This is an example of a failed test of the new lens stuff. Here I learned that a wide angle macro lens will pick up the background a lot more than a regular lens, so shooting in a butterfly house only works if you’re shooting down.
I also learned that some lens flares are really weird when it comes to chromatic aberration.
(I also learned that it’s really hard to spell “aberration”.)
I’ve spent some time this last summer trying to find a combination of techniques that would allow me to do wide angle macro. Of course, now that I’m pretty sure how to do it, a weird little lens company has announced a professional version of exactly what I’ve been trying to build. I’m trying to focus more on what I learned this summer and now how much time I wasted trying things that didn’t work out.
Some days it seems like, no matter how hard you try, you’ll never look like that picture.
In this case, the weird little lens thing sort of expands the flower. Still, a neat effect.
There’s a weird little lens attachment you can get that is basically a close-up lens with a hole cut out of the middle. It’s *supposed* to give you a clear center and sort of blur everything else out into something gorgeous.
Turns out that when you use it on a macro lens, you get a halo of your subject (which makes sense thinking about the optics involved).
In this case, it gives a sense of motion where there was none.
This picture is even worse than the previous one, but I like it because you can see their vicious fangs that they use to attack humans and suck out their souls … or eat grass.
It’s so hard to tell sometimes.
This is a test photograph of a Dakota skipper caterpillar. It’s not a great shot, and I forgive you for not appreciating it right away.
The Dakota skipper is an endangered butterfly. Like other prairie butterflies, the caterpillars hatch from teensy tiny eggs and make a weensy little home at the base of a grass stem. They then eat grass all summer in the hopes of becoming a full grown butterfly the following year. They then help pollinate the plants as they eat nectar, mate, and make more teensy tiny eggs.
Now, the words “teensy tiny” might not mean much. What you have to realize is that these butterflies are small. Their wings measure one inch* across. Their body is then less than an inch* long and quite slender. The eggs are smaller than that so they can fit in that little body. The caterpillars, of course, have to fit in the eggs.
When I saw the eggs, they reminded me of seeds. Poppy seeds, specifically … but whitish green … and a bit smaller.
That means that this little caterpillar, who fit into an egg about the size of a poppy seed was quite little. He looked like a little eyelash … but whitish green … and a bit smaller. The lab people moved them around with soft paint brushes because anything else would hurt (or kill) them. The hope is that a captive population will help to identify why the species is dying out.
I was not prepared to take this photo. I had with me a 10x microscope objective, an adapter, a basic lens, and a flashlight. To do it properly, I’d have used a proper microscope. Alas, that requires timing to work out and I was not so fortunate. Still, given the conditions I was working with, I think it worked out okay.
* That’s 25.4 millimeters for those of you lucky enough to live somewhere** with a rational system of measurement.
** Also known as “the rest of the world”***
*** Except the United States, Liberia, Myanmar****
**** You know, Burma
Only the bravest of all the butterflies go gatorgliding.
Oh for crying out loud. Would you people stop touching the bees? I mean, really.
Get consent first.
Since I know you’ve always wanted to see damselflies laying eggs in a lake while viewed in the infrared spectrum, here you go.
This was taken with entirely the wrong lens. One should really use a macro lens to take a nice up-close photo of a caterpillar. Alas, all I had was a telephoto. So I took this shot from about five meters away.
Y’all know what the bee is helping the flower do. This is foreplay.
Sometimes it takes teamwork.
I have no idea if those weird bumps on the back of his head are bonus eyes, but I kinda hope they are.
Butterflies have yet to invent napkins.
Sometimes you spend all day following a path and then, once you finally get where you’re going you realize there’s nothing there and you have to turn around and try again.
Insects call this “climbing grass”.
Humans call this “doing I.T.”
This fly really wants you think it’s a bee. Their strategy works because of the following logic:
1) When being pursued by a predator of little brain, they see the yellow and black stripes and think “OMG! It’s a bee! Better leave it alone!”
2) When being pursued by a predator of rather much brain, they see the yellow and black stripes and think “Hmm, it looks like a bee. But I know that some flies look like bees. Better look that up. OK, it looks like flies don’t stick pollen to their legs like bees do, but maybe it’s a bee that just started it’s day’s work. Flies also have larger eyes and smaller antenna than bees, but that’s only useful if there’s a bee to compare against. Oh! Bees have wings that overlap but flies have wings that stick out. So it’s probably a fly. To be safe though, I should compare it to other bees. Where can I find other bees?”
3) Then, when the predator of rather much brain is look up “bees” on Google Maps, the fly can get away.
When you pet them, bees purr. Sure, it sounds like buzzing because they are so much smaller than cats, but it’s really purring.
Be careful though. If you pet them too much, they can bite.
Suddenly realized that he forgot to file his taxes.
Wikipedia is not helpful in explaining why this bug is called an assassin bug. It does not describe the guild to which these bugs must belong. It neither tells you how to take out a contract on someone nor how to talk your way out of it should an assassin bug contract be taken out on you. There is no mention of the poisons or blades that might be used. No, instead, Wikipedia has this to say:
“Though spectacular exceptions are known, most members of the family are fairly easily recognizable; they have a relatively narrow neck, sturdy build, and formidable curved proboscis.”
Which means that not only do you live in a world with assassin bugs that may strike from nowhere, but someone look different enough from the others to be considered “spectacular exceptions”. We know nothing more. They may look like other bugs. They may look like cats. They may look like dogs. They may look like a lamp, a burrito, or even that thing right behind you there … did it just move?