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Archive for the ‘Macro Photography’ Category

Ladybug-to-be

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , on April 13, 2013| 7 Comments »

I am going to have to brush up on my insect identification skills, but I think that this cool-looking insect is a larval form of a ladybug.

I don’t have a garden of my own, but one of my neighbors, fellow blogger and photographer Cindy Dyer, has a wonderful garden that is always full of colorful flowers and insects. I photographed this insect in her garden this afternoon.

The sunlight was a little too direct and the shadows are too harsh. I am happy, though, that I was able to pick up many of the insect’s details with my macro lens. In case you are curious, the bright red in the background is a group of tulips that are in full bloom.

As always, I welcome corrections or clarifications about my identification of my subject—there are lots of folks on-line with greater knowledge and experience in all of the subject areas in which I shoot.

insect_blog

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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First dragonfly of the spring

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 12, 2013| 15 Comments »

Today I saw my first dragonflies of the spring, which I am pretty sure were Common Green Darners (Anax junius). They buzzed by me several times, but never stopped to perch.

I had reconciled myself to the likelihood that I would not get a single shot.  Suddenly a dragonfly that I was chasing stopped and hovered over the water. I have never had any success before in capturing an in-flight image of a dragonfly, but somehow I was able to grab focus and got several pretty good shots. The beautiful, two-toned colors of this dragonfly are amazing.

I look forward to a new season of chasing dragonflies, but suspect that I will have to work hard to top this first dragonfly of the spring.

dragonfly_blog

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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From the other side

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , on April 7, 2013| 10 Comments »

The sun was almost directly in front of me, a situation that is usually not optimal for photographs, but I really liked the interplay of the light and the shadows on this white and yellow daffodil.

It’s definitely a side of the daffodil that is not featured very often, but it is a lesson for me of the value of looking for new perspectives. I like image that I managed to get by looking at the flower from the other side.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Summer Snowflake

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on April 7, 2013| 12 Comments »

It may sound like an oxymoron, but I think that this pretty little flower really is called a Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum).

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day and I took the opportunity to visit Green Spring Gardens, a local county-run local historical and horticultural center. It is still a little early in the season for most of the showy blossoms, but I came across several patches of the snowflake flower. Apparently there are two varieties of snowflakes—spring and summer—and, strange as it sounds, these are blooming so late that they are probably Summer Snowflakes.

My mind is still geared on photographing birds, so I was carrying around my camera with the 135-400mm telephoto lens. I had my macro lens in the bag I was carrying and probably should have changed lenses when I took some shots of this flower, but I guess the warmth of the sun made me feel a little lazy.

I took this shot at 400mm, which is equivalent to a 640mm on a 35mm camera, because of my crop-sensor camera. The shot is a little soft, but it is clear enough to show that I may have captured an additional subject. If you look closely at the top of the green stem, you will see what I think is a tiny spider. My fellow blogger and photography mentor, Cindy Dyer, likes to call these “bonus bugs.” You shoot check out her blog for some great shots of snowflake flowers and lots of other flowers too.

As insects and flowers return, I will have to retrain my eyes to focus on close-in details, rather than looking out into the distance, as I have during much of the winter when I was photographing a lot of birds. I look forward to the challenge.

snowflake1_blog

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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First spiderweb of the spring

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on April 3, 2013| 5 Comments »

We had a foggy start to one of the weekend mornings and I traveled to my local marshland park with the hope (but no real expectation) of seeing some spider webs. When I arrived at the park, the ground was covered in places with funnel webs, but that was not really what I was looking for.

As I walked along, I suddenly came upon this modestly-sized web. It is not really ornate and is broken in places, but I was thrilled to find it nonetheless. I did not see any spiders, but the web is clear evidence that they are around.

It’s only a matter of time now before I post a shot of a spider!

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Early spring insect

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , on March 30, 2013| 7 Comments »

Yesterday while walking along the banks of Cameron Run, a tributary stream of the Potomac River, I encountered this unknown insect. I have been so starved for insects (photographically-speaking, not literally) that I decided I had to try to photograph it.

