Tag Archives: macrophotography

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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Posted in Camera, close-up, Equipment, Feature Photographer, Insect, Inspiration, Lenses, Lepidoptera, photography | Also tagged , , , Leave a comment

Galium Sphinx Moth

By Adrian | Published 19 April, 2013
Pupal case (after emergence)

Pupal case (after emergence)

In the spring of 2012 my brother gave me a pupal case that he had found while digging in the garden. I had no clue what it would be, but I placed it in a container with some leaves and a damp sponge, and waited. I would check on it occasionally, and the last time I checked it was the day of our departure (10 July) for the family holiday to Newfoundland. A last minute visit to the Nature Study to turn off the computer and feed the wee beasties gave me the chance to take a look at the container and, sure enough, there was a freshly emerged and somewhat disheveled looking moth nestling in the corner of the container. What to do? With a trip to the airport just moments away, I grabbed my camera with flash, a macro lens, some white background material and then rushed to the patio. I set up quickly on the patio table, placed the moth on the white background and took six photographs. Before long it was vibrating its wings like a madmanbeast, and I knew that I had only moments to take more photos…

Too late! Off it flew into the garden.

Bedstraw Hawkmoth or Galium Sphinx, Hyles gallii (Rottemburg, 1775)

Bedstraw Hawkmoth or Galium Sphinx, Hyles gallii (Rottemburg, 1775)

Here is one of the better shots, with the trail of yellow goo (there is probably a name for that) it left behind Photshop’ed into nothingness…

(ID’d at Insects of Alberta. Photograph taken with Canon T2i, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Autofocus Lens and a Speedlite 580EX II with diffuser. ISO 200, 1/200th sec. @f11)

 

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Posted in Alberta, Camera, Canada, close-up, Equipment, Flash, Insect, Lenses, Lepidoptera, photography, Sphingidae, Summer, White Studio | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Diversion ahead…What’s going on?

By Adrian | Published 15 April, 2013
Little Pooting

Diversion Ahead…

Some may have noticed that there have been a few changes around this blog recently. Here’s what’s happening:

My time blogging  at Splendour Awaits (previously ‘The Bugwhisperer’) and the many bug photography field trips that I have enjoyed for the last few years, could not have been done without the blessing of my wife and the support of my daughter. I owe them a great deal of thanks for the time they have allowed me. However, in the mean time, my income has been sporadic – I  spend some time doing landscaping and gardening, and I earn a bit here and there with my photos, but I am not earning a regular income. I am at the age where I have to pay attention to a future in what is commonly known as ‘retirement’ (some people think I am there already!). And even now, with half-a-dozen one children child teenager young adult to feed, clothe and send to university; oil-company subsidies  taxes to be paid and our urban hovel to be maintained – every penny nickel dollar of extra income will helpful. I have to decide soon if I am going to try to make a real living with nature photography or if I need to find real reliable income elsewhere.

To solve this impasse, and to avoid returning to other, less satisfactory types of work, I have started to take a multi-pronged approach to earning income. For instance, in order to help sustain this website I have joined the Zenfolio, Photocrati and B&H affiliate programs. I have tried to keep the ad’s unobtrusive yet visible: no flashing banners or irritating pop-ups will infest this blog.

◊ I am moving my galleries to Zenfolio to handle the unprecedented (i.e more than one ;) ) demand for prints. If you have an interest in producing a full-featured photography site that organizes,  displays and sells your images, you should consider checking Zenfolio through the link on the sidebar.

◊ Or if you want to be more independent, you could find your own web-host and then use the website/blog templates from Photocrati. The designs and features are excellent and fully customizable, and you can have your website, galleries, blog and shopping cart up-and-running in no time.

◊ If you are looking for good deals on equipment, please check B&H through any of the links on this site. Use the search button on the right to find the latest in photography equipment deals. B&H has by far the best designed website and intelligent search features, along with offering very competitive pricing. Great for Canadians too…easy duty/shipping calculations so you see all your expenses up front, and even with the costs included you will usually save money.

And continuing with prongs of income…

Last year (thanks to the sponsorship of Dr. David Walter) I had the pleasure of attending the Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Societies of Canada. During that event I was surprised to find people – professional entomologists – introducing themselves to me and telling me they visit the blog and appreciate my photography…and could I do some workshops, please? I had considered doing this before, but I was not convinced that bug photography had the popularity required to draw people to sustainable workshops. However, with the prodding I received at JAM 2012, I have reconsidered this, and under the motto of, “If you build it, they will come”, I have begun developing and leading macro photography workshops. (Golly Gosh! There are two more coming up soon!)

Continue reading »

Posted in Alberta, Bugs, Canada, Diversion, Entomological Society of Alberta, Entomological Society of Canada, Equipment | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Macro Lens Medley

By Adrian | Published 19 March, 2013
Left to Right

The long and the short of them.

Left to right: Tamron 180mm f/3.5 Macro Autofocus Lens (Canon EOS mount), Canon Macro Photo MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Manual Focus Lens, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Autofocus Lens, Tamron 90mm f/2.8 SP AF Di Macro Lens for Nikon AF, Vivitar  Series 1 105mm for Nikon and an Olympus  Zuiko 50mm macro lens.

