Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
Dedicated insect photographers normally employ specialized macro lenses to focus on their tiny subjects. These can be pricey. My MP-E lens cost $900, for example, and my 100mm f/2.8 is $500. But macro does not have to be expensive. Consider the effect of a single extension tube mated to a regular 35mm lens: What is [...]
[the following is a repost from the Scienceblogs network] As an insect guy, the first question I ask about any camera is: Can I shoot bugs with it? To my great disappointment, the answer for most cell phones is no. Cell phone cameras are normally fixed to focus at distances useful for party pictures and [...]
The prairie is covered this week in shining flower beetles (Olibrus, in the family Phalacridae). They are aggregating in nearly every composite flower head, with a fair number just floating about among the grasses. The adults feed on pollen, and their sheer numbers make me wonder if there will be enough pollen left over to [...]
A perk of being at a major university is photographic access to the wild and wonderful diversity of insect research subjects studied by various biologists in the department. This week Andy Suarez returned from Ant Course/Borneo bearing live ant colonies. They were exported under research permits for studies of genome size and for the biomechanics [...]
If you’ve spent time looking at my photo galleries, you’ll know most of my macro images are lit with an off-camera flash. While I’d like to claim that flash is my personal style, the reality is that flash is more convenient. Flash provides the control to take a consistently well-exposed photo in any place at [...]
This shot may look like it came from an exotic location, but in fact I snapped it not three hours ago in our prairie garden. The sideoats grama is flowering, and its tiny blossoms are positively buzzing with miniature halictid bees, each barely half a centimenter long. photo details: Canon EOS 7D camera with a [...]
In the comments, Ted observes astutely: Okay, I have to ask – do you give your subjects a “bath” prior to photographing them? I’m thinking in particular of the caterpillar hunter – there’s not a speck of anything on him. I think I just figured out one of the keys to your superb photos. I [...]
From some of my recent photos. Click on each to enlarge. more below the fold:
Calosoma scrutator, the fiery searcher Savoy, Illinois It’s a good thing Myrmecos isn’t a scratch-and-sniff blog. This beetle is a real stinker. Calosoma scrutator, the fiery searcher, measures about 3cm long and is among our largest native ground beetles. The spectacular metallic coloration serves to warn predators- and, apparently, photographers- of the noxious chemicals it [...]
A personal weblog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Myrmecos- derived from the ancient greek word for "ant"- hosts Alex's musings about these and other little creatures that share our planet.
Questions? Comments? Email alwild [at] myrmecos.net
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