The insect was pretty small and would fly (or hop) when I approached, so I decided to give it a shot with the lens that was on my camera, a 135-400mm telephoto zoom. I was pleasantly surprised with the resulting photo, which almost looks like it was shot with a macro lens.

I will try to identify this little insect, but am happy with the shot and am now convinced that spring is here if insects are reappearing.

insect_blog

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Lady’s Slipper close-ups

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on March 23, 2013| 6 Comments »

Progress toward spring seems to have slowed down and frost has reappeared in the morning, though we have been spared the heavy snows that have fallen in other parts of the country.

As a reminder of the colorful growth that is to come, I decided to share a few images of one of my favorite orchids—a Lady’s Slipper orchid—from the orchid exhibition that I visited at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, VA earlier this month. I was really intrigued by the “pouch” portion of the flower and tried to highlight it in close-up photos, which I took with my camera on a tripod and settings of ISO 100, f16, and .6 seconds.

As I think about spring, I feel like a little kid on a trip, who keeps asking his parents, “Are we there yet?” Despite what the calendar may indicate, we are not there yet, and the answer to the question “When?” is likely to be the indefinite “Soon” that parents are wont to use in a response to the child.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Flashing a spider or not?

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , on March 19, 2013| 10 Comments »

Walking along the Augusta Canal for a final time yesterday morning before returning home, I encountered this spider, hanging in the air from a concrete supports of an overpass, and took shots of him without a flash and with one. After being starved for insects over the winter (photographically speaking), I was thrilled to have a chance to photograph one.

I probably should have taken out my macro lens, which I had with me in my bag, but opted instead to shoot with the 55-250mm zoom lens that was on my camera. It was still relatively early in the morning and the the spider was mostly in the shade, so lights was an issue. I upped the ISO to 800, but still needed an exposure of 1/8 of a second at f/9. Fortunately I had my tripod with me, so I used that to get a relatively sharp shot. I shot with the zoom at 250mm and used manual focus.

The first image was with natural light and the second one was taken using the camera’s built-in flash. The light coming from behind the spider in the first shot helps to illuminate the spider’s legs, which look almost translucent. The flash in the second photo reveals some additional details of the spider, although it did add some reflections, because I did not have a diffuser for the flash.

Which one do you prefer?

spider1_blogspider2_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Fishing in the swamp

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , on March 18, 2013| 4 Comments »

As I was walking on a low boardwalk yesterday at the Phinizy Swamp Nature Park in Augusta, GA, I spotted this Six-spotted Fishing spider (Dolomedes triton) at the edge of the water on a leaf. These spiders wait for prey with several of their legs in the water and capture other invertebrates, tadpoles, and sometimes even small fish, according to Wikipedia, when they feel the vibrations in the water.

It will probably be several months before I begin to see insects in Northern Virginia, but my brief trip to Georgia has given me a foretaste of things to come.

spider1_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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A few more orchids

Posted in commentary, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Photography, tagged , , , , on March 5, 2013| 6 Comments »

This past weekend, I made another trip to the orchid exhibit at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, VA, in part to hone my macro-shooting skills that have atrophied during the winter months.

I have grown accustomed to photographing birds and small mammals at the far end of my telephoto range in situations in which I don’t have much time for decision-making. If I am lucky, I am able to quickly check the direction of the light and adjust my camera’s settings, but sometimes there is insufficient time for even those rudimentary checks.

When I am shooting with my macro lens, my camera is usually attached to my tripod and, if I remember to do so, I have time to think about the exposure, the settings, and the angle before the shot. More importantly, I can look at the results and take a second shot. Birds and animals rarely give me a second chance.

Here are shots of a couple of the orchids that at the exhibition. I don’t know the names of the orchids, but one of my Facebook friends told me that the red one is from the Cymbidium genus. As I was working on the images, I noticed that I photographed both of them from almost the same angle. Perhaps I liked that angle, but most likely I was desperately trying to get an uncluttered background and this view allowed me to minimize distractions.

