Posted in Bugs, Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon Rebel XT, ladybug, macro, rain, spotless on August 27, 2012| 6 Comments »
Who knew that the spots on a ladybug’s shell were water-soluble? That seems to be the case with this ladybug, who has only one remaining spot and a few drops of water, perhaps where other spots used to be.
Spotless ladybug–well almost spotless
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, caterpillar, orange, pattern on August 26, 2012| 8 Comments »
I love the graphic black-and-white pattern on this caterpillar that I photographed yesterday at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, VA. The monochromatic pattern is wonderfully accented by the orange tufts with long white bristles. In this case, I am not too concerned about identifying this caterpillar—I am simply enjoying its colors, textures, and patterns.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, tagged butterfly, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, Danaus plexippus, green spring gardens, monarch butterfly, purple flower on August 24, 2012| 3 Comments »
Have you ever gone through your photos so quickly that you missed your best shot?
Earlier this week I was really excited because I had finally gotten some shots of Monarch butterflies and I posted a number of photos of them. As I looked over my photos from Monday again this evening, I saw a shot that surprised me. It surprised me because it was really good and it surprised me because I missed it the first time.
Other than using unsharp mask, this is the image that came out of my camera without any cropping at all. (Naturally I downsized the resolution for the blog.) I like the composition, I like the focus, and I like the background.
It doesn’t take much to make me happy.
Monarch butterfly (click for higher resolution)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged butterfly, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, Clouded Sulphur butterfly, Colias philodice, green spring gardens on August 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Here’s a shot from this past Monday of a Clouded Sulphur butterfly (Colias philodice) at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA.
Clouded Sulphur butterfly
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon Rebel XT, flower, purple, purple flower on August 23, 2012| 2 Comments »
This unidentified little purple flower attracted my eye when I was shooting at a local garden with some friends. I had my macro lens on my camera and I had my tripod with me, so I carefully set up the shot the way my mentor, Cindy Dyer, has taught me to do. I tried to isolate my subject and keep a relatively unobstructed background. I shot at f16 to have a decent depth of field.
The final image is simple, modest, and pleasant, like the flower itself.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged buttterfly, Cabbage White butterfly, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon Rebel XT, Pieris rapae, red flower, white butterfly on August 21, 2012| 3 Comments »
Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) on unidentified flower today at Green Spring Gardens, Alexandria, VA. Cabbage White butterflies are very common, but I find them to possess a delicate beauty in their elegant simplicity.
Cabbage White butterfly on a red flower
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged acrobatic, amber, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, dragonfly, Eastern Amberwing, Eastern Amberwing dragonfly, green spring gardens, gymnastics, mating on August 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »
I am never sure if it’s appropriate to post photos of mating insects, but decided to overlook my inhibitions and post this unusual photo of a pair of mating Eastern Amberwing dragonflies (Perithemis tenera).
Normally I have trouble getting good shots of these dragonflies because of their small size. According to BugGuide, their total length typically is 21-24 mm long (about 3/4-1 inch). In addition, they always seem to land on plants that away from the shoreline (unlike the Blue Dasher dragonflies that seem to like the plants at the very edge of the water).
This past Friday I was photographing dragonflies with Cindy Dyer at a local garden (Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA) when this pair dropped from the sky and landed on a lily pad right in front of me. I happened to be shooting with a telephoto zoom so I had to back up a little to try to get a picture in focus. For those who are technically-minded, the exposure was shot at f11, 1/50 second, ISO 400, at 179mm of a 55-250mm zoom lens.
The photo is not perfectly sharp, but it gives an interesting view into the mating habits of Eastern Amberwing dragonflies. I don’t know my dragonfly anatomy very well, so it took some research to figure out who is who in this photo. The female is the one with the brown spots on her wings and she is holding on to the male’s tail. I think I’ll stop my description there and leave the rest to your imagination.
One thing that this photo taught me is that dragonflies are a whole lot more flexible and gymnastic than I realized!
Mating Eastern Amberwing dragonflies (click for a higher resolution view)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria, butterfly, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, dried up leaf, green spring gardens, Red Admiral butterfly, Vanessa atalanta on August 19, 2012| 4 Comments »
I took this shot of a Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA on 17 August 2012. It was a little surprising to me that the butterfly chose such a shriveled up, dead leaf as the place to stop, rather than a flower or bush. In a lot of ways, though, I like the simpler setting. It allows me to focus on the beauty of the butterfly without any competing attention from a colorful flower.
