During the winter months, an intriguing photography project you might try is buying dried, packaged insects online. You can get all kinds of fascinating and bizarre (like the rhinoceros beetle you see here) insects. They are dead, of course, and they are fairly brittle. To relax them so you can pose them as you want, place them inside a Tupperware container (while still in the package) with a damp paper towel at the bottom of the container. The moisure will relax the insect after a few hours, and then you use insect pins (also available online) to position the legs and antennae in a natural looking position. You don't push the ultra thin pins into the legs; rather you set pins on either side of the insect's appendages to maintain a certain position. When all the pins are set, leave the insect like that for a day while it dries out again. Then you can place it wherever you want to get a natural looking macro shot.
A good source for insect products is www.insectnet.com.
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