I can tell I need to retrain my eyes a bit to look at the tiny details as I prepare for the insect and flower season. Baseball is not the only activity that requires spring training.

orchid_red_blog

yellow_orchid_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Natural abstracts

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , on February 28, 2013| 4 Comments »

I’m finally finishing up with the shots from my trip last weekend to see the orchid exhibition and thought I’d post a couple of abstract images.

The first shot is a close-up of an elephant ear plant. I like the way its veins pop out, like a bodybuilder with a heavy weight. The image is somewhat symmetrical, but the two sides are not mirror images.

The second shot is a close-up of an orchid. Is it just me, or does it look like the flower contains a pink Darth Vader helmet?

ElephantEarCloseupDarthVadarPinkHelmet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Orchids up close

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Photography, tagged , , , , , on February 27, 2013| 12 Comments »

My challenge this weekend was to capture the delicate beauty of a wide variety of orchids and I decided that the best way to do so was to look at them closely, very closely and to use my macro lens.

I took these photos at an orchid exhibition at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, VA, about 90 minutes from where I live. The orchids were displayed in a glassed-in conservatory at varying heights in many different ways at varying heights—sometimes as single plants and sometimes in groups. It would have been amusing to make a video of my body’s contorted positions as I struggled to frame the photos and to look through the viewfinder of my camera, which was on a tripod most of the time.

In some of these images, like the first one, I tried to increase the depth of field to show more details and in other cases, like the last image, I intentionally limited the depth of field to capture one element. In some photos, I was most interested in the lines and colors.

If forced to choose a favorite, I’d probably select the first image, because of the interesting shapes, which are set off by the white petals. Do you have a preference?

White Orchid closeupPinkWhiteYellow OrchidAbstract Pink Orchid

SpecklePurpleOrchidGreen

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Tulip Negrita Close-up

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on February 25, 2013| 8 Comments »

Here is a splash of color to start the work week—a close-up shot of the inside of a deep purple tulip called Negrita.  I photographed this flower while visiting an orchid exhibit at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, Virginia this past weekend.

Tulip Negrita

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Lady’s Slipper orchid

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on February 24, 2013| 11 Comments »

In an effort to chase away the dullness of another gray winter day, I traveled yesterday with some friends to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, VA to see a spectacular display of orchids.

There was an amazing variety of orchids of all sizes and color, displayed in several areas of a large indoor glass conservatory. I know very little about orchids, but my eyes were especially drawn to a variety called Lady’s Slippers that are in the sub-family Cypripedioideae. According to Wikipedia, orchids of this type are characterized by slipper-shaped pouches that traps insects so they are forced to climb up past the staminode, behind which they collect or deposit pollen, thus fertilizing the flower.

Here is a front view of a green-and-yellow Lady’s Slipper. Although the orchids were amazingly beautiful, it was often difficult to get good backgrounds for images of the flowers, because of visual clutter. I dealt with the issue by using my macro lens and concentrating on small elements of individual flowers.

My friend and photography mentor, Cindy Dyer, however, was better prepared for this by carrying along a piece of white cardboard to help isolate the flowers and simplify the background. (You should check out her blog for beautiful photos of orchids and other flowers and insects).

The second and third images, which provide a side view of the Lady’s Slipper, were taken with a few seconds of each other, one with the existing background and one using Cindy’s white cardboard. In many ways, I like the look of the white background—it reminds me a little of a botanical print, but it is definitely unnatural.

Which version of the side view do you prefer?

GreenYellowSlipperFront

Slipper Side ViewYellowGreenSlipperOrchid

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Almost super bowl

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Humor, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , on February 2, 2013| 5 Comments »

Walking through the woods yesterday, I stumbled across this mushroom bowl on a mossy log—so beautiful that I might call it “super,” but  probably need expensive market rights to call it a “super bowl.”

