I like bugs!

Evolutionist

Evolutionist

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372
Name
Chris
Edit My Images
Yes
I like bugs and seeing things one does not normally see with the unaided eye.

Some of these shots were produced with a Minolta 800si and Minolta 100mm f2.8 macro or a Sigma 180mm f3.5 macro on Fuji Provia 400ASA and then scanned on a Minolta scanner. Later when I went digital I used the same lenses on an A100 and later an A200 body. I recently got the Sony 30mm f2.8 macro and that turned out to be sweet little lens. Feel free to add your own shots to this thread as I really enjoy seeing macro work.

Leaf cutter ant at Tropical World Roundhay Leeds.

leafcutterha3.jpg
 
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Looks like you got the focus on the eye - I can't even begin to imagine how difficult this type of picture would be to take on film instead of digital. A couple of attempts for you in this case, hundreds of attempts on digital!!

Have a look around the macro photo sharing section, there's some fantastic insect stuff on there that I'm sure you'll love.
 
Nice shot.
Ants ain't usually my thing, but there is a great load of detail there.
I was asked yesterday... do ants sleep
 
swag72 said:
Looks like you got the focus on the eye - I can't even begin to imagine how difficult this type of picture would be to take on film instead of digital. A couple of attempts for you in this case, hundreds of attempts on digital!!

Have a look around the macro photo sharing section, there's some fantastic insect stuff on there that I'm sure you'll love.
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:bonk: I posted this in the wrong place! I've reported it and hopefully a mod will move it. Do you do macro? I notice your avatar is a dragonfly head, a bit like this.

dfly1ks7.jpg
 
coldpenguin said:
Nice shot.
Ants ain't usually my thing, but there is a great load of detail there.
I was asked yesterday... do ants sleep
Click to expand...

Now that is a damn good question. I have no idea. Gut feeling? Probably not a lot, if at all.
 
I see Swag is a very good macro photographer looking at her flikr account. Very good stuff in there!
 
greenbugot3.jpg


Sony A100 and 100mm f2.8 Minolta macro, f2.8 at 160th and 250asa hand held, no flash anti-shake active!
 
Try using a flash and stopping down a bit to give yourself a little more DOF and try and get the focus on the eyes.
 
Dogfish_magnet said:
Try using a flash and stopping down a bit to give yourself a little more DOF and try and get the focus on the eyes.
Click to expand...

Sort of like this?

78533265.jpg


That's with a ring flash.

But I do like 'arty' shots as well.

hv1800wide.jpg


And I love the background in this one, it makes the shot for my. It was on Provia 400 and scanned.

bugonflower.jpg
 
@ Dogfish

Do you have the original of your avatar?
 
swag72 said:
Thanks for your kind words Chris - but if you look around the macro section there's far more who are streets ahead of my macro pics.
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Well we can always learn, that's part of the reason we come here? I am highly self critical and am very rarely satisfied with what I produce. I am also a little jealous of those who live where there are more exotic bugs. The best thing about the UK is one can rummage through undergrowth pretty much sure you're not going to come across a bug or something that can sting one to death!

I was fortunate to go to Cypress early this year and got to see this bug.

mantisp.jpg
 
Paul
That is a cracking picture!
 
Shield bug on top of the compost bin. Sony 30mm f2.8 macro on A200. Not a lot of DoF but I do like these little critters.

dsc3092l.jpg
 
A more gaudy version on Majorca. Minolta 100mm f2.8 on Sony A200

bugumv.jpg
 
Another one of the 'inmates' at Tropical World Roundhay.

bfeyerw1.jpg
 
Took these one at the Fairburn Ings RSPB sanctuary a few years ago.

hovercropya0.jpg


hover2jr3.jpg


Sigma 180mm f3.5 on Sony Alpha 100.
 
A daddy long legs

ddlgclose.jpg


The little 'drumstick' is the remains of the hind wing, it now acts as a balance organ.
 
ladybugh.jpg
 
Dogfish_magnet said:
I will have somewhere........:cautious: here's a bigger one from flickr

Like the bee (y)

4813356452_4012bc4832_b.jpg
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I have to know if you righted the poor little bug after you took the photo! :(
 
Evolutionist said:
And I love the background in this one, it makes the shot for my. It was on Provia 400 and scanned.

bugonflower.jpg
Click to expand...

Very tasty. Nice (to my eye) to see pictures of animals in a context. I think many macro people prefer tight close-ups of subjects filling the frame, or in-focus slices of subjects, and don't get me wrong, those can be very eye-catching, and fascinating. But to my way of thinking/seeing there is a "painterly" quality to this image, and an overall feeling of it being a complete "picture" rather than just an "image". Purely personal taste and use of words of course.

