The leaf in this shot is from me.  In a previous shot some commented that the red of the Japanese maple was too strong against the green of the stink bug.  Also, in this case the stink bug wasn’t in a very good spot to photograph so I used the leaf to move it.  One thing I have noticed is that the MT-24EX on the 180L can tend to be a bit too strong.  In this case the front of the stink bug is a bit too strongly lit.  Continue on for a comparison with a similar shot on the MP-E 65 and more stink bug experiments.

Here’s a very similar shot taken last year with the MP-E 65 and the MT-24EX.

This is the shot that others generally reviewed as having too strong of a contrast.  Contrast aside, note that the lighting on the stink bug is much softer here.  In both cases I used the exact same flash – MT-24EX – and in both cases the MT-24EX had Sto-fen diffusers.  I remember reading some time ago that in macro as the light gets further from the subject it actually becomes harsher.  This still doesn’t make sense to me but these shots seem to suggest that is true.  The fix, I hope, is a Wimberley macro flash bracket that will arrive at the end of this week.  I did try adjusting the position of the heads and the angles but I was unable to soften the light as much as the shot with the MP-E 65.

Getting back to my experiment, I then decided to try photographing the stink bug on my car.  The first one is from the top.

The blue of the car is a bit dark here, but I don’t think that’s too much of an issue as in previous shots it has the tendency to overpower things.  One thing to note is that pictures with my MP-E 65 brought out the blue much stronger, further indicating that I am currently not lighting the entire shot but just the bug.  Here’s a shot I took several weeks ago with the MP-E 65.

If this is the case, the Wimberley will probably not be the only solution but I should look into also firing a 580EX to light the background when taking macro shots with the 180L and MT-24EX.  In the past I have had problems firing the 580EX from the MT-24EX but I can probably now solve the problem with Pocketwizards.  Finally, I took advantage of the lighting from the combination to get the stink bug and its shadow.

So the moral is from this experiment that I need to work more with lighting when using this combo.  Things are a bit easier with the MP-E 65, but with the 180L more thought needs to be given to the background and to preventing harsh light on the subject.

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After spending time researching this in my insect books, I found that this is a Ellychnia corrusca, or Winter Firefly.  Wow!  A firefly!  I was instantly excited.  Unfortunately this particular firefly cannot emit light in the adult stage – just when it is a larva.

I accidentally tipped it over while moving it and it seemed content to lay there for a bit.

Isn’t it cute?! These little guys feed on flowers and sweet sap.  They are generally not pests, though can be if you tap trees for sap.  Unlike other fireflies, this type is active during the day – though this one certainly didn’t seem very active.  Here’s a closer shot of it.

Unfortunately Windows Live Writer does not let me rotate shots from Flickr – but if you follow the link to the Flickr image I rotated it and it kind of looks like some alien overlord from a science fiction movie – you be the judge.

After reading this article, perhaps the reason it didn’t move much was it was overwintering?  Adult winter fireflies overwinter in the bark of trees, though I found this one under some leaf litter.  However the site does mention that there likely exist several species and that this beetle needs to be studied more.  The beetles mentioned as overwintering in trees were in Massachusetts – so perhaps the ones on this coast overwinter on the ground – at least until mean photographers wake them up…

Here’s a final shot of it lumbering on the grass, most likely hoping to escape this crazed photographer.

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However, there are insects to be found at this time of year. Woodlice are as common as ever and centipedes and spiders are also not difficult to find. Recently I have also noticed an increase in springtails that will be the subject of a blog in the near future. So far there are no ants or much in winged insects but I suspect that will change towards the end of February. However, I have seen a marked increase in the number of midges.

One of the nice things about macro photography is, until recently, I had no true idea what a midge is. From the Wikipedia article the term “midge” is a rather generic term that refers to a number of relatively unrelated families of insects. According to Insects Their Natural History and Diversity, midge “is a kind of handy term to refer to the little flies that a happy motorcyclist gets to scrape off his teeth after a summer night’s ride”. While a number of them look like mosquitoes, they lack the long needle that mosquitoes use to puncture the flesh to draw blood. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the midges I have come across are a non-biting variety and are quite harmless. In other parts of the world the midges do bite and there are even theories that parts of Scotland are not strongly populated due to the presence of the midge.

It seems that the local midges here love the barn in my backyard because whenever I look I can find a number of them resting on the outside of it, and even more caught in the spider webs hanging from the roof. The majority of the midges hanging on the barn are very easy to photograph. They don’t mind the lens getting so close and I even lightly poked one to make sure it wasn’t dead. Perhaps they are in a breeding mode or resting during the day – I’m not quite sure why they hang on the side of the barn for hours on end.

For those of you wondering what a midge (at least here) looks like, the following is a shot.

In particular I get a kick out of the “hairdo” on top of their heads. The following is a closer shot of “the do”.

According to one of my insect books, this signifies that the midge is a male. If this is true, then the logical consequence is this image is a female

Some midges are considered to be garden pests. Perhaps these ones are as well. I have noticed a number of pieces of leaves missing on some of my plants, but so far it has been difficult to determine what has been eating them. Besides, due to my photography habits I do not allow anyone to spray pesticides in the yard. Sometimes my wife gets a bit upset about this. I offered to purchase a bunch of praying mantids to help keep the insects down but she knows my true aspirations are to get some good mantid shots. J

Whatever they are doing, they are so impartial to their surroundings that they let me get close enough to them to get shots like this.

After some research, I found that this midge, as with many others, belongs to the family Chironomidae. This is a huge family with 2,000 members just in North America and are very common during the winter. So, the next time I hear the word “midge” I will be able to put a picture to the word!

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