Seriously, though, I really do like the color and texture of the mushroom itself and the little splashes of yellow and green in the foreground. The snow in the bowl and to the side also adds a nice touch. If I remember correctly, this may have been one of the images when I used my camera’s built-in flash to throw a little light into the center of the mushroom bowl.

Until spring comes, I will probably look for more of these flower-like fungi to satisfy my desire to photograph beautiful inanimate objects (it takes more than birds and beasts to keep me satisfied).

winter_bowl_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Winter color in the woods

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , , on January 31, 2013| 9 Comments »

Inspired by the marvelous posts of fellow blogger Allen of N.H. Garden Solutions, I decided to keep my eyes open for mushrooms and other such growths when I made my forays into the woods last weekend. Allen always seems to discover a veritable cornucopia of vegetation, mushrooms, lichens, and slime molds, but my “catch” was much more modest (and I can’t even really identify the items I saw).

The first photo depicts what I think is a somewhat weathered mushroom that was growing on a tree mostly surrounded by green vines with very sharp thorns. I really like the texture of the surface of the mushroom and its coloration.

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The second photo shows some kind of mushroom, possibly a kind of turkey tail mushroom. I like the concentric multi-color pattern, which reminds me of the growth rings of a tree.

fungusblogIn many ways these mushrooms are as beautiful and as colorful as the flowers that will be coming up in a few short months—I will have to keep my eyes even more wide open when I am outdoors now.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Flowers blooming in January

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , on January 19, 2013| 6 Comments »

We have had a strange winter here in Northern Virginia, with some unseasonably warm days. Today, for example, it was over 50 degrees (10 degrees Celsius). As a result, some flowers may be starting to bloom earlier than normal. My neighbor and photography mentor Cindy Dyer has a wonderful garden and I noticed today that she has a whole lot of little blue flowers that are in the process of blooming.

I can’t identify what kind of flowers they are, but they are really pretty. I put my macro lens on my camera, put the camera on a tripod, and attempted to use the techniques that Cindy taught me for photographing flowers. I shot the first photo with an aperture setting of f20 in an attempt to capture the details of the flowers. The second and third images were shot at about f9, which let me blur the background a little. I like the way in which the buds look like little roses.

Temperatures are supposed to drop way below freezing during this coming week and I hope these little flowers are hardy enough to endure the cold.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Frozen city flowers

Posted in Flowers, Macro Photography, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged , , , , on January 15, 2013| 2 Comments »

Brussels is still blanketed with a light coating of snow. The outdoor areas of the restaurants on the Grand-Place, the old city square, are deserted, but they continue to be surrounded by flowerboxes full of hardy flowers, like this little pansy. My eyes were drawn to this splash of color in a sea of grayness.

The little point-and-shoot Canon that I have with me has a limited zoom range, but it does have a macro mode that lets me get pretty close to my subject. I have tried to capture simultaneously the colors of the flower and the sense of winter. I did find the ice to be particularly difficult to render in a realistic way, probably because of its reflectiveness.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Winter flowers

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , on December 30, 2012| 9 Comments »

My neighbor, noted blogger and photographer Cindy Dyer, has a really cool garden on the side of her townhouse. Earlier this year I took a lot of photos of flowers and insects there, including one of my most popular postings on a mysterious creature on the lavender plant.

I hadn’t checked out the garden in a month or so and was surprised to see that some of the flowers were still blooming yesterday. I was especially drawn to a flower that looks a little bit like a sunflower—I am not sure exactly what it is. I tried to shoot different blooms from different angles to capture a sense of the depth of the flower. I don’t usually use flash with flowers, but I made some attempts with my built-in flash cranked down low,which I think accounts for the black background in some images.

Here are some of my favorite images of these flowers. They look like they might have been shot with a macro lens, but I was actually using a telephoto lens.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Dragonfly in December

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, tagged , , , , , , on December 2, 2012| 6 Comments »

It was sunny yesterday afternoon and got up to 50 degrees F (10 degrees C), relatively warm compared to recent frosty mornings. The faded foliage and the coolness of the breeze reminded me that it is late fall. I was therefore shocked when I spotted a little red dragonfly perched on the boardwalk in front of me.

