Uploads from Nikola Rahme, tagged fieldshooting

Freshly emerged robber

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:43:20 -0700

Dioctria cf. atricapilla (Diptera, Asilidae). This is a really young adult, its abdomen is still full of liquids.

Natural light stack of 46 exposures shot early morning with Canon MP-E65 lens at 2x magnification, f/5.6. Combined in Zerene Stacker, uncropped. To have the idea about difficulty of stacking live insects, I made an animation from the sequence. The movement of the abdomen usually can be recognized when checking back the pictures on the screen of the camera.

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Peek-a-boo!

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Mon, 13 May 2013 22:53:12 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Dioctria cf. atricapilla (Diptera, Asilidae). Size: 11 mm.

This was a freshly emerged robber fly found in the early morning between the grasses close to the ground. Focus stack of 38 natural light exposures at 2x magnification taken with the Canon MP-E65 objective. Settings: 1/5 sec., f/6.3, ISO 200. Combined in Zerene Stacker, uncropped.

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Bee fly again

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Sun, 12 May 2013 22:37:48 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Bombylius sp. (Diptera, Bombyliidae) sitting on meadow sage (Salvia pratensis) in the early morning.

Single exposure shot with a Canon EF 100/2.8 macro lens at its closest focus. Settings: 1/8 sec., f/9, ISO 200. The foreground was in shadow, the background was the sun-exposed forest canopy on the other side of a valley.

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Hairy-faced

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Sat, 11 May 2013 05:22:11 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Phytoecia cylindrica (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) male. Body length: 10 mm.

Hard crop from the frontal view of the beetle from my previous post, a single shot again. Taken with the Canon MP-E65 lens at 3x magnification, f/10. Natural light reflected from below with a white plastic board.

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Cylindrical longhorn

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:28:37 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Phytoecia cylindrica (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) male. Body length: 10 mm.

Early morning shot of a smaller member of the family of longhorn beetles. Taken with the Canon MP-E65 lens at 2.2x magnification, f/10. Natural light reflected from below with a white plastic board.
Due to the light wind I wasn't able to do any successful stack hence you must put up with 'regular' macro shots.

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Bee fly II

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Thu, 09 May 2013 02:34:01 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Bombylius sp. (Diptera, Bombyliidae) sitting on a small burnet (Sanguisorba minor).

Another picture of this furry guy showing its face and belly. I usually crop images retaining the original ratio of the sensor (3:2), but in this case I couldn't find an acceptable composition so decided to crop it to square. Stack of 55 natural light frames, combined in Zerene Stacker. Taken with Canon EOS 5D Mark II and MP-E65/2.8 macro lens at 1.2x macro magnification.
Camera settings: f/5.6, 1/25 sec, ISO 100.

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Bee fly

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:20:42 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Bombylius sp. (Diptera, Bombyliidae) morning resting on a small burnet (Sanguisorba minor).

Found it in the early morning in a fruit garden. Stack of 57 natural light frames, combined in Zerene Stacker. Taken with Canon EOS 5D Mark II and MP-E65/2.8 macro lens at 1.4x macro magnification.
Camera settings: f/5.6, 1/40 sec, ISO 200.

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Scarab & lilac

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:52:05 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Valgus hemipterus (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) male. Body length: 7 mm.

Well, here's a macro shot with unusual colors, missing the greens. Many of these beetles were feeding on the odorous blooming lilac (Syringa vulgaris). I held the flowers high with my left hand composing the blue sky as the background and lit the subject with diffused flash in manual mode, power reduced.

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Spiky love

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:13:22 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Hispa atra (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) couple. Size around 3-4 mm.

The most common species of the subfamily Hispinae In Europe. In Hungary they called 'hedgehog-beetles' referring to their unusual spiky body.

Mixed light handheld shot with the Canon MP-E65.

Warble fly

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Fri, 03 May 2013 00:46:46 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Hypoderma sp. (Diptera, Hypodermatidae)

An early evening stacked image of a completely different specimen than showed a few post before. I have visited an old oak tree with friends and found this fly sitting calm on the grasses. Fortunately, I brought my gear so I could take a few shots and a stacking sequence.

Natural light stack of 39 exposures. The last three shots were stopped down to f/9, otherwise f/5.6, 1/5 sec., ISO 400.

