Not too much too say today, so I thought I would post a few creepy crawly shots. I hope at least one of these grosses you out a bit, because otherwise I’m not doing my job. 
I took all of these about two months ago shortly before shooting a house for Nelya. She didn’t mind too much that I showed up quite dirty from my previous shoot.
OK, I have to admit that this book is not for everyone. Who should read this book? Hmmm… Well, if you’re not interested in carpenter ants, you can skip this review.
I happen to find carpenter ants quite interesting and one species of them – Camponotus Modoc, is very common around here. Therefore, when I saw Carpenter Ants Of The United States And Canada
Those of you who know me will find it very odd that I actually attempted to get some shots of bees the other day. Even more shocking is that I went with my MP-E 65 instead of the 180L- which is what I normally use when stalking bees. The thing is, I am absolutely terrified of things with wings and stingers. However, I am beginning to warm up to bees and I have found that they generally don’t mind me taking their picture while they are busy gathering pollen.
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/2563813008_e991ba6be9_o.jpg" width="800" height="533" alt="IMG_1958" /></a>)
Green stink bugs are one of my favorite subjects due to their bright green color. For more information about stink bugs, see the previous blog I wrote about them. In particular I often enjoy photographing them against the strong red of the Japanese maple bushes in our front yard, which works out well because that is where I usually find them.
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.
This weekend I finally received one of the most coveted lenses remaining on my list – the Canon 180L. This lens is the second in what I call – “The Holy Trio of Canon Macro Lenses”. They are the following.
Canon MP-E 65 – The only macro lens capable of going beyond 1x without extenders or extension tubes.
Canon 180L – The longest macro lens available for Canon. Also considered to be the sharpest and the only one with an L designation.
Canon TS-E 90 – Not truly a macro lens (.33x) but the tilt and shift capabilities make this a very interesting lens.
I almost didn’t get a chance to play with the lens this weekend. The package needed to be signed by an adult and, though Nelya was home that day, the UPS truck arrived while she was picking the kids up from school. Luckily I was able to pick it up at the facility that evening, only to find that the order was messed up and I am still working at getting it corrected. Luckily, the 180L was not one of the items messed up so I opened it immediately.
We’ve finally had some good weather over here, so I took the opportunity to photograph the ponds next to my building. While rummaging in some leaves, I found a very interesting beetle. It didn’t seem like it wanted to do much of anything so it was more than happy to let me take some pictures of it – including letting me place it in some more photographic areas and in general annoy it.
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.
While walking around my yard taking pictures of insects several days ago, I noticed a spot on the cover of one of our yard chairs. I didn’t think much of it and continued to photograph other things. Some time later I looked at the chair again but for some reason the “spot” seemed to be in a different place. I shook it off as a misperception and continued to find other things to photograph. When I came back to the same chair and noticed the spot was in a different place, I began to think this was more than meets the eye. I watched the spot for a minute and noticed that it was slowly moving. This was no spot, but instead was a fascinating bug that I have long hoped to get a picture of. Therefore I proudly introduce the debris-carrying larva of a lacewing.
However, as will soon be evident, this highly beneficial bug has a rather macabre habit.
Last weekend for the first time we actually had a brief period of good weather, lasting from Saturday morning to early Sunday afternoon. In Seattle parlance, this was our “spring”. Most likely some day in late July or August will be our “summer”. Given the nice weather, Eitan and Nathan wanted to go outside to collect more ants for their ant farm so of course I obliged. However, after being outside for a few minutes Eitan pointed to something that made me stop.
Yes, this would be my first opportunity to photograph insect porn. In particular these were March flies, which in previous posts I have already photographed. That day the weather must have been perfect for this opportunity, as it did not take long to find more couples in the act. Naturally I was very excited and rushed to grab my camera – taking several shots only to figure out that I had left my flash card downstairs. After deciding the shots would come out better with a flash card, I proceeded to take a number of shots of the couple in action.
Therefore if you feel that you will be offended by March flies in various gratuitous positions please do not turn the page.
One day, while talking with my father on the phone, a bright shiny bug entered the house and I passed right by it. Although I wasn’t into bugs then nearly as much as now, I was so excited that I immediately placed a cup over it to prevent it from going anywhere. After the conversation was over I uncovered the interesting bug and took some shots of it.
The shot above is one I made several weeks later, when I found another one of these bugs in one of my Japanese maple bushes. Many of your probably already know what this bug is – but for those not acquainted this is the stink bug. Supposedly they have the ability to spray a cyanide containing mixture that smells rather bad, though I have never seen one do this. Still, I have never bothered to handle one to find out. Above is the aptly named “green stink bug” – one of my favorites around the garden. They are among the most photogenic insects around here and are quite common. For more information about this fascinating creature, follow the jump.
The other night Nelya asked me if I could take the garbage out and then drag the cans to the street for the garbage and recycle trucks to pick up. Normally this would be a rather short task, but you know me. I threw several things in the recycle bin and then noticed – “hey, there’s a spider on this can!”. Then I also noticed an interesting beetle or fly, and then noticed that perhaps the blue of the recycle bin would make an interesting background. I hauled the recycle bin to the street, making sure not to upset the spider too much, then ran to get my camera.
Unfortunately, this particular spider did not feel like getting it’s picture taken. It made it clear that I would expect a battle to get a decent shot of it. After chasing it all around the recycle bin it used a silk thread to slide off the top of the bin and dropped to the pavement to run to safety. There I decided to take a shot of it, as I didn’t know who would win the ensuing struggle.
