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I don't know why a damn bug can be so interesting to me but I kind of enjoy these dragonflies.


This one on our son's thumb sort of started the interest in these bugs.









I've been looking for one of those big blue ones to try to get a few shots of, no luck so far.

Nice shots!

They're all good, but wow!

I like dragonflies and damselflies too Dave! Great macro subjects.

Here are a couple I found on the 'net and I use them as screensavers... They look impressive filling a 24 inch LCD screen!

A Sympetrum ambiguum:



A Pachydiplex longipennis:



Both these images are reduced in size by our board software, so right click and save them to disk to get a better look at them.

I sure wish I had the equipment and skills of this guy Thomas Shahan! Google his name and you will find a lot of other nice macro photos by him, including a lot of spider close ups like this one:

(a Phidippus cardinalis for any biologists in the crowd -- a type of jumping spider for the rest!

Hey Kamerad_Les -- you getting this last one?

John

Thanks.

The stupid bugs aren't nearly as interesting in person. But you snap a close pic and all the sudden it's kind of an interesting thing to look at lol!

Holy crap!!! Those are awesome!! Talk about color!! like a bag of damn skittles lol!!

We don't have a macro lens yet, these were shot with a T3i through a 24-105 as still as I could hold by hand at around 1.5'

Probably not the right lens for this but it's what we've got for now

Dave,
Awesome images. I can never get them to sit still long enough for me to get a shot.

Thanks, I felt like I had kind of a rainman/forest gump thing going on chasing these damn bugs around waiting for them to land lol!



We do have some really cool blue ones that I see from time to time, never when a person has a camera handy though.

Cool dragonflies, Dave!

Jpb - Holy crap on those macros!! [cracking up at Dave's skittles reference] LoL

Neat images and tough subjects. as they are not known for casually posing for extended periods. My favorite is the jumping spider.

That thing doesn't even look real lol!! That guy's got skeels... I mean where do you even find stuff like that to try and photograph? Those Shahan photos are really something, lets you see what it would be like to be face to face with those bugs at their scale.

Eric, 1minute and Dave:

I sure wish I could approach that Shahan guy's work -- he really nails the technical aspects (obviously!) but he has a real artist's eye as well.

This is him doing his thing:



Here are few more of his images.

If you are using Windows 7, just right click on the image and select "save as desktop background" -- or right click and save on your hard disk so that you can open them with a program that will show you the full resolution (our board resizes them down, and the images are WAY better than you would otherwise see!).





The "eyes" have it:





One last Odonata:


John

bonus points for duct tape, lots of duct tape

those are amazing photos.

Won't that blue tape on his watchband scare the spiders, bugs and insects away?

The patterns and colors of the compound eyes are cool.

Fantastic pics! I love the 3rd shot...it appears smiling. Lol

Wendy

Those are awesome!

lol! I had to go back and look but he does look like he's smiling, or she, or what ever.

Very cool images.

It seems the focal plane is off a bit in most of them though. Might want to increase the f-stop a bit.

Yes. I'm hoping the wife will get into the macro stuff. I got her a true 100 mm macro and a ring flash, but she's yet to exercise it.

One can safely bet his life though, that she will not be crawling around doing spiders. It gives her the shivers just to see one let alone get closer.


Northern Dave:
Think of his potential if he was to go with blue electricians tape.

blue tape with his skills... the possibilities are endless.

So you got a 100mm macro, I take it that's a "prime"? What's the aperture?

And what is it that makes a macro a macro lens?

canon?

A true macro can at least render a 1 to 1 ratio. That is the image on the sensor or film will be the same size as the subject. Of course when we project or blow up that image it becomes huge.

It's a: Canon Macro lens - 100 mm - F/2.8 - Canon EF with image stabilization.

A benefit I've noticed is that one does not have to be in near physical contact with his subject. An issue back in my film days with my equipment was that I was so close to the subject that it was unavoidably shaded, and light was an issue. A ring flash, however, generates enough light for one to stop down and maximize depth of field.

They are great for snapping images of people too, as one can do quite well without getting into someones face.

cool, thanks for the explaination. I did research that very lense yesterday and read a review at thedigitalpicture, they spoke very highly of this very same lens you have.

a new bug.

very windy evening, best shot I could manage handholding the cam above my head.

Hi guys (Dave in particular!)

I hope I am not beating a dead horse too much here, but...



I found this video showing how to do insect macro photography by the guy who captures the nice images that I posted (Thomas Shahan). He uses pretty cheap equipment too!

He is truly an expert with duct tape -- and photography!



Colour me impressed -- you will be too! Trust me and set aside 7 minutes to watch this!

Double click this, then watch in full screen to get a better look than watching the small version within our webpage.

John

Thanks very much John I'm going to let that load and come back to it in a bit so I can watch it.

Dammit John!! now you've got me researching reverse lanse adaptors, ext rings etc.. Duck tape I have... but that's about all I've got going for me lol!!

Lots of bad influences here on the 'Fire!

The evil denizens here have me within a half inch of buying an expensive hand forged knife with Damascus blade (see my thread "Help me chose the material for my knife scales" thread HERE: I need another knife like a fish needs a bicycle!



Anyway, I found the movie when a student passed my office and noticed my screensaver (a 24 inch monitor filled by just the eyes of a spider!). He wanted to learn more, and I found the movie when trying to find the original site I found the still images on.

At least reversing rings and extension tubes are quite cheap though (no optics in them).

John

I should just stop tossing these out here as my image quality is fair at best, but I thought this red dragon fly was pretty cool.

Dave,

I like it! Great colour contrast between the body and the background.

John

Very nicely done!

I like my dragon flies (mostly because I see them storming the skies eating skeeters in the evenings ) but MrsND showed me once again yesterday why it's her camera, and not my camera



Oh, she also snapped this pic of a nice dragonfly that seemed attracted to her sandle strap colors.

Great detail!

I think she's got a bee fetish.



Probably because she knows I'm allergic to bees, that's why she likes them so much lol!

This bee pic is wonderful!

oldies but goodies

I really like the picture of the wasps.

They look like they are posing!

John

no kidding that's an awesome picture. They look very "stingy" though.. youch.

One from last night.

Dragonfly season is coming to an end but Pam managed this nice shot of a blue dragonfly eating a smaller bug on a railroad tie out at our deer camp on Saturday.

One of the most amazing "nature show" I've ever witnessed involved dragonflies at Henry Coe State Park in California. We backpacked down into a dry valley that had a small running stream, with a large pool where we camped. I was filling water bottles from the pool when the dragonflies emerged from whereever they hide during the heat of the day. Must've been a dozen or so - some in colors that I'd never seen here in KY - and they were all skimming just above the surface of the water in a hypnotic, almost-dance-like pattern. I swear I think they were doing perfectly choreographed Figure 8s as they fed on smaller flying insects. Probably watched them for a half hour or so, until it started getting closed to dusk and all the dragonflies vanished as quickly as they'd arrived. It's then that the bats came out, and began flying those same aerial patterns. If ever I've wished I had a high-end camera, that was it.

those wasps were nested under the lid of my lp gas tank,i went to check the amount used and they all turned to look at me. i went back to the house and got camera and raised the lid again,then on cue they all turned to stare at me just like before.

Dave, These are looking good. One thing I have noticed with your nice collection of dragonfly shots is that the focus point generally seems to be the thorax. Perhaps focusing on the eyes may be better since the eyes are usually what people look at first, like with a portait.

Right, good point.

I think that's why I like this last shot of Pam's the best. It might not be pefectly focused on the eyes but it's better than the others I've posted. I've been trying to focus on the eyes, I'm just not that good lol!!