View allAll Photos Tagged InsectPhotography
📷 Camera: Nikon D3200
⚡ Flash: Godox V350n
⛅ Diffuser: #cygnustechdiffuser
🔎 Lens: Pentax 50mm f/2 (reversed)
⚙️ Settings: 1/200s, f/15, ISO 100
🎯 Single shot
In the absence of other water sources Honeybees will collect the dew that builds up between rose petals. Crab Spiders use those same rose petals as hunting blinds while they wait for unsuspecting foragers.
Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (1x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI and Clarity in that order.
Potato capsid bugs, while not always causing major damage, have a few unusual characteristics. They belong to the largest family of true bugs, Miridae, with over 10,000 known species. Despite their name, they are not restricted to potatoes and can be found on various plants, including nettles, clovers, and even cannabis. Adults can change color from green to reddish-brown as they mature, and they have a distinctive diamond pattern on their backs when their wings are folded.
A beautiful heart does not ask who comes to it.
It simply blooms — and even the smallest life learns that here, it may wander without fear.
Perhaps the greatest expression of beauty is not in being admired,
but in becoming a place where another life feels free.
Upon the glowing folds of a flower, a tiny creature wanders.
It carries no invitation.
It seeks no permission.
It knows nothing of ownership, boundaries, status or possession.
And the flower asks nothing in return.
It simply remains open.
Its petals become a landscape.
Its fragrance becomes a welcome.
Its softness becomes a sanctuary.
And for one brief moment, two completely different creations of nature exist together in perfect trust — one offering beauty, the other experiencing freedom.
There is something profoundly human hidden inside this tiny encounter.
Perhaps our hearts, too, were meant to be like flowers.
Not beautiful merely so that others may praise them, but beautiful enough that another soul can come close without hesitation.
A heart truly refined by love does not imprison.
It does not demand.
It does not ask, “What will you give me in return?”
It simply creates a space where another being can breathe, wander, rest and remain itself.
When the soul blooms without ego, even the smallest life need not be afraid of our touch.
And perhaps that is why this little creature looks so completely at home among these petals.
There is no fear here.
No possession.
No struggle between the great and the small.
There is only beauty giving itself away... and life receiving that gift freely.
The beetle will eventually fly away.
The flower will eventually fade.
The moment itself will disappear.
But what they quietly reveal to us will remain:
Love is not the hand that holds.
Love is the flower that opens.
And freedom is the tiny life that knows it can walk across that heart...
without ever being afraid.
Have you ever gotten a birthday card full of glitter that got all over everything? That's how this beetle feels. (Buprestid beetle, I think Acmaeodera sp.; Anza-Borrego Desert, California)
Hier habe ich eine Gemeine Becherjungfer gefunden die gerade Ihre Beute verspeist 💯👍👌
Auf dem Bild hat sich noch eine kleine Fliege drauf geschlichen. 😄
Shooting a hyperactive beetle feeding on Poppy pollen is probably the most technically challenging macro photography that I've done to date. Lots of deleted frames.
Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/125, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (about 2.5x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC, second curtain sync). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held.
This hoverfly was sitting on a dandelion at the edge of the path. Because it had previously ‘dived’ completely into the dandelion, it is completely covered in pollen.
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I was photographing at a new place when i saw this beautiful hoverfly on the flower with water droplets. I saw the beautiful attempt, so i took my shots and got this!
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Species: Chequered hoverfly, slanke driehoekszweefvlieg (melanostoma scalare)
Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.
~Dale Carnegie
Normally I try to make the critters that I photograph look cute and cuddly. But I'm not sure that's possible when shooting a portrait of a Mammoth Wasp (Megascolia maculata), the largest wasp in Europe. This female was foraging for nectar in my Sunflowers so I injected Agave nectar into one of them to give her a reason to let me get close. She lays her eggs on European rhinoceros beetle larva, and we have them in my yard.
Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F14, 1/250, ISO 200) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (over 1x) + a diffused MT-26EX RT (E-TTL metering). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI, Sharpen AI, and Clarity in that order.
A tiny male crab spider, (Mecaphesa sp.?), who has caught what looks to be a plump little mirid plant bug. Both spider and bug are about 4 mm. long. I liked how the flower structures echoed the spider's bristly legs. (Montana)
Perhaps flowers do speak.
Perhaps they whisper their stories to those who know how to listen.
On a quiet green afternoon, a little butterfly came to rest beside a tiny yellow bloom. There was no urgency in the meeting, no audience, no grand occasion.
Just two delicate lives sharing a moment beneath the shelter of leaves.
