Photo of the Day: Climbing to the Top

Photo Details:
Camera: Nikon D80

F-Stop: f/8
Focal Length: 105 mm
Exposure Bias: -0.3ev
Speed: 1/250
ISO: 100

Untitled, originally uploaded by foolscircle.

I’m a horrible insect photographer in that I really don’t take much interest in my subjects aside from how they look. I really couldn’t care less as to what their life cycles are, how they breed, what they eat, or what their scientific name is. Yeah, I know, it’s blasphemous, but it’s how I operate.

This level of disinterest is brought about by the fact that, well, I’m shallow. Really, I just like the way that some bugs look, particularly in the wild. That’s why I don’t bother with insect photography taken in a studio environment. Instead, I like the dynamic settings that I encounter when I go out on hikes.

I shot this last summer when I was on the road with the Red Truck Road Trip, while we were stopped over in Denver. I went on a hike with a college friend in the mountains behind her house, and the ridge features some truly spectacular views and amazing flora. Right before we headed back down the mountain, I noticed this bug atop the bush next to where we were sitting. I really liked how the pollen stood out on its legs, and I snapped off a couple of photos before it flew away. I’m not certain, but I think it’s a checkered beetle, but I’m not entirely sure. Honestly, I still just think it looks cool.

UPDATE:

Daniel Marlos, from What’s That Bug, was kind enough to help me out: the picture is of a checkered beetle, “of the family Cleridae, probably the genus Trichodes.”

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Photo of the Day: Butterflied

Photo Details:
Camera: Nikon D80

F-Stop: f/4.8
Focal Length: 46 mm
Exposure Bias: +0.3ev
Speed: 1/320
ISO: 800

Untitled, originally uploaded by foolscircle.

I realize that this isn’t quite macro photography, but it’s got insects. Besides, it’s my blog, so I’m allowed to change the parameters of a theme when I want to.

I shot this last year while the Saltimbanco Bus Tour was visiting the Strong Museum of Play in New York. The place is pretty cool, in all honesty. Aside from being a great kids’ museum, it also houses the National Toy Hall of Fame and an insanely large butterfly reservation.

I don’t know why, but this has been one of my favorite pictures, even though I can never point out anything that’s particularly noteworthy about the colors or lighting. There was a request for no flash photography, so I upped the exposure bias and also pumped the ISO up to 800 while we were in the reservation.

Margot, who had a habit of giving me nothing but brilliant pictures throughout my tenure as the tour’s photographer, was doing her human statue routine when a couple of the butterflies landed on her face.

Photo of the Day: Bumbling Bee

Photo Details:
Camera: Nikon D80

F-Stop: f/3.3
Focal Length: 105 mm
Exposure Bias: -0.3ev
Speed: 1/640
ISO: 400

Untitled, originally uploaded by foolscircle.

The backstory with this photo is that this little bee happened to be the clumsiest insect I’ve ever seen. During the five minutes I spent photographing it, the bee kept on falling off the flowers it landed on. However, since I was walking around a zoo at the time, I should’ve considered the possibility that someone might’ve left out/spilled a cup of beer that the bee could have consumed some of.

Photo of the Day: Yellowjacket

Photo Details:
Camera: Nikon D80

F-Stop: f/6.3
Focal Length: 105 mm
Exposure Bias: + 0.3ev
Speed: 1/200
ISO: 400

Untitled, originally uploaded by foolscircle.

I found this little guy whilst wandering around a farmer’s market that was near State College, PA. The market itself was located in a WWII memorial area, so there were decommissioned tanks and artillery guns all over the place. When walking around, I started off taking pictures of the textures on one of the tanks and then noticed that there were some yellowjackets crawling across certain parts of it.

I’m pretty sure I shot around 30 or 40 shots of the yellowjackets, but this one was my favorite because of all the detail that was captured in this image. When using macro lenses, I’ve often encountered difficulties with the depth of field while I’m within a foot or two of my subject. The two solutions I’ve found are to either increase the f-stop numbers or just take a step back and then crop down the photo afterwards. Thankfully, this scene was well-lit, so I was able to just do the former and achieve the results I wanted.