Tuesday 13 March 2012

Macrophotography, bugs, snow fleas and Spring!

I've done my share of research. Photographing the moon well is tough, for example.

snow flea
There are guidelines for insects. Lightstalking has macro insect tips!

What some people do: Macrophotography –setup a bit much! I find the smaller they are, the harder it is to photograph them!


Snow fleas are out about in the damp weather.

Here they congregated at the bottom of a footprint in the bog. In the video, I managed a close-up. The snow fleas were all congregated in the foreground, middle. It is bizarre.


It is snow flea season! They are busily eating rabbit poo, crawling all over the leaves. They sound like fine rain falling, as they bounce on the brittle leaves!

New bug sucker 2.0, AKA pooter!
In the meantime, indoors, I've been hatching lady beetles in my impatience plant. Not by choice, although some people buy them for their gardens as they eat aphids.
bug collector V. 1.0

I don't have many aphids, and they didn't seem to make a dint in my white fly population. What good are they? I have caught 98 lady beetles, so far. Can't wait until I can put this plant outdoors!

My old bug collector is somewhat wonky, and I made a new one. Did you know they are called Pooters?!
So nice to see bright blooms!

I remember making bug suckers with a class once-upon-a-time, with my students. I loved integrating science into curriculum. We would grow bulbs, and photograph their daily growth, chart it on a graph, track the rate of blooms.

We used old film canisters, in the good old days of 35 mm, but I used a mason jar and a hot glue gun to secure two tubes into the lid.
Cover the end with gauze so you don't suck up the bugs.
Sort of an anti-bug sucker!

Lots of hot glue to keep the seal.
Bugs come in the one tube,
as you suck through the other tube.

So cute!

Lady beetle

6 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

i like to see ladybugs - outside, not in. :)

Kay L. Davies said...

I really like ladybugs, and if I find one in the house, I take it outside, but I think I draw the line at sucking them up.
Might make a good insult, however. "Oh, go suck a bug off your rug!"
K

Vagabonde said...

I had not heard of snow fleas. Your camera is quite good to take such close-ups. Another thing I had never heard of – a bug sucker….

Red said...

Really like the snow fleas and your excellent photography to show them . It's funny how people won't believe you when you try to show them the fleas.

Anonymous said...

I love your macro shots! That is tough! I also loved the new top of the page. Your deer are delightful. How did you get them to stand still! Fun post Jenn.

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