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Red backed cuckoo wasp

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Wed, 01 May 2013 23:35:40 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Chrysura dichroa (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae). Body length: 8 mm.

I took several shots of this spectacular insect to get a few usable pictures. Cuckoo wasps normally move a lot and never stop but they need warm air for the activity. Early in the morning may be the best period to shoot them, although small movements still presented.
The subject was lit with diffused flash while the background was natural. 8 handheld exposures stacked in Zerene Stacker, exposure data in the additional info.

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Acorn weevil

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Wed, 01 May 2013 01:14:47 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Curculio glandium (Coleptera, Curculionidae) sitting on an oak leaf.

Handheld shot at 2.4x magnification, the subject lit with one diffused flash. The background's grey given by the underexposed cloudy sky.

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Deer warble fly

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:55:46 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Hypoderma diana (Diptera, Hypodermatidae).

This is a parasitic fly, the larvae develop inside the body of mammals, it worth a read the article about them on Wikipedia. Adults live only a few days so I was lucky to find them again after two years.

This is a hand held stacked image of 4 natural light exposures.

Spring midge II

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 01:24:15 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Diptera - Chironomidae, size: 3.5 mm.

Another attempt with these tiny critters, found on low grasses early in the morning. This is a few-shot-stack with aperture closed to f/8, at 3.9x magnification. 7 natural light exposures combined in Zerene Stacker.

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Spring midge

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:36:07 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Diptera - Chironomidae, size: 4 mm.

First stacked field shot this year. Taken with the MP-E65 macro lens at 3.7x magnification. 41 natural light exposures at f/4.5, 1/6 sec, ISO-100, combined in Zerene Stacker.

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Four horned

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 01:06:02 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Siagonium quadricorne (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae). Body length: 5.5 mm.

I came across these particular rove beetles under the bark of a fallen oak in company of other small beetles from various families (e.g. Nitidulidae, Zopheridae-Colydiinae) and larvae of longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae). These rove beetles and their larvae are predators and feeding other arthropods. Males and females differ by the head shape: males have 2 horns on the head and their mandibles are modified too, in total they look 4-horned (=quadricorne). The function of this spectacular formation is unclear for me. Find the female's photo in the comment!

Photographed with handheld Canon EOS 5DII + MP-E65 lens, lit with diffused flashlight. The picture above is a hard crop of the shot below in the comment.

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Last year's most photographed fly

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:51:58 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Ectophasia crassipennis (Diptera, Tachinidae) male.

I promised not to post more from the last year but have to breach it due to the annoying winter weather even in the beginning of April. I'm sure the most megabytes I have are about this species, though I like and not bored of it. This fly was photographed just half a year ago.
Stack of 44 natural light shots taken with the MP-E65 lens at 2x magnification, f/6.3, 1/4 sec., ISO-100. Uncropped.

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Ant-loving cricket

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 02:53:39 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Myrmecophilus acervorum (Orthoptera, Myrmecophilidae) adult female. Body length: 3 mm

This myrmecophilous insect was found during a search for saproxylic beetles in red rotten wood of oak. More info can be read in the blog:
macroadventures.com/2013/03/24/tiny-cricket-in-sufferance-2/

If you wish to see it larger, click the original size.

Bat tick

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:14:02 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Ixodes vespertilionis (Ixodida, Ixodidae). Body length: 3.5 mm

A couple of ticks were found in a cave in northeastern Hungary. They were sitting on the walls and perhaps waiting for bats which spend the daytime in the cave. Now we saw only a few bats isolated far from each other.
A short story can be read here: macroadventures.com/2013/03/12/beetle-in-the-cave/
Each shots taken handheld and lit with diffused flashlight.

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Blind cave ground beetle

nobody@flickr.com (Nikola Rahme) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 06:18:13 -0700

Nikola Rahme posted a photo:

Duvalius gebhardti (Coleoptera, Carabidae). Body length: 4 mm.

Two species of blind cave ground beetles present in Hungary. They occur in caves of two different mountains, one of them was found only in Hungary in a few caves. Duvalius hungaricus is present also in southern Slovakia.

I joined a biologist company and had the opportunity to visit the type locality of this particular insect, and we were lucky enough to find a couple of them.

More pictures of the excursion on my new blog: macroadventures.com