Mating Water Measurers

[GardenersHelper]

I think these are Water Measurers, Hydrometra stagnorum (page at buglife). They were captured in June on our tiny (stagnant) pond with a Panasonic FZ200 and probably a Raynox 150, with KX800 twin flash with convex diffuser and individually diffused flash heads. The raw files were processed in DXO Optics Pro and passed to Lightroom as DNG files for finishing. These images are taken from this album at Flickr, which has 1300 pixel high versions of these some more images of them.

1

0935 10 2016_06_04 P1980685_DxO 10 RAW 01cP DNG LR by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

2

0935 11 2016_06_04 P1980695_DxO 10 RAW 01cP DNG LR by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

3

0935 12 2016_06_04 P1980710_DxO 10 RAW 01cP DNG LR by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

4

0935 19 2016_06_04 P1980736_DxO 10 RAW 01cP DNG LR by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

5

0935 24 2016_06_04 P1980763_DxO 10 RAW 01cP DNG LR by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

6

0935 25 2016_06_04 P1980764_DxO 10 RAW 01cP DNG LR by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

7

0935 27 2016_06_04 P1980770_DxO 10 RAW 01cP DNG LR by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

8

0935 29 2016_06_04 P1980777_DxO 10 RAW 01cP DNG LR by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

 

[hoftwi]

Nice shots Nick I see loads of water measurers in our pond but first time to see the mating pair

 

[ChrisA]

Great shots Nick.

 

[Graham]

Fantastic shots Nick, all really sharp and clear to see, a nice capture of the mating couple.

 

[GardenersHelper]

Nice shots Nick I see loads of water measurers in our pond but first time to see the mating pair

Great shots Nick.

Fantastic shotsNick, all really sharp and clear to see, a nice capture of the mating couple.

Thanks Icy, Chris, Graham. I got lucky with the mating pair. I've been having a lot of difficulty finding subjects this year, and this was the only sighting I have had of these creatures this year.

 

[plamen_gb]

Very good set again with great detail, I have no idea how do you get it with a bridge camera....

 

[GardenersHelper]

Very good set again with great detail,

Thanks Plamen.

I have no idea how do you get it with a bridge camera....

I think carefully controlled lighting and post processing have a lot to do with it.

As far as resolution goes (and hence amount of detail), when you use apertures as small as I do it doesn't make any significant difference what size sensor you use. I know it sounds unlikely, but I have written about it in various places in my over-long "Journey thread". Basically, using small apertures gets you more of depth of field but you lose lots of detail because of blurring caused by diffraction. This diffraction has the curious effect that it brings great macro optics and large sensors down to pretty much the same level as small sensor zoom cameras like my FZ200 with a close-up lens attached. Use larger apertures and the larger sensors and prime macro lenses will capture lots more resolution and detail than is possible with a bridge camera and close-up lens.

Larger sensors should also be able to capture more subtle variations of tonality and colour I think. That is one reason why I usually use a larger sensor camera for flower photography, for which I mostly use much larger apertures. I currently mainly use APS-C for flowers, and I keep flirting with the idea of using full frame.

 

[davholla]

Good photos, I always like seeing a good photo of an unusual subject. Apart from a springtail laying an egg, this must be the most unusual one I have seen this year.

 

[GardenersHelper]

Good photos, I always like seeing a good photo of an unusual subject. Apart from a springtail laying an egg, this must be the most unusual one I have seen this year.

Thanks David. Apparently (I didn't know this, I had to look them up to find out what they are) these are very common in England and Wales (it says here). It says here that they are more likely to be found on stagnant water or bare mud, so perhaps that is why I saw them on our pond - ever since a rat chewed through our pond's water return pipe several years ago our pond has been stagnant.

 

[davholla]

Thanks David. Apparently (I didn't know this, I had to look them up to find out what they are) these are very common in England and Wales (it says here). It says here that they are more likely to be found on stagnant water or bare mud, so perhaps that is why I saw them on our pond - ever since a rat chewed through our pond's water return pipe several years ago our pond has been stagnant.

I used to look at every pond that I could see when I was a child and I was interested in insects then and would I have recognised them and I never saw them. Maybe they are locally common, here in South London/North Kent water skaters (not the same thing) are dominant- maybe I will see Water Measures when I go to Raynes next time I go looking.