FWIW (and also purely personal taste, and I'm not sure whether you want this sort of comment or not, so please forgive me if you don't), I would be inclined to try giving it a very gentle (or if it has already had it, just fractionally more of a) defog/clarify and sharpen, just enough to "solidify" the insect and its flower just a little and "lift" them from the background slightly. (That said, when I showed the good wife what I had tried on it - whose judgement I find quite subtle in these matters - she was not convinced I had done anything at all to it. Trouble is, it seemed to me that doing anything more than very little quickly "harshened" the delicate shades and gentle gradients in the background that I for one find so appealing.)

Whatever. I like it.:)
 
Evolutionist said:
Shield bug on top of the compost bin. Sony 30mm f2.8 macro on A200. Not a lot of DoF but I do like these little critters.

dsc3092l.jpg
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You and me both.

June 2008, taken with Canon S3is using available light, these two had a bit of a tiff.

4.7 IMG_5489 PS1 LABBrDfCu800hSS1.30 by gardenersassistant, on Flickr


6.03 IMG_5561 PS1 LABBrDfLeCu800hSS1.35 by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

It turned out to be a no-score draw. (Big sequence (53 images) can be seen as a slide show here if you are so inclined, or here to pick one or two to look at. Just so you know, the petals fell off the flower that the spider was on initially, which is why you see it climbing back up.)

This was five days later - possibly the same insect. (2008 PP - I think I would give it a bit more contrast these days.)

3.5 IMG_8625 PS1 LABDfLeCuSaCr800wSS1.35 by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

This one was taken from this, more varied, macro set.
 
GardenersHelper said:
Very tasty. Nice (to my eye) to see pictures of animals in a context. I think many macro people prefer tight close-ups of subjects filling the frame, or in-focus slices of subjects, and don't get me wrong, those can be very eye-catching, and fascinating. But to my way of thinking/seeing there is a "painterly" quality to this image, and an overall feeling of it being a complete "picture" rather than just an "image". Purely personal taste and use of words of course.

FWIW (and also purely personal taste, and I'm not sure whether you want this sort of comment or not, so please forgive me if you don't), I would be inclined to try giving it a very gentle (or if it has already had it, just fractionally more of a) defog/clarify and sharpen, just enough to "solidify" the insect and its flower just a little and "lift" them from the background slightly. (That said, when I showed the good wife what I had tried on it - whose judgement I find quite subtle in these matters - she was not convinced I had done anything at all to it. Trouble is, it seemed to me that doing anything more than very little quickly "harshened" the delicate shades and gentle gradients in the background that I for one find so appealing.)

Whatever. I like it.:)
Click to expand...

Your wife has an excellent eye! I did sharpen this more but it got rather grainy and lost the lovely out of focus background. And never worry about commenting on my work. I always appreciate an honest opinion (y)
 
Thanks for the additions Alan and Dan. Great shots!

Dan where did you take that last shot?
 
my dad has a bit of land near the A15 caenby corner/glentham area he has a small pond at the bottom of his field & it was around that area, i took it in the late spring/early summer months of 2010, also do you know what kind of bug it is as i dont??? i see them quite often when i am fly fishing but dont even know what they are???
 
NailedMains said:
my dad has a bit of land near the A15 caenby corner/glentham area he has a small pond at the bottom of his field & it was around that area, i took it in the late spring/early summer months of 2010, also do you know what kind of bug it is as i dont??? i see them quite often when i am fly fishing but dont even know what they are???
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I don't know what it is. I have only seen one like it myself, also near water. The wing veins are what caught my eye being very robust looking.
 
It's an alder fly, from the order Megaloptera, most likely the species Sialis lutaria if it was near slow/non moving water. We have 3 species, the other two prefer running water (but are almost indistinguishable from each other without microscopic examination).
 
I am rather partial to bugs myself, mainly just to take pics of although I did once try some dried mopani worms in South Africa. :D They tasted a bit bland to me, but the locals find them a delicacy.

A few I have taken through the years.

1.

Crab Spider with Hoverfly prey by jomike, on Flickr

2.

Jumping Spider by jomike, on Flickr

3.

Dragonfly (Brown Hawker) in flight by jomike, on Flickr

4.

White Featherleg Damselfly (Platycnemis latipes) by jomike, on Flickr

5.

Rose Sawfly (Arge pagana) laying eggs by jomike, on Flickr

6.

Hoverfly hovering by jomike, on Flickr
 
jomike said:
I am rather partial to bugs myself ...
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So it seems! Lovely clarity and colours, and compositional balance. And I keep coming back to rest my eyes some more on #6. I love that one.

And a super Flickr photostream - both the variety and the quality of shots. I only got through to page 15 of 110. I'll be back for more. I've been a bit ho hum about photography for several months. Thanks for the inspiration.
 
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