The colors and patterns of the Red Admiral butterfly would look good on a necktie. The colors are bright, but not gaudy, and the abstract patterns convey a sense of sophistication.
Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Blue Dasher dragonfly, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, damselfly, green spring gardens, lotus, odonata, Pachydiplax longipennis on August 18, 2012| 6 Comments »
Sometimes when I open my images on my computer I am pleasantly surprised. I was going through my images from yesterday afternoon and came upon this one.
Click on the image for greater resolution and details
I had been focusing on shooting dragonflies that had stopped to pose on various objects. In this case I am certain that I was looking at the Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) perched on the rolled-up leaf of a lotus plant and never noticed the damselfly in the photo. The damselfly appears to be scaling the leaf, ready to do battle with the dragonfly. The dragonfly seems to be looking down with a little concern, wondering who is trying to challenge his position. When I compare the relative sizes of the two insects, I can’t help but think of the Biblical story of the boy David taking on the giant Goliath. In this case it would essentially be a family feud, since both dragonflies and damselflies are part of the Odonata family.
It’s a lesson to me to check my images carefully when I process them—there may be all kinds of hidden treasures waiting to be discovered.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, wildlife, tagged Blue Dasher dragonfly, green spring gardens, Pachydiplax longipennis on August 18, 2012| 1 Comment »
My friend and photography mentor Cindy Dyer and I went out yesterday to photograph dragonflies at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA, a local garden that is my favorite place to go when the urge to shoot some photos overwhelms me. We were often taking photos side by side. I was really beneficial for me to watch how Cindy, an experienced professional, approached the photographic task, what things drew her attention, and the way in which she composed her shots. At one point I even got to put my memory card into her camera, a Nikon D300 with a Tamron 180mm macro lens, and shoot for a while. It was definitely a big change from my Canon Rebel XT with a 55-250mm telephoto with which I was shooting at the time. Her set-up was a lot heavier but had a much brighter, bigger viewfinder, and faster focusing.
We were both excited when one Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis), the most common dragonfly that we saw all day, decided to use a lotus seed pod as his home base. He would periodically fly away, but always seemed to come back to the seed pod. She and I were both able to get shots of this dragonfly against the backdrop of a lotus leaf. The light colored circular object you can see is the center of that leaf. I love the crimped edges of this particular pod—it reminds me of a home-made pie crust.
This photo came out so good that I though it probably had been shot with her camera. However, when I checked out the RAW file information I realized it was from my camera. For those who might wonder about the exposure, it was shot at f11, 1/125 sec, ISO 800, at 163mm of the 55-250mm zoom lens. If you are interested in checking out Cindy’s comparable shot (her’s is even sharper) as well as some other wonderful shots she’s taken of dragonflies the last couple of days, check out her blog postings.
Blue Dasher dragonfly on a lotus seed pod
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged camouflage, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, duckweek, frog, green spring gardens, nature, pond on August 18, 2012| 9 Comments »
Yesterday I was at a nearby pond photographing mostly dragonflies. After shooting them I decided to make a quick walk around the pond (it’s only a small man-made pond) to see what other subjects I could find. I managed to find a colorful butterfly, a small green heron, and some lotus flowers that I will post later, assuming the photos came out ok.
The subject that really caught my attention, though, was a frog. Really? Yes, really.
I was leaning over the green-colored pond water, gazing at a distant dragonfly when I happened to glance down to my right. There, almost camouflaged in what my friends say is duckweed, was a semi-submerged frog. I was able to get my camera’s lens down pretty low and got in close and captured an image I really like. The frog’s gold-ringed eyes shine out clearly amidst all of the individual particles of duckweed that cover much of his expressionless face.
There are a couple of blades of grass that were partially blocking my view to the frog but they blurred out and are not really much of a problem. After I took some shots, though, I decided to try to carefully remove one of those offending blades. As I made the effort, the frog, who had remained motionless up to then, literally leaped into action. He sprung powerfully into the air and skipped across the surface of the water, like a rock throw by a dad showing his son how to skip rocks.
I was so startled by his sudden motion that I almost fell over into the water. Later in the day I did end up getting wet when I belatedly noticed that one foot was planted in the water while I was intently focusing on composing a shot. I guess that’s the price of being a photographer.
Hiding frog
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon Rebel XT, gardening, Meadowla, pattern, pink, pink flower, tiny flower on August 15, 2012| 9 Comments »
I have to admit that I am really challenged when it comes to identifying flowers. I just don’t know where to start in researching them. So I apologize in advance for not knowing the name of this flower.
I spotted this distinctive small flower when I was shooting with some friends at a local botanical garden. The outside of the flower was not really that unusual, but I was immediately attracted to the inside of the flower. The shape and unusual pattern on the inside reminded me of a pleated curtain installed by a designer who was color-challenged. The color and pattern of the inside did not seem to go well with the outside (or maybe I just watch too much Home and Garden TV).
I like that I was able to isolate and photograph this unusual flower which for now remains nameless for me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, Common Garter snake, Eastern Ribbon snake, garter snake, Huntley Meadows Park, snake, snake eye, Thamnophis sauritus, Thamnophis sirtalis, wildlife on August 15, 2012| 2 Comments »
Some days it seems like anything that catches my eye is a potentially viable subject. This was the case last Friday when I was walking in a marsh in a local park and came upon this snake. Much of his body was concealed, but the upper body was exposed enough for me to attempt a head-and-shoulders portrait. Oh, wait a minute, I guess a snake does not really have shoulders, so I guess I was attempting a head-and-neck portrait.
The snake was beautiful in his own way, with wonderfully textured skin and stunning gold accents around his eyes. I thought he was probably a garter snake, but after a bit of research I am now convinced he is an Eastern Ribbon snake (Thamnophis sauritus), not a Common Garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis). If you are at all interested in the differences, there is a wonderful article entitled “Telling Garter Snakes and Ribbon Snakes Apart” at http://www.gartersnake.info (yes, that’s the actual web address).
As I was admiring his beauty, he may have decided to remind me that he is a predator as suddenly he opened his mouth wide, really wide. I was looking through the lens at him and the effect was magnified because his head filled a good portion of the frame of the viewfinder. My first thought was that he was sizing me up as a potential snack. I had the presence of mind to snap a picture before his mouth snapped shut. A vine covers part of his mouth in the photo, but I decided to include it to show you how wide his mouth really is.
Now I understand how he is able to do things like swallow frogs whole. I’m glad I’m a lot bigger than a frog.
Eastern Ribbon Snake Posing for Portrait
Eastern Ribbon Snake Sizing Me Up
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged American Painted Lady butterfly, butterfly, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, glow, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, redhead, Vanessa virginiensis on August 14, 2012| 2 Comments »
Prior to this past weekend I had never seen an American Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis) and now it seems like they are everywhere, if you define “everywhere” as two separate locations within a few days.
Previously I posted a photo of the American Painted Lady butterfly in beautiful soft light in a shot taken from the side. On Sunday, just as I was getting ready to leave Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia, I saw a flash of color and realized that it was a beautiful butterfly. Upon closer examination I recognized the now familiar coloration of the American Painted Lady.
She settled onto a plant and seemed to pose for me, as though she could put aside the normal activities of feeding for a moment. The late afternoon light was behind her and was still bright, causing some of the highlights to be blown out. However, the light also gave her a glow, partially illuminated her wings, and highlighted her reddish hair. The angle of he shot provides an unusual, but pleasing, view of this butterfly.
The shot may not be perfect, but you can’t help but admire the beauty of this American Painted Lady.
The lady is a redhead
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged angle, butterfly, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, lighting, Papilio glaucus on August 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »
The angle of the lighting and the unusual framing of this photograph of a female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) set it apart from other photos I have taken of the same species. (See my postings from 8 August and 21 July for other shots of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.)
The light is uneven and there are areas that are not sharp, but I like the overall effect of the photograph.
Click on the image to see more details.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, wildlife, tagged American Lady butterfly, American Painted Lady butterfly, butterfly, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, Painted Lady, Painted lady butterfly, pink, Vanessa cardui, Vanessa virginiensis on August 12, 2012| 4 Comments »
Today I photographed an American Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis), which is also know as an American Lady.
At first I thought it was a Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui), a type that I had previously photographed (see my posting from 3 August). A closer examination and some internet research showed it was not the same butterfly. You can find more information in Wikipedia but the easiest identification features for me were the eyespots on the ventral side—the American Painted Lady has two large eyespots and the Painted Lady has four smaller ones.
I learned a good lesson today too about the need to carry a camera with me as often as possible. I took this photo at the outdoor sales area at a local Home Depot store.
American Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon Rebel XT, caterpillar, colorful, fuzzy, hairy, Huntley Meadows Park, spikey, spiny on August 11, 2012| 4 Comments »
I came across this colorful specimen while on a nature walk at a local marsh. He was close enough to the edge of the path that I was able to set up my tripod and shoot with my macro lens, so I was able to get a reasonable depth of field.
I don’t have the slightest idea what kind of a caterpillar this is, but I really like his colors and all of the hairy, spiny things sticking out of his body (even if they made focusing a bit of a challenge).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon Rebel XT, daddy longlegs, harvestman, prey, spider, web on August 11, 2012| 3 Comments »
When I came upon this scene this afternoon I couldn’t help but think of some blog posts that I had read recently. Steven Schwartzman had a beautiful artistic image of a damselfly caught in a spider’s web entitled “Three Orbs, Three Colors.” Daniel Proud had a wonderfully informative Four part series on Harvestmen (Daddy Longlegs) in late July that included colorful images of different harvestmen. Both of those bloggers caused me to be much more attentive today as I took in my surroundings during a nature walk at a local marsh.
I managed to capture an image of the spider moving in on his captured prey, a daddy longlegs, that had become stuck in the spider’s web. Some may find the photo to be a little disturbing, but to me it is a simple fact of natural life.
Shortly after taking this photo, I moved in a little closer and must have disturbed the web. The spider quickly climbed up the web and took refuge inside the curled-up leaf. I waited for quite some time but the spider did not reappear.
I think the daddylongs was still alive when I left him, but his prospects do not appear to be good.
Caught in the web
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged black shield bug, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, encounter, insects, stink bug, wasp on August 10, 2012| 5 Comments »
Every now and then when I am focusing intently on an insect and trying to set up a shot, other insects creep into the frame. Only later, when I am looking at the photos on my computer screen, do I realize that they are there. My friend, Cindy Dyer, likes to call them “bonus bugs.”
This morning as I was looking at some recent wasp photos, I realized that there was a black shield bug in one of them. The shot is not that great technically, but I think that the combination of the two very different insects makes for an interesting photo, particularly because the wasp seems to have noticed the shield bug.
To me the moment is reminiscent of the bar scene in the Star Wars movie in which all kinds of different alien creatures are interacting. Click on the link to a You Tube video if you’ve never seen this classic piece of film history.
This photo really is begging for a clever caption and I’d welcome any suggestions.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged attitude, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, cool, insect, sunglasses, wasp on August 10, 2012| 6 Comments »
Bees and butterflies seem to get all the love. Where is the love for the lowly wasp? Maybe wasps need a public relations firm to give them a new image.
This photo from a recent shoot suggests one approach to that new image—an edgy, radical image. The wasp already appears to be sporting a mohawk hairstyle and large, dark sunglasses. Some piercings and a few tattoos and the new image would be complete.
The result—a cool new image for the wasp to match the attitude he already possesses.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, wildlife, tagged bee, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, carpenter bee, flower, nectar robbing, salvia on August 10, 2012| 3 Comments »
Whenever I am shooting flowers of any sort I am inevitably drawn to bees. I love watching them flying and hovering, back and forth and in and out of the flowers. Sometimes a bee seems to be systematically covering a group of flowers and other times he seems to be choosing randomly where to touch down before moving on, relentlessly in motion.
Here are a couple of recent shots of carpenter bees on a plant that I have been told is called salvia. I love its deep purple color and simple flowers. The first shot is a closeup of a bee. The second one gives you a better idea of the shape of the flower. Note that in both cases the bee is getting the nectar from the side of the flower and is therefore not pollinating it.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Photography, tagged basil, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, flower, flowering basil, herb, macro photography, senses on August 9, 2012| 3 Comments »
It was after 7:00 pm yesterday evening and my urge to take photos was still not satisfied. I had wandered through the garden of my neighbor, Cindy Dyer, whose photographs and flowers are a constant source of inspiration, but had come up empty, except for some shots of a striped cucumber beetle.
I decided to check out her front porch herb garden to see if there were any interesting bugs to shoot, but there were none. My hope was fading along with the day’s light when I glanced down at a container next to her front door and saw some tiny pink and white flowers growing against a backdrop of darker leaves. I had a subject, though I was clueless about its identity.
I doubted that I would be able to capture the beauty of the little flower, but my tripod and macro lens came to my rescue. I was so excited when I pulled up the images on my computer that I immediately called Cindy to ask her what kind of pink flower she was growing on her porch. She seemed a bit confused by my question, because she couldn’t recall any flowers growing on her porch.
Open laptop in hand, I walked over to her house to show her the image and pointed out where I had shot it. All at once her eyes lit up as she realized what I had photographed. It was basil that had started to flower. I was a little incredulous, because I didn’t know that basil had flowers. Cindy then crushed a leaf and held it to my nose.
My nose revealed what my eyes and my mind had not—it was unmistakably basil.
Tiny basil flower
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, wildlife, tagged Acalymma vittata, beetle, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon Rebel XT, humor, striped cucumber beetle on August 9, 2012| 6 Comments »
Last month I first encountered the Striped Cucumber Beetle (Acalymma vittata) in a neighbor’s garden. I was immediately taken by his cool, sophisticated, man-about-town look. The black and light yellow stripes down his back make him look like he is dressed formally. The translucent orange high collar, though, adds a splash of color to his ensemble and causes him to really stand out in a crowd. This well-dressed dandy, however, has a deep dark secret. Beneath the surface of this Dr. Jekyll lurks a Mr. Hyde.
I ran into him today in my friend’s garden. Previously, the garden had been green and flowering. Now the garden looked like a war zone, with signs of devastation everywhere. The leaves of the plants had all been ravaged and looked like the image below.
So I confronted the striped cucumber beetle about what had happened to the leaves. I asked him to swear an oath to tell the hole truth, and nothing but the truth. Initially he resisted and then he admitted to a hole in one. Finally he confessed and named the other beetles who had participated. The judge, however, may be lenient with him because he took personal responsibility for his actions and acknowledged that the hole thing had been his idea.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged bee, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, centered, flower, green spring gardens on August 8, 2012| 3 Comments »
The subject is simple and familiar, a bee and a flower. My eye was drawn, however, to the way this bee had latched on to the entire center of this flower in a full-bodied bee hug. The X-shape of the splayed legs and the radiating petals combine to produce a graphic effect that goes beyond the literal subject matter.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged butterfly, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, close-up, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, male swallowtail, nature, patterns on August 8, 2012| 4 Comments »
Usually my photos are realistic, almost hyper-realistic in their macro details. Sometimes, though, I get excited by a portion of an image and the patterns and lines contained therein.
Yesterday I took some close-ups of a male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. Thanks to my telephoto lens the butterfly more than filled the frame. After a bit of tweaking I ended up with an image that is almost abstract, with lots of interesting lines and shapes. You can still tell that it is a butterfly and a flower, but it has a different feel than my other butterfly shots.
I find it fun to try something completely different from time to time.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged bee, bumblebee, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, comb, comb-over, flower, haiir, trim, yellow flower on August 7, 2012| 4 Comments »
Some bees are hairy and some bees are really hairy.
Seriously, this bee looks like he could use a beauty makeover. At a minimum he needs a trip to a barber or hair stylist to trim away some of that excess hair. Look at his legs, his forehead, and his neckline. Yikes! The worst area may be the swirly hair on his back. I haven’t seen anything that bad since the days when the comb-over was a popular hair style.
Maybe he is wearing his hair long to conceal the fact that he is going thin on his back. If that’s the case, I have news for you, Mr. Bee. “You’re not fooling anyone.” It’s time to get with modern styles, perhaps, and shave it all off.
What would a bald bee look like?
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bee…
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged bee, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, flower, Houdini, stuck insect, tight spot on August 7, 2012| 7 Comments »
Does a bee ever get stuck when he flies (or climbs) into a flower with a narrow opening?
This question arose this afternoon when I watched a bee enter a flower so deeply that only his legs were visible. He remained in that position for some time and then he somehow was able to get back out of the flower. I am still not sure if he was stuck or how he was able to extricate himself. From my perspective, it was a feat worthy of an insect Houdini.
