what do free diving and hand-held macro photography have in common?

You wouldn't immediately think there would be a link between the extremely dangerous activity of free diving and taking photographs of tiny things would you?

Well, think again!

While getting these images, I concentrated so much on getting a sharp image and on my hand held focus bracket that I daren't even breathe while composing, focusing and then exposing them.  Now, I'm not saying I could have spent several minutes under water, but I'm pretty certain I'd held my breath for a minute or so!

Hopefully it was worth it...

Fujifilm X-H2, TTArtisans 100mm f2.8 2x macro lens
1/250th of a second at f4, ISO 400
handheld
32-shot focus bracket stacked in Helicon Focus

And just to prove that I hadn't cut half its legs off and glued it to the stem:

Fujifilm X-H2, TTArtisans 100mm f2.8 2x macro lens
1/250th of a second at f2.8, ISO125
handheld

Here's a short video showcasing the cabbage white butterfly: