cornishbugadventures-blog

[cornishbugadventures-blog]

I took this a few weeks back while out edging the path on our lawn. I turned over a spade full of soil and found this cheeky chappy.... the dreaded Chafer Grub also known as a May Bug larvae.

These little chaps, about 2″ long, spend 2 years underground munching on grass roots killing off the green carpet then emerge to flitter about the night sky in early summer with only one thing in mind. Despite looking a bit gruesome they are harmless (unless you’re a lawn).

The photo was handheld and due to the dark background I had to ramp up the ISO to allow a faster shutter speed to keep camera shake blur to a minimum. This caused noise to appear in the image visible mostly on the soil which I have reduced in post processing. 

[cornishbugadventures-blog]

I watched this Weevil climb up and down the grass stems for a few minutes while chasing it with the lens to get a “clean” shot. This goes to show some of the challenges of insect-macro-photography.... the damn bugs sometimes just won’t stand still.

I was happy with how it came out using the blades of grass and the contrast of the Weevil against the green, just a bit miffed that I missed the focus on the eyes. Maybe a smaller aperture as this would have given me a deeper depth of field to play with.... also looks like my lens needs a clean :((

[cornishbugadventures-blog]

Ah the humble Flesh Fly, I took this photo last year at the start of my bug adventure using a reversed Pentacon 50mm lens mounted on some cheap extension tubes attached to my Sony A7, however the point of this is to mention cropping.... The resolution of this image is 640 x 480 pixels which for those who remember is the size of the early digital camera and can be printed (just about) as a 6 x 4 print. I remember being amazed when my father-in-law showed us prints of Gondolas after a trip to Venice...  Back to the fly and if you look closely I can be seen in the reflection on the bubble, oh happy days immortalised in fly spit !!.

My trusty A7 shoots at full frame 6000 x 4000 pixels and at the time of taking this I had no idea this little fella was blowing bubbles as he was too far away and the bubble too small to see and flies have a tendency to fly when you get too close.

So there we go, when you’re on a bug adventure cropping an image is a useful tool, not only does it show detail normally missed but it can be required when you can’t get close enough to your subject or (in the case of my Novada Flava.. see my blog if you’re not sure) you don’t want to get too close to your subject or you want to use cropping as a tool to extend depth of field.... but at the end of the day the more pixels you can retain the bigger picture you can print.

Now to save for that 42mp Sony A7r2 :)... donations welcome :)))

[cornishbugadventures-blog]

We have loads of these 1″ Wolf Spiders running around our garden, usually darting for cover under the shed or decking then popping out to keep an eye (or 8) on things.

I was lucky enough to have the sky highlight this little chaps eyes which help them stand out and he was curious enough to stay still long enough for me to fire off a couple of shots. Handheld image, cropped to extend depth of field.

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Another example of the spray and pray technique which sadly didn't quite get the subject in focus. I was chasing this Hoverfly around the flowers on this bush hoping to get a shot of it landing. I noticed as they land these little chaps hover for a moment before touch down, I guess they want to be sure before they cut power to the wings.

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This is an example of why you can't go too fast past every flower when you're bug hunting.... I spotted this little chap hiding inside a Buttercup Flower bobbing it's head back and forth laying a bed of silk. I guess change is imminent. Tripod used and focus set to capture as seen placing the caterpillar at the front of the focal plane so the flower could also be mostly in focus.

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Bee - lieve it or not these are both bees, the top one I thought was a juvenile Hornet due to it’s black and yellow abdomen and red legs but it turns out it is a Novada Flava (type of “cuckoo” bee) which invades solitary bee nests and lays it’s eggs for the grubs to develop.

The bottom one is a tiny Sweat Bee sitting on a Dandelion getting covered in pollen. These get their name from being attracted to the salts in perspiration. Both images taken handheld.

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2 photos of the same hoverfly, Rhingia Campestris. Quite a common species in the Tamar Valley and the long snout hides a long tongue to reach into long flowers. A hand held shot using the spray and pray technique, fast shutter speeds help freeze the images but sacrifice is higher ISO and wider aperture so reduced depth of field. 

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This Crab Spider was actually enjoying the delights of the fly when I found it. Again I used a tripod but whilst setting up it backed away slightly but this allowed me to focus on the fangs and eyes.... used the 2 sec timer on my camera to avoid shake but have now bought a remote off ebay.

[cornishbugadventures-blog]

These 2 Large Red Damsel flies seemed happy to sit still long enough for me to get the tripod out which is something I would recommend when shooting bugs. Depth of field on the lower photo is slanted to emphasis the body length... but always focus on the eyes!!

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My first post and as every good bug hunter should get a photo of a bee here’s mine... enjoy :)

Taken in Cotehele National Trust gardens. Handheld