|
Post by ecooper on Apr 27, 2013 10:19:53 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Apr 26, 2013 20:18:16 GMT -8
The other day I posted some classic white box photographs of a Pacific tree frog. By classic, I mean they featured the animal against a featureless white background. I shot another series of photos for my blog of that same frog, but with a more natural background. I used a pot of soil in which I have been cultivating a miniature garden of moss. The pot is meant as a hanging basket so it is wide and low—perfect as a backdrop for macro photography. All I had to do was put the pot inside the white box and place the frog in the pot. The rest of the set-up stayed the same. Olympus OM-D E-M5; Zuiko 12-50mm ƒ/3.5-6.3 zoom; manual exposure (F11-16 @ 1/125 sec); Vivitar 283 flash and VP-1 Vari-power adapter (1/16 power); ISO: 200 Cheers, EC www.macrocritters.wordpress.comtreefrog 3 copyright ernie cooper 2013_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr treefrog 5 copyright ernie cooper 2013_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Apr 24, 2013 20:29:43 GMT -8
Very impressing, like always! Would love to some pictures of an Ornithoptera paradisea male in the white box. Hannes LOL! Thank you! I wish I had a specimen of one to photograph! Actually, I bet some high magnification photos of their wing scales would be interesting... Cheers, EC www.macrocritters.wordpress.com
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Apr 24, 2013 11:34:53 GMT -8
Thanks! Not an insect of course...looking forward to finding the time soon to get out in the field hunting bugs with my gear! EC www.macrocritters.wordpress.com
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Apr 23, 2013 18:32:22 GMT -8
Last weekend I went out to mow the lawn and happened upon this little Pacific tree frog (Pseudacris regilla). I scooped it up to save it from the mower and of course to take the opportunity to take some photos for my blog. I opted to take it into the house and photograph it in a white box. It would have been nice to have photographed it in its natural surroundings, but it wasn’t likely to pose for me after being picked-up. Besides, I thought that the soft lighting of the white box would make for some nice pictures while the box itself would help contain the critter during the shoot. Olympus OM-D E-M5; Zuiko 12-50mm ƒ/3.5-6.3 zoom and Zuiko 35mm macro; manual exposure (F11-16 @ 1/125 sec); Vivitar 283 flash and VP-1 Vari-power adapter (1/16 power); ISO: 200 Cheers, EC www.macrocritters.wordpress.comtreefrog white 3 sharp copyright ernie cooper 2013_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr treefrog white sharp copyright ernie cooper 2013_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Apr 19, 2013 13:33:32 GMT -8
Great! The music really moves this along! Thanks! And thank you for fixing the link! I was having a little trouble figuring it out. I said I was a geek...but not a great geek! LOL! EC Your original attempt to embedd the video did not work because the URL was not a real YT URL, but when I clicked on it I got the real URL.
|
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Apr 19, 2013 13:12:33 GMT -8
I recently bought a new camera: an Olympus OM-D E-M5. One of the reasons I bought it was that I wanted to try my hand at video.
A couple of weeks ago I took some video of western thatching ants. I really didn’t have a plan, and to be honest, I wasn’t all that sure of what I was doing! But I shot a few minutes of video, came home and edited the footage using MS Movie Maker. Amazingly the whole process only took a couple of hours!
So now I have my own Youtube channel, I have uploaded a video, and it’s about ants...I'm such a geek!
David Attenborough has nothing to worry about; but it was a fun little project and it has me thinking about the possibilities...
Please check it out and don’t hesitate to comment. Any suggestions for improvement would be gratefully received.
Cheers, EC
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Apr 18, 2013 8:55:02 GMT -8
That's ok Nice blog... Your "mealworms" are actually some type of caterpillar and not beetle larvae btw Oh yes! after a few beers they are kind of tasty, a bit nutty. Thanks! Are they? Thanks very much. Funny, that's what I thought at first, but then figured mealworms made more sense as they can easily be produced in large numbers. I'll edit my blog accordingly... Cheers, EC www.macrocritters.wordpress.com
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Apr 17, 2013 13:55:14 GMT -8
Yummy Grasshopper nymphs no idea which species-genus tho I'd say the last image contains silk moth pupae Bombix mori Thanks...that makes sense! EC www.macrocritters.wordpress.com
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Apr 16, 2013 14:47:24 GMT -8
Last month I was in Bangkok, Thailand to attend CITES CoP 16. One free afternoon (my only free afternoon) I took the skytrain out to the Chatuchak (weekend) market—the biggest weekend market in the world. This market is incredible: it is HUGE (according to Wikipedia it covers over 35 acres and contains more than 5,000 stalls); it’s CROWDED. It’s a vast labyrinth of stalls, tiny shops and carts selling absolutely everything. It’s chaotic, confusing and utterly fascinating. I spent a couple of hours going through the live animals and tropical fish area. The afternoon I was there the temperature was 35°C (95°F) and 100% humidity (or so it felt) and in the market there wasn’t a breath of air. After a couple hours I was absolutely dying—I desperately needed air conditioning, a shower and a gallon of water to drink. When I exited the market I came across a cheerful vendor who was selling a variety of fried insects as tasty snacks! I took the opportunity to take a few photos for my blog before I dashed back to the hotel to cool off... Below is a nice photo of the vendor and a couple of examples of what he had to offer. If anyone has any idea as to the identification of the bugs in the last 2 photos, please let me know! Cheers, EC www.macrocritters.wordpress.comvender close copyright ernie cooper 2013_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr grasshoppers 3 copyright ernie cooper 2013_filtered sm by ernie.cooper, on Flickr pupae copyright ernie cooper 2013_filtered sm by ernie.cooper, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Apr 16, 2013 14:46:57 GMT -8
Thank you!
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Feb 18, 2013 13:23:37 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Feb 16, 2013 10:55:03 GMT -8
I bought this spider specifically to photograph, but it is also an interesting critter. I chose this species because they are easy to keep in captivity; they are very pretty; and they are docile. I do a lot of my photography on the kitchen table and didn’t want something that would take off and disappear under the fridge the moment I picked-up my camera! Besides, since buying this spider we added two young cats to the household—they would love a young tarantula to play with. Mind you, the cats may have solved the other problem: they keep chasing their toys under the fridge. There might not be room for a tarantula under there anymore. The spider is about three inches across. When I first got it its colours were drab and some of the urticating hairs on its abdomen were rubbed-off. I didn’t want to photograph the little beast until it moulted and had a nice bright new and complete skin. Cheers, EC www.macrocritters.wordpress .com brachypelma copyright ernie cooper 2012_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr brachypelma w skin copyright ernie cooper 2012_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Jan 29, 2013 19:46:08 GMT -8
Close-up photos of the underside of a hillstream loach (family Balitoridae) as it clings to the inside of the glass in my aquarium—you can clearly see internal structures such as the heart and skeleton. These fish live by clinging to the surface of rocks and submerged objects, grazing on algae and other microorganisms. Normally I would hate an aquarium photo that didn’t have utterly clean glass. But in this case, I think the scattering of algae adds to the photo by providing context: it shows that the specimen is on glass while showcasing the food it is grazing on. Cheers, EC www.macrocritters.wordpress.comloach 2 copyright ernie cooper 2012 jpg by ernie.cooper, on Flickr loach belly copyright ernie cooper 2012 jpg by ernie.cooper, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by ecooper on Jan 21, 2013 11:27:03 GMT -8
I was walking past my aquarium yesterday and saw this little pond snail suspended in the water. When I looked closer I could see that the snail was veeeeery slowly sinking and had its body extended as if it was trying to reach the bottom. I grabbed my camera and took a few photos for my blog. The snail slowly drifted down to a perfect landing on a submerged plant. The photo below was taken as the snail was extending its body towards the plant it was about to land on and looking for all the world as if it was flying! Cheers, EC www.macrocritters.wordpress.comflying snail copyright ernie cooper 2012_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr
|
|