I get Some Satisfaction
pyanez
Registered Users Posts: 212 Major grins
... listening to the Stones today so the tile seemed appropriate after my last post on trying to photograph these guys:
After three consecutive days and six visits (about 15 minutes each) of trying, I finally got a few shots that I'm pretty happy with of some shield bugs on a pretty vine in a neighborhood garden. Why so many tries? Well a few reason...
(1) these guys don't seem to like being photographed. Once I was spotted, they would start circling under and over the leaves and pods. And then if I was still around they would just as quickly drop into the very tall grass and disappear.
(2) the last few days have been windy and the plant they were on was moving quite a bit, which made it very hard to shoot macro.
(3) I'm just not that great of a photographer and fairly rusty it seems as on a couple of attempts I made some really rookie mistakes. DOF too shallow, exposure, etc, etc
What was really cool about these outings was that I just observed these guys and learned a ton. I actually came to some interesting theories about their life cycle and nymph stages -- much of which was sort of correct but wrong as well. Then after a day of looking I would do a a little Wikipedia/Google research and learn much. I highly recommend this sequence rather than research first then watching - much more fun the way I did it, discovery and all.
You can see much larger versions of these on my photo journal <b><a href="http://www.modernstills.com/Other/outloud/7397959_hzz7y/1/652015540_j3QN">Here</a></b>
A few of the mid instar nymphs (my favorite amazing colors and textures but no wings):
(hiding under a leaf -- they liked greeting them me like this, and if they didn't drop into the grass almost immediately, they would eventually warm up to my presence)
(crop of the mouth parts which make this a true bug - amazing engineering on this - and not sure I would have ever understood how they worked without seeing it)
An adult showing off his wings (these guys had much more drab coloring, but hell if you can fly...)
(and finally what I think is an intermediate stage between the above - drabber color but no wings - of course I could be completely wrong)
***** Beware, I really know very little about insects in general and specially about these bugs. Take everything I say here with a grain of salt and then add a spoonful of it. I'm sure that most of what I say is not fit for a 6th grade class report. Kids you have been warned!
After three consecutive days and six visits (about 15 minutes each) of trying, I finally got a few shots that I'm pretty happy with of some shield bugs on a pretty vine in a neighborhood garden. Why so many tries? Well a few reason...
(1) these guys don't seem to like being photographed. Once I was spotted, they would start circling under and over the leaves and pods. And then if I was still around they would just as quickly drop into the very tall grass and disappear.
(2) the last few days have been windy and the plant they were on was moving quite a bit, which made it very hard to shoot macro.
(3) I'm just not that great of a photographer and fairly rusty it seems as on a couple of attempts I made some really rookie mistakes. DOF too shallow, exposure, etc, etc
What was really cool about these outings was that I just observed these guys and learned a ton. I actually came to some interesting theories about their life cycle and nymph stages -- much of which was sort of correct but wrong as well. Then after a day of looking I would do a a little Wikipedia/Google research and learn much. I highly recommend this sequence rather than research first then watching - much more fun the way I did it, discovery and all.
You can see much larger versions of these on my photo journal <b><a href="http://www.modernstills.com/Other/outloud/7397959_hzz7y/1/652015540_j3QN">Here</a></b>
A few of the mid instar nymphs (my favorite amazing colors and textures but no wings):
(hiding under a leaf -- they liked greeting them me like this, and if they didn't drop into the grass almost immediately, they would eventually warm up to my presence)
(crop of the mouth parts which make this a true bug - amazing engineering on this - and not sure I would have ever understood how they worked without seeing it)
An adult showing off his wings (these guys had much more drab coloring, but hell if you can fly...)
(and finally what I think is an intermediate stage between the above - drabber color but no wings - of course I could be completely wrong)
***** Beware, I really know very little about insects in general and specially about these bugs. Take everything I say here with a grain of salt and then add a spoonful of it. I'm sure that most of what I say is not fit for a 6th grade class report. Kids you have been warned!
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Comments
pity the whites are blown in #2/3 maybe need a bit more diffusion & - fec
phil
moderator - Holy Macro
Goldenorfe’s Flickr Gallery
Goldenorfe photography on Smugmug
Phils Photographic Adventures Blog
And you are absolutely right about it being fun to find out more about the insect you get in front of your lens. I have bought a whole load of books on the subject (insects and natural history in general) which I pick up to read again and again.
I never understood that large group of macro photographers who don't have a first clue about the insects they shoot nor are willing to learn more. You might as well shoot coins then.
But that's just my two cents..
All shot with my Canon 60mm EF-S between 1:1 (actually 1:0.9) and ~ 1:3 @ f6.3 to f13. Hand-held on an XSi body and using the built in flash. Second photo (and crop) are from four focus stacked photos - by hand using PS.
Not certain but suspect the last shot is one that has just shed it's skin - they can take a while to colour up after the new skin has dried.
Coming to the conclusion you must be a Rolling Stones fan ?
Brian v.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/
http://www.lordv.smugmug.com/
Got bored with digital and went back to film.