I recognized this one immediately as an Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum vicinum), the last dragonfly that I saw weeks ago and I had done a little research. For an instant I lamented that the setting was not a natural one (the boards are of a composite material), but I managed to get off a couple of shots before the dragonfly flew away. For the rest of the afternoon I keep my eyes alert and managed to spot another one in a similar pose. The second time I got down low and tried to get a shot at the level of his beautiful eyes. The first shot below is a cropped version of the resulting photo, intended to highlight some of his features that get lost when you include his wide wings. The second image is the same photo, but showing his wings. I was shooting with a telephoto zooms lens, so his tail is foreshortened a bit from this angle. The third photo is similar to the second, but was taken from a steeper angle looking down. The final image, which was actually the first one taken, was shot looking almost straight down and provides the best view of the details of the tail.

I love dragonflies, but I never expected to see one in December in Northern Virginia.  Once again I realize that I need to dream bigger, that I need to be prepared for the unexpected blessings that may come into my life, even modest ones like a beautiful red dragonfly.

Close-up of Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly

Close-up of Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly

Full front view of Autumn Meadowhawk

Face-to-face with Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly

View from above

Front view of Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly

View from above of Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly

View from above of Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Natural abstract

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on November 22, 2012| 3 Comments »

One early morning recently I was walking through the marsh, lamenting that spectacular spider webs of the summer and early fall had disappeared. Suddenly I noticed that some of the plants were covered in a silky, web-like material. It was almost abstract in its construction and I wondered (and still wonder) about its purpose. This photo captures pretty well—in a minimalist set of colors and tone—the mysterious moodiness of that morning moment.

Natural abstract

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bumblebee grooming

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, tagged , , , , , on November 19, 2012| 5 Comments »

This bumblebee seems to be cleaning or adjusting one of his antennae and it caused me to wonder why. What are the antennae used for? Bumblebee.org had the answer—the antennae are used for smelling and touching. Taste and smell are conveyed to the bee through tiny hairs on the antennae.

Amazingly, bumblebees have a built-in antenna cleaner on each front leg, a notch between the metatarsus and the tibia. As bumblebee.org describes it, “The antenna is inserted into the notch then the metatarsus is bent enclosing the antenna. The antenna is then pulled through the notch and any debris or pollen is caught on the comb fringing the notch.” That site has lots more great information on the bumblebee, including electron microscope photos of the bee and a diagram of the antenna cleaner.

Bumblebee grooming an antenna

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Insect interaction

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 18, 2012| 1 Comment »

Yesterday I did a posting on a couple of interactions between birds of two species, a heron and a goose. Continuing on the same theme, here is a photo from last weekend of an interaction between insects of two species, a bumblebee and a Spotted Cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata). The beetle was already on the flower when the bumblebee arrived. Looking at the size of the invader, the beetle seems to have decided that a strategic retreat was the best course of action.

Interesting insect interaction

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Busy as bees in November

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 18, 2012| 1 Comment »

Last weekend was warm and sunny and the bees were very active again after a period of cold weather and little activity. In a short period of time I was able to see (and photograph) several different varieties of bees. In addition to the familiar honeybees and bumblebees, I encountered what I thought was a new kind of bee.

Well, actually, it looked more like a hover fly (or flower fly), but the coloration was different. (Check out one of my earlier postings to see a photo of a hover fly.)  The unknown insect, featured in the third photograph below, acted a lot like a bee, buzzing from flower to flower feeding on nectar or pollen. I am still not completely certain about its identification, but it looks like it might be a Yellowjacket Hover Fly (Milesia virginiensis), a mimic for the Southern Yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa), according to information at Bugguide.

The weather has turned cold again and I may not see these insects again until spring, but it was nice to have an encore performance before the show is closed for the season.

