Post your insects

[Cantab]

John, others much better than me will hopefully chime in but what I learned from Geoff and others on this thread is that for macro insect photos it's best to use an aperture much smaller than f4. Depth of field is critical and f4 provide very little.

Following Geoff's comments, I've used f14 recently and that seems to work well. A faster shutter speed would also be good, especially since you were using flash. I hope this helps.

[jdathebowler]

Bruce,I to follow Geoff's advice and normally try to shoot at least f11. Speed 1/160 -1/250 depending on the ISO.In this case it was shot in bad light and was the best that I could do in the circumstances.
John

[jdathebowler]

Latest Plume Moth taken in daylight.Managed to coax it onto some tissue paper.
John
Common Brown Plume Moth by jdathebowler, on Flickr

[Geoff F]

I usually find Plume Moths tricky. They don't easily settle, even when chilled. So you have done well to the get that last photo.

Flash can produce problems on many moths due to their shiny wing scales.

If they will settle moths are good subjects for taking two or more shots with different focus points and merging together. But that requires a tripod and suitable editing software.

[jdathebowler]

Here's some more photos of the Plume Moth.
John
Brown Plume Moth by jdathebowler, on Flickr

[Marie Hass]

After I took this picture, he keeled over and died. I feel very, very sad.

He is better seen in the lightbox.

Please C&C



'Rie

[deetheturk]

Nice capture Marie, what is it and why do you think it died?

David

[Marie Hass]

David, it is called a "Walking Stick". I am not sure why it died. They are just so neat that I felt bad to have removed it from its own environment, even if for only a few minutes.

'Rie

[orlcam88]

Devising a plot against humanity?

[Cantab]

A very intriguing photo. Which of the two gave up and left first?

[Letrow]

David, it is called a "Walking Stick". I am not sure why it died. They are just so neat that I felt bad to have removed it from its own environment, even if for only a few minutes.

'Rie

I've had walking sticks for a while in a small terrarium. They are fragile, but you can handle them and they (sort of) multiply very fast. The female will lay lots of eggs and doesn't need a male for fertilization. If you pick them up slowly and support them you should be able to handle them.
You have them in the wild near where you live?

[Marie Hass]

Peter, yes.

They live in the wild around here. When my husband comes in from deer hunting in the Fall, he usually has 1 - 2 on him somewhere. i never saw them wild until we moved to Ohio, then again in West Virginia. They are very easy to miss, but this one was on a bush and reflected by the light coloured house siding.

'Rie

[Geoff F]

Late Butterflies.

A warm day with hazy sunshine today so I went for a walk in the woods and was surprised by the number of butterflies which are still around.

It was a bit windy so they didn't settle for long; which means I struggled to get any worth while camera angles. However here are a few snaps, just to demonstrate what can be seen at the moment.

Red Admirals often fly quite late, and early next spring. Peacocks are rather similar in their timing.



And a rather scruffy Speckled Wood wasn't unexpected.



But I never expected to find a couple of Brimstones still flying now.



And a Painted Lady - the first one I have seen this year!



Couldn't get a reasonable shot of this one, had the wrong lens on my camera and it didn't want to wait for me to change lenses!

I've posted something specially for Halloween here:

http://www.pbase.com/crustacean/imag...9/original.jpg

[Shadowman]

Nice series in post 1713.

[John 2]

Nice series Geoff. It always surprises me how butterflies are able to manage quite happily despite damaged wings as in your speckled Wood.

[orlcam88]

A very intriguing photo. Which of the two gave up and left first?

Sorry for the late reply....The bee left first.

[Geoff F]

One extra butterfly to add to my list, from today, is a Comma.

As winter approaches and the leaves change colour, some insects also adapt their colours. For instance this Green Shieldbug which would normally be a fairly bright green is starting to darken.



While this one is half way between green and the bronze winter colours.



Which means this juvenile has left it a bit late.

[Geoff F]

I nearly missed this shieldbug. Relatively common but this is the first one I have found at that particular site in two years of recording there.

A Gorse Shieldbug; note the different colour and markings on the edges.

[Cantab]

I see that the gorse shieldbug was not on gorse. It (the plant not the bug) is invasive here. Do you have problems with it in the south of England? I've never seen a shieldbug so will do some checking to see if they exist here on the west coast of N. America.

[Geoff F]

You should find some forms of shieldbugs in your area, Bruce, but I'm not sure if they have a different common name. Gorse Shieldbugs, and many other species, come under the Pentatomidae family.

Checking the larval food plants for this particular species (Piezodorus lituratus) I see that Broom, Dyer's Green Weed and occasionally Laburnum and Clover are listed as well as gorse seed pods. And, of course, adults will wander onto many other plants, such as the brambles in this photo.

But it is a species which I don't find that often; although it comes in two colour forms they are both rather similar to other very common species, so it is easy to incorrectly identify.

We do get gorse in quantity on some locations particularly around the coasts where it needs to be grubbed out from time to time; but there are usually other worse problems like Bracken etc.

One problem which is gradually spreading around the UK is Rhododendron which has 'gone native' and is causing potential difficulties. When searching deep inside a local wood recently I found quite a bit of it which has been quietly spreading. So I now have another job for the next volunteer maintenance day at this site.