Tag Archives: Facebook

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!

Enhanced by Zemanta
Posted in Alberta, arthropods, Behaviour, Bugs, Camera, Canada, Documentary, Entomology, Equipment, Flash, Insect, Inspiration, Lenses, macro, photography, Prairie, Roundup, Season, Spring, Updates, Week on Sunday, Workshop | Also tagged , , , , , 2 Comments

Feature Photographer: ‘Kurt Orion’ — Malaysia

By Adrian | Published 15 May, 2012

‘Kurt Orion’ is well known in macro circles, both for his blog with his Facebook presence. While the pseudonym ‘Kurt Orion’ or ‘Orion Mystery’ is the best way to search for his contribution to macro, a recent Mail Online article gives us a ‘clue’ to his real name!

If I remember correctly, I first discovered Kurt’s blog when I was searching for flash diffusion methods. I not only found solutions to flash diffusion, but discovered a whole new world of fascinating photographs featuring Malaysian arthropods. His talent for macro has seen his photos featured in publications around the world (see links at the end of the article)

Can you tell us about your background?

I am known as Kurt (orionmystery) to my real life photography friends and many more in some ten macro photography forums (and facebook!) I actively post in. I have been shooting mainly macro and nature photography since July 2007.

Macro has really opened up a whole new world for me. The more I get to know my macro subjects (mainly arthropods), the more I am in love with them. What started out as a hobby has turned into a great passion! I hope to promote environmental awareness through my macro/nature images. Invertebrates maybe small, but they are the majority. Without them, our ecosystem will collapse in no time!

What first led you to take an interest in macro photography?

About 10 years later, in 2007, while browsing some macro images in a few local forums, I found
myself amazed by the details in the insect images that we didn’t get to see with our naked eyes.
That really sparked my interest in macro. I bought my DSLR and a 1:1 macro lens in July 17,
2007, and started doing macro photography since then. However, after about a year, I started
yearning for more magnification and The Canon MP-E65 1X-5X macro lens seemed like a natural
choice for me. I later also acquired the Canon MT-24EX Twin Flash to complete my macro rig. All
my images here were shot with a Canon 40D, MP-E65 and lit with the MT-24EX Twin Flash

Is there anyone that you would consider a key inspiration?

The two persons that influenced me a lot in my early macro days were Brian Valentine (Lord V)
and John Kimbler (Dalantech). I have learned a great deal from these two gentlemen and am
forever grateful to them for their generosity in sharing their knowledge.

Continue reading »

Posted in Blog Link, Coleoptera, Equipment, Feature Photographer, MP-E65, photography | Also tagged , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Sunday Bugfest 5

By Adrian D. Thysse | Published 6 November, 2011

Another buggy selecton of science and photography articles discovered in the last week:

Science:
◊ What’s a young male spider to do when his mate ain’t of age? Learn more about the pro’s and con’s of mock sex in Anelosimus studiosus spiders at Inkfish. Based on the study: Non-Conceptive Sexual Behavior in Spiders: A Form of Play Associated with Body Condition, Personality Type, and Male Intrasexual Selection.

◊ Rather Victorian, but some can still entice with soft silk and lace work...

◊ Male euglossine bees collect scents from their environment and store them in special structures on their legs. These collected scents are believed to be used to attract female bees. Some orchids seem to have evolved to lure male bees by producing these scents, and when they come in to collect, the orchid then connects them to a pollen package–ripe for dispersal to other orchids. It seems mutually beneficial but sometimes nothing in biology makes sense…’cos timing is everything.

◊ A. aegypti mosquitoes are the day-flying carriers of dengue fever, and are therefore not affected by the use of bed nets. A recent field study has shown that bio-engineered Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which have been modified to produce offspring that die before reproduction, have been successfully used to breed with wild mosquitoes. Read more on this at the Oxford Science Blog, and see the study at Nature Biotechnology.

And post-Halloween Zombie Science continues…
◊ The  zombie meme has not ended: see how viruses manipulate their caterpillar hosts for maximum transimison in Zombie Insects: A Q&A about a Sinister Virus, then read a revived post by Bora Zivkovic, on the Revenge of the Zombifying Wasp.

◊ Not satisfied with  these zombie tales? Check out how a forensic entomologists can determine how long a body has been above ground before being buried in Digging Up Clues: Research On Buried Blow Flies Will Help Crime Scene Investigators.

◊ Still not satiated? Need more bizarre? See how your Facebook ‘friends‘ and cannibalism are connected in What Social Media Reveals About Cannibalistic Locusts! Then read Adaptive-network models of swarm dynamics for the whole shebang.

Phototograhy
◊ I have a dream…since my discovery of the pleasures of photomacrography, I have longed to make an extended trip into the torrid zone so I can explore the amazing biodiversity with my camera. Here is someone who lives the life: a how-to article on rain forest macro photography by Greg Basco, who lives and works in Costa Rica. Great nature photography!

◊ Michael Erlewine is an amazing photographer who has been with macro since 1956! A Nikon user, and a lover of lenses, he has produced a number of free e- books on photomacrography. Click images for pdfs and…

…visit his webpage at MacroStop for more.


Art
◊ Many who visit this blog use photography to capture images of insects, but others connect with the bug world in different ways. Visit Pencil and Leaf for a view of how an artist develops a painting featuring the snail-shell nesting Osmia bicolour bees.

Posted in Blog Link, Entomology, Equipment, invertebrates, macro, Mating, photography, Roundup, Video, Web LInk | Also tagged , , , , , , 1 Comment