I shot a series of photos that illustrate the whole process. In this case the old adage is true about a picture being worth a thousand words. You will notice that I changed my vantage point part way through the shoot. (I had plenty of time while the bee was inside the flower.) I would also draw your special attention to the details of the last photo in which the bee has to act like a contortionist to get his legs out of the tight spot.
Who knew that bees were so flexible?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon Rebel XT, flowers, nature, raindrops on August 6, 2012| 5 Comments »
Wait a minute, that’s not a rose! You got me there, but raindrops on flowers are still one of my favorite things. Can I help it if I love “The Sound of Music?” The word “raindrops” immediately conjures up visions of Julie Andrews singing “My Favorite Things,” including “raindrops on roses.”
This photo is a couple of months old but is intended to be a response to the rainy weather we are finally having. It is also a response to Another Perspective Photography’s posting asserting that she is not a bug photographer.
I am proud to state that I am a bug photographer who often shoots other elements of nature and only occasionally photographs people. That may change, but for the moment it’s where my interests lead me. This photo, however, is intended to be evidence that I am not “just”a bug photographer.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged bee, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, carpenter bee, flower, insect, nature, nature photography, nectar robbing, reflections, sky on August 6, 2012| 4 Comments »
You might think that I am going to talk philosophically about a bee, but my title is meant to be taken literally. If you click on the photo, you can actually see reflections of the sky and bushes on the shiny surface of the abdomen end of this bee.
I am pretty sure that this is a carpenter bee for two main reasons. First, the abdomen area is shiny and hairless, unlike a bumblebee who is more hairy. Secondly, the bee is sucking nectar out of the side of the flower rather than going in from the front, a process sometimes referred to as “nectar robbing.” Carpenter bees are notorious for circumventing pollination in certain plants by slitting open the side of the flower.
Perhaps others can see more reflections on the bee. It’s like looking at clouds and trying to see shapes—it’s a lot of fun and everyone sees something different. Life is like that sometimes.
Click the photo to see more details
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, damselfly, dragonfly, green spring gardens, insect, leaf, nature on August 5, 2012| 6 Comments »
I came across this tiny damselfly yesterday when I was visiting a local garden in the late afternoon. Initially I spotted her when she was flying and I was thrilled when she chose to land in a spot where I could photograph her. I apologize to the experts for not identifying the type but I find it impossible to identify damselflies (and even dragonflies are not easy).
Damselflies are particularly challenging for me to photograph because they are so long and skinny. If I photograph them from the side, the eye is often out of focus and if I try to shoot head-on, depth of field is an issue.
I ended up with a photo that I shot from above and to the side. Somehow I managed to reduce the composition to the damselfly, the branch to which she is clinging, and a couple of leaves.
I find special beauty in that kind of simplicity in nature and in my photography.
Unidentified damselfly
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Blue Dasher dragonfly, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, dragonfly, dramatic, nature photography, Pachydiplax longipennis on August 4, 2012| 5 Comments »
Four weeks ago today my friend and mentor Cindy Dyer helped me to start this blog. She has been teaching me and encouraging me as I seek to express myself through my photography. I owe her my thanks.
Over the past month I’ve tried a lot of different things: short posts and long ones; serious posts and funny ones; scientific posts and artistic ones; and scarey posts and beautiful ones. Some have been successful and others less so. The best thing about this blog, however, is that I have encountered a wide array of fellow bloggers. You have taught me so much and supported me with words of encouragement and inspiration. Thanks to all of you.
My first blog posting featured a Blue Dasher dragonfly, one of my favorite subjects. It somehow seems appropriate to feature another one as I celebrate my four-week anniversary. I photographed this Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) in late June at Green Spring Garden, a county-run facility that has a pond as well as a garden. It is only a few miles from my house and has been a kind of laboratory for me as I have worked on my photography.
Today is a hot, humid day here in the Washington DC area and I have stayed indoors poring over some of my images from the past month or so. I came across this one and after I adjusted the exposure a bit I realized that it was a pretty good shot. The lighting and background help to make it stand out from some of my other dragonfly photos (and I have lots). I uploaded a higher resolution image to allow viewers to see some more of the details, including the “eyelashes” of the dragonfly. Be sure to click on the image.
Click on the photo for a more detailed view of the dragonfly
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 