Honeybee in November

Bumblebee in November

Yellowjacket Hover Fly in November

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Insects on a white flower

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on November 14, 2012| 8 Comments »

We had a few warm days this past weekend and there were a lot more insects around the still-flowering plants than there had been the week before. I focused a lot of my attention on some white flowers, where bees were active (I may post some bee photos later), but my eyes were especially drawn to a tiny fly with red eyes, clear and black patterned wings and a shaggy-looking body. Despite his diminutive stature, I managed to get a pretty clear shot of him. If you click on the photo, you can even see the hairs on his head. I searched the internet and couldn’t seem to find and identification of my little fly. His wings look a little like a scorpion fly, but the tail is all wrong.

The other photo is a spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata), a photogenic insect whose photo I’ve posted several times already. I especially like the pose of the beetle as he is climbing up the flower. The photo also gives you an idea of the size differential between this beetle and the tiny fly.

Tiny fly on a white flower

Ain’t no mountain high enough…

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Last web standing

Posted in Landscape, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on November 13, 2012| 6 Comments »

I arrived early in the marsh on a cold fall morning when the dew and a touch of frost seemed to have combined to coat objects with a kind of frozen mist. I was hoping to find some large, beautiful spiders shining in the early morning light, as I had found repeatedly during the summer and early fall mornings. My initial scan found no spider webs at all, but suddenly I spotted one in the cattails. It was not large, but its rarity made it extra special. The structure is not very complex or symmetrical and the silk threads seem to be heavy-duty, rather than delicate. I wondered what kind of spider made such a web, but did not spot the maker of the web. Perhaps she’ll continue her handiwork for a little while longer—I’ll be checking each time I return to the marsh.

Last web standing in the fall

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cool insect antennae

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on November 11, 2012| 7 Comments »

The light was starting to fade when I spotted a large insect on a flower. I already had my macro lens on my camera and my tripod  was with me, so I thought I’d try to get some shots of the specimen.

To give myself a chance at a decent depth of field, I set the camera at f/18 and then dropped the ISO to 100 for the best possible quality. Finally, I decided to use my pop-up flash (at its lowest setting) to add a little light. I was in aperture priority mode, so I let the camera choose the shutter speed. I figured the shutter speed would be pretty slow, so I used the self-timer to minimize movement. The camera chose an exposure of 30 seconds.

Do you know how long 30 seconds feels as you check the insect to see if he is moving and hope that the wind will not blow? I took a couple of shots and got some pretty good results.  Before I show you the entire insect, I’ll show you a close-up of the face. The antennae are amazing and the eyes are pretty cool looking too.

Close-up shot of really cool insect

So, what kind of an insect is this? It is a Yellow-collared Scape Moth (Cisseps fulvicollis). Yes, for those of you interested in collar ID, I realize that it is more orange than yellow, but even Bugguide acknowledges that it would be more appropriate to call it “orange-collared.” You can’t help but notice the amazing antennae with teeth like a comb—the technical term for antennae like this is “pectinate.”

Here is a photo of the entire insect. Sharp-eyes readers will  notice that the first photo is merely a blow-up of a portion of this image. You can see the light shadow from the flash, but it seems to have helped reveal an amazing amount of detail. Surprisingly, it looks like neither the insect or the plant moved during the exposure.

Yellow-collared Scape Moth

I have a lot to learn about using a flash for extra illumination for macro shots, but this image convinced me that it can be beneficial, though I probably need to diffuse the light and use off-camera flash.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Newly emerged ladybug?

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 10, 2012| 8 Comments »

Last weekend, I took some shots of Multicolored Asian Lady Beetles (Harmonia axyridia) in the larval and pupal stage and discussed the phases of ladybug development in a post called Baby Ladybugs. Yesterday, I returned  to see if I could find any fully developed ladybugs that had been in pupae the last time I encountered them. (Yes, I realize I would not be able to recognize them individually, but it’s nice to imagine that we’re gradually getting to know each other.)

