Tag Archives: Coleoptera

I’ve been looking back at Alex Wild’s and Ted MacRae’s articles that discuss technique. These are two photographers that deal with some of the fastest insects (relatively) running – ants and tiger beetles, and I need their entomological and photographic experience to better understand the skills required to photograph the faster wee beasties. I had my own frustrating attempts at a tiger beetle photography last week on the bed of a dried-out

Just hangin'

alkaline pond near Edmonton. This was a single beetle, I saw no others. It seemed to gravitate to the edge of the ‘pond’ so I crouched there in the sun and waited, hoping it would return my way.  It would draw closer, but any movement on my part would have it scurrying or flying away. When it did come closer it was very hard to keep in the field of view. I learned to place it in the vewfinder while distant and then follow focus as it came nearer. By doing this and crouching absolutely still,  I finally managed a few shots which I thought would work, so I got up and moved back to the path to continue my bug search. Once in the shade I viewed the photographs I had taken so far, checking them on the small D70 screen. To my amazement, all the shots were useless, so I checked over my system to see what had gone awry.  I tested the flash and then noticed that the settings had somehow been changed, so that the flash was operating on automatic rather than TTL mode. It was a hot day, and I was with my 14 year old daughter, but I decided to return to the ‘pond’ to do the whole sequence again. While she sat patiently reading a book, I crouched on  the dusty pond floor again. Sure enough, I spotted a single tiger beetle ‘beetling’ away in the  distance. Crouched over my camera, eye glued to the right-angle viewfinder, I tracked the tiger, ignored the snide comments of passers-by, and waited for the return of ‘my’ tiger beetle.

Finally it was near enough that I could fire-off a few ‘in the habitat’ shots. But as it scuttled closer it became harder and harder to keep the beetle in view. And when it was closer I noticed an odd thing. Although it hardly seems possible in that short moment, the beetle seemed to be reacting to the brief pre-flash that the SB-900 produces before opening the shutter and firing the actual exposure! And sure enough, when he was close enough to provide a good full body profile, the pre-flash twitched him away.

So this is my best shot, a recalcitrant  tiger beetle, I.D.’d by John Acorn himself as, “A very old twelve-spot tiger beetle, Cicindela duodecimguttata.”

And he whispered, "Turn around!!!"

So that is the tale of my first (identifiable) tiger beetle. I know, not much to write home about, but I did say I would share my failures…

So what have I learned?
I need to find a way to turn off the pre-flash on the SB-900
And I need a pre-flight check list to make sure I’m working with all systems up.
But that’s another article…

Related articles

• Coleopteran Distribution – Douglas County, Missouri (bugsofboogercounty.wordpress.com)