Over the years my macro equipment has transitioned from the era of film to the digital present, and in that time I have accumulated a few macro lenses. The picture above shows most of them: missing is an Olympus-mount Tamron SP 90mm macro lenses that provided only half-life size 1:2 mag.

All the above lenses give 1:1 (life-size) magnification. Why so many sizes if they all produce the same magnification? What are the benefits or handicaps of each?

Find out at a Macro Workshop!

 

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Posted in Alberta, Canada, close-up, Edmonton, Education, Equipment, Lenses, macro, MP-E65, photography, Vivitar Series 1 105mm macro, Winter, Workshop | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Ladybird Beetlebum

By Adrian | Published 13 March, 2013

Taking flight.

The afternoon was getting hot, and I was looking for some shade to sit down and enjoy my lunch and take a short nap. The problem was, I was on the northwest floor of the valley in Dinosaur Provincial Park, and shade was hard to find. I spotted a likely location – a hillock with a depression on the north-west side of a rocky outcrop that I thought might provide some respite from the sun. I clambered up, and sure enough,when I sat down with my back against the slope I was out of the sun’s path. Just as I was getting comfortable, an old friend, a seven-spotted ladybird beetle, began scrambling up an artemesia stalk beside me. Now if you have watched ladybirds before, you know they seek a high-point to launch themselves into flight, so I put down my sandwich, picked up the camera (which was already set-up with a macro lens and flash) and composed the shot. Just as I was ready, she turned her back to me and – apparently without the least shame or embarrassment - lifted her elytra, unfolded her wings, and flew off into the sunlight.

(24 September, 2011. Canon T2i, Tamron 180mm macro lens and a diffused Sigma EF-530 Flash. ISO 200, 1/200 sec. @ f8)

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Posted in Alberta, Anatomy, Autumn, Bugs, Canada, Coccinellidae, Coleoptera, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Fun, Insect, Just plain silly, macro, photography, Provincial Park | Also tagged , , , 2 Comments

Macro Tools Workshop

By Adrian | Published 4 March, 2013

It’s finally here. I have pulled together the first of a full range of macro photography workshops. The survey indicated that learning about macro equipment was most important for the majority of respondents, so it will be the first of the scheduled ‘mini’ macro workshops for March and April.

The  4 hour long macro equipment workshop, called Macro Tools, will cover:

  • how to get closer: macro accessories and lenses from budget to lavish
  • tools for photography in natural light
  • flash and flash accessories
  • specialized macro flash
  • other accessories and gadgets
  • non-partisan purchasing advice

Throughout the session attendees will have the opportunity to handle various equipment set-ups (Canon and Nikon), with the last hour open for general discussion and to practice more handling of specific equipment.

The first Macro Tools Workshops will take place in my home in Edmonton, with a maximum of  four spaces per session. 

The scheduled days are:

10 March, 2013: 1 to 5 pm

24 March, 2013: 1 to 5 pm

7 April, 2013: 1 to 5 pm *Only one spot left!*

◊ Anyone who is new to photography or digital single lens reflex cameras is invited to take the Introduction to DSLR Photography (9 AM to Noon) prior to the Macro Tools session.

All workshops require a minimum of 2 participants to proceed. First come, first served – please register at the Small-group Workshops page, where you can also find out about future workshops.

 

 

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Posted in Alberta, Bugs, Camera, Canada, Canon, close-up, Edmonton, Education, Equipment, Flash, Fun, Insect, Lenses, macro, Overview, photography, Shameless self promotion, Workshop | Also tagged , , , , , , 1 Comment

Finger Spider and the Twin Suns Dilemma

By Adrian | Published 31 January, 2013

I was scrolling through my wife’s photographs and came across this image that she took last May.

MP-E65mm flash in the field. Two Stofen diffusers plus foam sheet.

We were at the Opal Natural Area that day, but couldn’t remember what I was photographing at the time, so I looked through my own collection and found the photo of this little hopping Salticid. Judging by the lack of shots, he didn’t hang around long for a better portrait!

Opal Natural Area - Jumping Spider

This Habronattus doesn’t care how many flashes I use, they’re all annoying…

No, that’s not a freshly uprooted carrot – that’s my finger, looking a bit grimy after a morning scratching in the undergrowth. And look at the spider eyes — twin catch-lights, which is unnatural and annoying.  I could have cloned these out, but it is an example of the problem that comes with using twin-flash units like the Canon MT-24EX macro flash or the Nikon R1 flash system. In normal outdoor situations, eyes have one catch-light, and that is from the sun or the sky. Using twin-flashes, even when well diffused, creates two. Now the original reason for using twin flashes is so that, by controlling the output of each flash, you can obtain a modeling effect — subtle nuances of light and shade. Yet, if you want to avoid the twin hi-light problem caused by twin flashes, you must make them them behave like a single flash… !

What do you think of twin hi-lights in the eyes? Do you live with it? Do you clone one hi-light out? Or have you chucked your twin-flashes and gone back to a single flash system?

 

 

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Posted in Alberta, Arachnid, Araneae, Camera, Canada, Canon, Equipment, Flash, Lenses, macro, MP-E65, Natural Area, Opal Natural Area, photography, Salticidae, Spring | Also tagged , , , , , , 3 Comments