So, what happened? I left the shoot thinking that I had not seen any adult ladybugs, but when I looked at some of the photos on my computer of different pupae, I was uncertain. Right outside of an empty pupa shell in one of the photos is something that looks like an adult ladybug, if I squint my eyes, tilt my head, and use a little imagination. What do you think?

Newly emerged ladybug?

If you haven’t been following this story, let me catch you up with a couple of photos. (I feel like I’m doing an intro for a new television series, Lifestyles of the Ladybug.) Ladybugs start out as eggs and them become larvae. As they grow, they molt several times and each time they develop a new exoskeleton. Yesterday, I saw quite a few discarded skins that, at first glance, looked a lot like the larvae themselves. Here is what a ladybug larva looks like in a later phase of development. (I took some new shots of the larvae and pupae yesterday.) They are not as cute in this stage as they will become as adult ladybugs.

Ladybug larva

Once they are fully grown, the larvae enter into a pupal stage, somewhat akin to the cocoons into which caterpillars develop into butterflies. The pupae look a little bit like ladybugs themselves and are attached to leaves. While they are in this phase, the metamorphosis takes place in which they turn into ladybugs. Here is my favorite shots of a ladybug pupa.

Ladybug pupa

After about five days, a ladybug emerges from the pupa. According to ladybug-life-cycle.com, “When the metamorphosis is complete, the skin of the larvae will split open and the full grown ladybug will emerge, but it still won’t look like the ladybug that you know so well. It will look soft and pink or very pale for a couple of hours until its shell becomes hard.”

Was I really lucky enough to catch the ladybug just after it had emerged from the pupa? My response is a firm, “Maybe,” but others with more experience may be able to respond more definitively. Here is one last photo of the possible new ladybug, from a slightly different angle than the first photo, to help your deliberations.

Welcome to this world

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Looking into a flower

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on November 9, 2012| 7 Comments »

When I first saw this insect, my initial thought was to wonder about its identification—I still don’t have an answer to that quandary. My second thought was that it would be cool to try to take a photo looking into the flower from just over the edge of one row of  petals, which were standing almost straight up. I’m still a relative neophyte with my macro lens, and depth of field and critical focus are sometimes real problems.

I am pretty happy with the results I achieved in capturing images consistent with my mental picture.  The first photo is the closest to what I had in mind, but I also like the position of the insect in the second photo.

 

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Abstract shapes and colors

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Landscape, Macro Photography, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 8, 2012| 5 Comments »

Sometimes my eye is drawn to the shapes and colors and textures of objects more than to the objects themselves. The result can be a somewhat abstract looking photo, which is very different from what I usually shot. Here are couple of photos of that ilk from a trip last week to a local garden.

The first was taken looking through a ground-level weathered weathervane and the framing of the shot is just as it came out of the camera. I like the contrast between the light and the shadows and between the rust and the blurry natural colors in the background.

The second is a shot of a feathery looking yellow plant in which I narrowed the depth of field to isolated a few of the yellow needles and the reddish branch. I like the variations of color in the photo and the blurry repetitions of the foreground shapes and colors that can be found in the background.

Weathered weathervane

Abstract yellow

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spotted Cucumber Beetles in the fall

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on November 7, 2012| 6 Comments »

It seems that as long as plants are blooming, some insects, especially those considered to be pests, will continue to be active. This past weekend as I was looking at flowers at a local garden, I spotted a familiar insect, the Spotted Cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata). I consider this beetle to be attractive, with his different shades of green and multiple black spots, but recognize that it causes a lot of destruction (and you can see some of the petals of the flower that it has chewed through).

Several cucumber beetles were on the flowers and I was able to get some pretty good shots with my 100mm macro lens, a lens that has fallen into disuse as I have focused more of my attention on birds. The photos show the beetles in several different “poses”—I especially like the first one that seems to have caught the beetle as he is chewing on the flower. You may want to click on the photos to see higher resolution views.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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