Category Archives: photography

Alberta Oil (Beetle)

By Adrian | Published 22 May, 2013

Oil Beetle – Probably either Meloe niger or M. exiguus.

Last year, based on an oil beetle I photographed in Grasslands National Park, Sask.,  I jokingly mentioned that the oil beetle should be Alberta’s official insect, because we have so much of the oily stuff. Well, this year I found a wealth of the little beggars strutting around the Halfmoon Lake Natural Area just NNE of Edmonton. I found a female digging a burrow, and she was soon joined by a male, who did absolutely nothing to help prepare the maternity room!

Mounting Meloes

Mounting Meloes

Check out the video below to see some of the behavior I recorded…

Note that all segments in the video above are available at regular frame rates (1920×1080, 30fps) for serious applicants.

◊ Read more on the fascinating lifecycle of oil beetles at a previous post.

◊ Thanks to v belov at BugGuide for the great assistance with ID!

 

(Top: Canon 5D Mk II with Canon 100 mm f2.8 macro lens. Flash – 1/3. ISO 200, 1/60sec @ f16. Middle: Canon T2i with MP-E65 mm lens. Flash. ISO 200, 1/200 sec. @f11. Bottom: Video Olympus E-PM1 with 14- 42 mm lens)Enhanced by Zemanta
Also posted in Behaviour, Bugs, Canada, Coleoptera, Insect, macro, Meloidae, Season, Spring | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Week on Sunday #31

By Adrian | Published 19 May, 2013

♦ Let’s open this Week on Sunday with video by Stanislav Snäll and John Hallmén, working in the field and showing some simple flash diffusion methods:

 

♦ Swedish photographers John Hallmén and Stanislav Kind are professional photomacrographers who run the website Makrofokus, an excellent resource for those wishing to learn more about focus stacking. Be sure to follow the MakroFokus Facebook page for regular updates on their work!

 

♦ The new laid-back and relaxed (see A Tale of Two Blogs) Ted MacRae  has a post on his latest Canon MT-24EX twin flash diffuser. Check it out!

 

♦ And on the science side of things, a fascinating video documentary on insect dissection. Such complexity – and even beauty - within!

Lots of great information in this video, and a look into the cool technology science is using to explore bug wonder!

 

♦ The last week was spent in continued spring cleaning in our home garden , with a mid-week break taking the Small-group Macro Workshop down to the great people at the Crop Diversification Centre South in Brooks, Alberta! We had a great time looking at how to get the most out DSLRs and then, after a yummy lunch (in which someone forgot to bring the buns!) , we had a session on the many paths to making macro. We even had time to wander around the grounds to practice with some equipment set-ups. Thanks to Shelley for inviting me down, and to Scott, Simone and Mike for participating.

* I also received a bonus cutworm specimen – chock full of parasites - like the one in Shelley’s timelapse video below.

 

Cool, eh!

Until next week!

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Also posted in Alberta, arthropods, Behaviour, Bugs, Camera, Canada, Documentary, Entomology, Equipment, Flash, Insect, Inspiration, Lenses, macro, Prairie, Roundup, Season, Spring, Updates, Week on Sunday, Workshop | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Photomicroscopy: Then and Now.

By Adrian | Published 17 May, 2013

Beyond macro: here is a video contrasting the work of two excellent photomicrographers - Roman Vishniac (1897 – 1990) and Wim van Egmond:

I first heard about Wim van Egmond through Micscape , an online magazine devoted to all things microscopical. Wim is the curator of the Micropolitan Museum of Microscopic Artforms - go check it out to view some excellent photomicrography.

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Blue Morph

By Adrian | Published 17 May, 2013
Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon)

Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon)

Many little blues were dancing along the path as I walked through the woods in a natural area east of Sherwood Park. The trees were still bare, the sun filtered through twigs and branches. While the Azures were in flight they were a dazzling blue, but as soon as they descended to the ground to rest, they seemed to disappear immediately –  with the bright blue wings closed, the subdued colour of the under-surface of the wing caused them to blend in with the jumbled  browns and golds of  bark, leaves and grasses. They were quite hard to approach, but this one allowed me to get close enough for a few photographs.  Hints of the dazzling blue upper surface of the wing of this little Lycenid can be seen hairs on the thorax.

Thanks to John Acorn who ID’d this as the  ”marginata” morph of  Celastrina ladon (Cramer, 1780).

(Photographed with a Canon T2i, Canon EF 100mm Macro lens, 270 EX II Flash with diffuser. ISO 400, 1/200 sec. @ f13)

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Also posted in Alberta, Canada, Canon, Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, macro, Season, Spring | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Colin Hutton – The Missing Image

By Adrian | Published 13 May, 2013

“The Missing Image”… it looks like it may become a regular feature.

Yesterday I sent out a last-minute request to Colin Hutton for permission to use one of his images for The Week on Sunday series. Of course, I waited too long, and his response came too late…but now I have it! Below is the image that first grabbed my attention on Facebook - not just a fine-looking bug, but a fine image.

Colin Hutton Photography: Bees and Wasps &emdash; Chalcid Wasp - Conura Amoena

Used with permission of Colin Hutton Photography: Chalcid Wasp – Conura amoena

 Conura amoena is a chalcid wasp which parasitizes the pupae of small butterflies. It is only about 5mm long.

And to repeat yesterday’s introduction:

I don’t think I would be going too far to say that we are in the Golden Age of bug photography. Individuals from around the world are producing amazing photographs - detailed, well designed and sometimes even true works of art. This week I would like to direct you to the work of Colin Hutton, whose fine studio-style work can be seen at Deviant Art and at his website, Colin Hutton Photography. Wow!

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Also posted in Feature Photographer, Hymenoptera, Insect, Inspiration, Lepidoptera, macro | Tagged , | 1 Comment

From the Funnel’s Mouth

By Adrian | Published 9 May, 2013
Funnel Weaving Spider

Funnel Weaving Spider

This Agelenopsis spider seems to be watching me as much as I am watching it. Peering out of its funnel with four beady eyes, it seems somewhat apprehensive…

Hopefully this is the last of the old bug images as our warm season is beginning to get serious.

(Image from 20 July, 2011. Elk Island National Park)

 

 

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Also posted in Agelenidae, Arachnid, Araneae, Bugs, macro, National Park, Season, Summer | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Carlo Galliani – The Missing Photograph

By Adrian | Published 6 May, 2013

Yesterday on The Week on Sunday I directed people to the beautiful macro photography of Carlo Galliani. I had earlier requested his permission to use one of his photos, but his response came too late. Now, with permission, I present one of many fine photographs of insects in flight...

Macroglossum stellatarum

Note the EXIF data below: Carlo is shooting at a relatively large aperture with a long macro lens to give the nice soft background. The ISO is pushed up so that the shutter speed remains high, yet still low enough to give motion blur on the wings.

Date/Time 03-Nov-2012 10:49:37
Make Nikon
Model NIKON D300
Flash Used No
Focal Length 180 mm
Exposure Time 1/400 sec
Aperture f/5.6
ISO Equivalent 640

Be sure to visit all his macro photography galleries for more beauty!

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Also posted in Camera, close-up, Equipment, Feature Photographer, Insect, Inspiration, Lenses, Lepidoptera | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment