produced this image on the second day.'