Ladybugs (Two Photographs)
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These were taken in the city in the garden of the Museum of Natural History. They were taken without my usual use of flash. Earlier I visited a reserve where I would expect to see a lot of insects and found very few and fewer still that were photogenic. I ascribe this to the weird weather we are having, too much rain and humidity.
Portrait Shots of Damselflies (Two Photographs)
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That Damselflies often turn their back on you is not an affront but a necessity of survival. They turn their back to the sun exposing most of their body to absorb the heat they need (approx. above 15 c.) for sustenance. If you want a damselfly portrait bear this in mind as well as the fact that their liquid filled eyes are difficult to focus on. Choose something close by, or just behind their heads for a focal point.
Dragonfly (Two Photographs)
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This dragonfly more than others reminded me of a fairy (pixie) its damaged wings did not seem to be impeding its ability to fly. Its curiosity about its spectators of which I was one, made it a delight to see.
Giant Swallowtail Butterfly (Three Photographs)
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These butterflies are larger than some birds (e.g. warblers). Normally you have to chase these insects, or be lucky and have one land nearby, like this one did. I used a long telephoto lens, my macro lens would not reach. These were also processed in MacPhuns’ latest Luminar version for PC and Apple. There is a new filter that uses Artificial Intelligence, the accent filter. It’s a slider that does a lot of the heavy work on exposure, highlight, shadows etc. In fact it does much of what the basic panel does in Lightroom, except it’s one slider. I am not sure I want to give up total control to this filter but it is very good. I am using Luminar as an external filter in Photoshop so my workflow is intact. I find it works better in Photoshop as a filter than Lightroom where it duplicates the file as a Tiff file.
A Couple of Things about Dragonflies (Three Photographs)
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Dragonflies often find a place they like to rest and they will sometimes come back to it, so if one flies away, wait just a bit to see if it returns. Dragonfly eyes are hard to focus on, thousands of tiny lenses, best to focus behind the eyes. The bright spots on their eyes are not created by flash, they are created by the sun, easily removed in processing as I have done here. Lastly, dragonflies when they first emerge tend to swarm, and a wide-angle lens helps capture them hanging like Christmas ornaments off the branches.
The Bee and the Honeysuckle and a Word On Macro (Three Photographs)
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Every year when I pick up my macro gear there is a learning curve to go through to remember the best way to hold the camera, the speed of the flash and the balance of ISO, aperture and exposure compensation. I know the flash should be at 1/8th power or below and that I am going to use a relatively high ISO of 400 and an aperture of F11 or higher. I wrote those down so it’s just getting used to it again. In this case trying to balance the white flowers and dark insect.
My First Butterfly of the Season (Three Photographs)
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This Eastern Comma was probably in search of sap. Some of the trees are dripping, but the temperature is still a bit cool and that probably also slowed the butterfly down. This is my first insect of 2017, and with luck there will be many more. I was not prepared for shooting insects. I used my 200-500mm lens but it seems to have caught the detail needed. I have included a black and white photograph just for the fun of it.
