Water Cricket with a Diver

[Geoff F]

Probably not what you expected from the title.



Just playing around with a few experimental shots on a small pond; well more like a puddle at the moment. The Water Crickets wouldn't stay still and the diving beetle kept going under the surface. So, photographically speaking, this is far from perfect but I just thought the scene might be of some interest.

And as a bonus; hiding under a leaf, a Buff Tip Moth Caterpillar.



Had to get very low for this shot. Too low. It isn't the getting down which I find to be a problem nowadays; it's the getting back up afterwards!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Geoff, I loved the caterpillar under the leaf

[Shadowman]

Nice.

[IzzieK]

Geoff...you are getting old if you are having a hard time getting up... it is one of the signs...I like the caterpillar seeing that you worked hard for that one.

[Geoff F]

It wasn't just the shooting which was a bit of a struggle, Izzie.

In the original image the caterpillar's head was in deep shadow so I had to do two Raw conversions with different adjustments then merge them to produce a more uniform brightness level.

[Nicks Pics]

Nice bugs. I might have seen one of those divers before, do they sometimes swim at the surface? It looks like the pp was done well to reduce shadow.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comment, Nick.

There are quite a few aquatic beetles which live on the surface or dive below, often with trapped air bubbles to help breathing.

In the UK we have a Whirligig Beetle which frantically races around on the surface. Besides the never ending speed, they are a shiny black so I have never taken a decent photo of one.