The flower spoke of sunlight.
The butterfly answered with the language of wings.
And around them, the green world remained perfectly still—as though every leaf had agreed to keep their conversation a secret.
We often search for beauty in grand landscapes, distant horizons and magnificent places.
Yet sometimes, beauty hides much closer.
In a tiny flower.
In fragile wings.
In a silent conversation that lasts only a few seconds…
and leaves behind a feeling that lasts much longer.
Happy World Bee Day – here is a favorite, the death camas mining bee, Andrena astragali, on its namesake toxic flower, death camas (Toxicoscordion sp.). Only a few generalist insects can tolerate the toxic nectar & pollen from this plant, but this little bee, half the size of a honeybee, specializes it it. Some of us like our food spicy. (Montana)
He is a tiny traveler.
He walks quietly through an enormous green world,
sometimes pausing, sometimes wandering,
and sometimes spreading his little wings
to fly beyond the horizon of his leafy road.
But today, he chooses to walk.
And as he walks,
he listens.
The green world speaks to him in whispers—
through the trembling leaves,
through the fragrance of the earth,
through the coolness of morning,
and through tiny droplets of water
left behind like jewels along his journey.
Sometimes, he discovers a place so beautiful
that he simply refuses to leave.
Perhaps, in those moments,
the droplets become his little lakes,
the leaves become his mountains,
and the green horizon becomes a world without an end.
He is happy here.
Perhaps the green world is happy too.
And perhaps, somewhere beneath that happiness,
there are conversations we cannot hear.
Perhaps the green world tells him
of the forests that disappeared,
of the trees that once stood tall
and now exist only in memory.
Perhaps it tells him of the wounds
left behind by a world that keeps taking
without always remembering to give.
And perhaps the little traveller has something of his own to share.
Perhaps he tells the green world
about the heat rising around him,
about the warming air,
about a changing world
that even the smallest creatures can no longer ignore.
Neither speaks in words.
Yet somehow, they understand each other.
They exchange their joys.
They exchange their grievances.
They exchange their silence.
And then, for a while,
there is no human world,
no machinery,
no concrete,
no boundaries between one life and another.
There is only a tiny traveller,
a green world,
a few sparkling droplets,
and a quiet conversation
between two forms of life
that were never meant to exist apart.
Perhaps this is what nature has always been trying to tell us—
that every journey through the green world is not merely a journey across nature,
but a conversation with it.
And if we learn to listen before the green world falls silent,
perhaps one day we too may discover
that the greatest journey of all
is not the journey through the world—
but the journey back into harmony with it.
Not sure what this Caterpillar will turn into. Seems to like to eat the stamen in my flowers.
Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT (E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held.
The European Wool Carder Bees are back. I found this male sleeping in my Lavender last night and photographed him this morning. It's too warm, even at 5:30 AM, so he only gave me a minute or two before he woke up.
Tech Specs: Canon 90D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (set to 2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT, E-TTL metering, -1 FEC). This is a single frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI and Clarity in that order.
Spring was in the air for this pair of Ladybugs. I have some Lavender in my yard that bloomed early and it has been attracting a lot of critters.
Tech Specs: Canon 90D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (set to 2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT, E-TTL metering, -2/3 FEC. This is a single frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI and Clarity in that order.
Still having fun shooting these European Wool Carder Bees that are sleeping in my Lavender. I get about a minute with them before they wake up and fly off. Shot horizontally but framed for a vertical composition (I turned the shot 90 degrees in post). Easier than trying to hold the camera in portrait orientation.
Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (3x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the fill for this shot), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC, second curtain sync). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. I'm holding on to the Lavender stem with my left hand, and resting the lens on that same hand to keep the scene steady.
Overcast skies and intermittent rain set up the perfect conditions to go looking for a lethargic critter to photograph. I found this semi-active Sweat Bee on a Buttercup flower and when it would stop moving I'd look for a good angle to take a shot.
Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/125, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (around 3x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, 0 FEC, second curtain sync). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held.
Adding some light to your macro photography helps you shoot at narrower apertures and fills in shadows for sharper, more detailed macro images.
We created this macro shot of a quizzical jumping spider with our LED-48a Ring Light: fotodioxpro.com/products/48a
Caterpillars feed by extending their heads and then curling up as they chew. So the trick was to focus right at the edge of the leaf and wait for the critter to bring it's head up to start the next "row". I got seven frames before it figured out I was close and stopped feeding.
Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (over 3x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC, second curtain sync). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. I'm holding on to the stem of the plant with my left hand, and resting the lens on that same hand to keep the scene steady.