lightning bugs

We recently had a nasty storm that dropped 1.6" (4cm) of rain in less than one hour.  My wife noticed that the lightning bugs had crawled out of the grass and were seeking refuge on the plants and flowers. These guys were hanging out on the daylillies.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/15 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

frog reflections

I found this guy in Reading Creek, which is near my home.  Here's a google map link.  I found this guy under the railroad bridge (this is the same train line that Rebecca caught flack for photographing).  I was there because the one lane bridge that your see on map page is closed for repair.  One might ask why they are repairing a one lane bridge that was built in 1915 in the year 2010 and I wish I could give you an answer.  Anyway, since the road is closed ,it presented opportunities to explore that your would not normally get.  My youngest son and I rode our bikes on the road without fear of being run over. 

Submitted for Weekend Reflection #41

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/40 sec @ f5.6
ISO 400
Curves adjusted for contrast

They're back!

They're back!  After much anticipation, the swallowtail caterpillars are back.  We haven't seen any adults flying around, but obviously they've visited. 

These were all shot the evening of 29-June and most used a flash because I shot them around 9PM. 

This guy (or gal) was munching on some baby parsley.  He's about 1.25" (~3cm) long, so he's been here for a while. It's safely in a container in out kitchen for the next few weeks being pampered.

We have milkweed growing to attract  Monarch butterfly's, but none yet. 

Update 30-June - good thing I took the time to photograph the eggs.  Today, they had all hatched!

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 0.8 sec @ f7.1
ISO 800
aperture priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

Here's a first.  A baby caterpillar just outside their egg.  Pretty cool, eh?  You can see how it ate a hole in the shell to get out. 

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 4.0 sec @ f4.0
ISO 400
aperture priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

Here's a shot of an egg next to a ruler to give you perspective.  The markings are 1/16", so it's probably 1/32" (0.08cm) in diameter!  We counted at least 6 eggs. 

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 25.0 sec @ f9.0
ISO 800
aperture priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

Reflections of the eye

My wife spies this bee in one of her Pentas plants.  I think it was bedding down for the night (assuming bees do that sort of thing).  It spent time what appeared to be grooming itself, then found a spot and didn't move.  I must have taken 10 shots and this was one of the better ones.  You can see the reflection of the sun in it's eye, but if you look carefully, you can see reflections of other parts of the plant as well.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f2.8
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast

Salamander

My youngest son, Alex, captured a bunch of salamanders the other day.  They are quite difficult to photograph with a macro lens, because they don't stay still.

Reposted because blogger lost the photo :-(

 Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f3.2
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Bee wings

We have a weeping cherry in the front yard that always look great when it blossoms.  It attracted a ton of bumble bees this years I took advantage of the opportunity. 

I mounted the camera to my tripod, but didn't spread the legs out, so I was using it more like a monopod.  I just leaned in and got the shot.  I didn't get stung once!

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f5.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Eye of the Zephyr

This is a closeup (duh) of our dog, Zephyr.  She is a Miniature Schnauzer and a great dog.  She doesn't have a mean bone in her body.  Every other dog we've owned had certain things that would piss them off, but not Zephyr. Nothing phases her. 

On the flip side, she's not the sharpest tool in the shed.  She's over a year old and is just beginning to get the hang of giving a paw.  We're not sure if she'll ever get it, but that's OK.

This is my submission for Weekend Reflections #26.  If you look closely at her eyes, you can see my reflection.  She's not really a fan of being photographed and normally runs away from the camera.  I caught her off guard one day and got this. 

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f1.4
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

I have a visitor

So I'm at work last Thursday afternoon, sitting at my desk and out of the corner of my eye, I see a lady bug crawling all over the place.  Now mind you, it's February and we have two feet of snow on the ground and I can't imagine where a lady bug could have come from.  It was constantly on the move, so getting a shot was tough. I finally had to resort to using the flash.  I was about to have an afternoon snack, so I shared my banana with it and it seemed to enjoy it a lot. 

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f4.0
ISO 400
Curves adjusted for contrast

Snow!

Well, we got a bunch of snow last night and this morning.  I measured 12 inches this morning, but the snow did not stop falling for several more hours.  I think we finished with ~16 inches (~40cm).

I shot a bunch more later in the day.  The sun came partially out and cast a beautiful, orange shade on the snow.  I'll post them some other day. 

Here's Zephyr up to her ears (literally) in the white stuff.  Silly me, the camera was in aperture priority mode at f10, and she was moving like a rocket, but your get the idea.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
45mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f10
ISO 500
Curves adjusted for contrast

My oldest son has only been driving for one year and being the overprotective parent, I drove him to work today.  On the way, I noticed that the train tracks were covered, indicating that the trains were not running. 



Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
24mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f13
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Near my home, we have a one lane bridge that crosses the Reading creek.  The bridge is thought of as a nuisance in this modern, hurry-up world, but I find it the be almost charming - a throwback.  Here's a shot of the creek.


Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
35mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/160 sec @ f10
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Jester

When we get Zephyr groomed, the groomer always adds something to her collar like a little artificial flower.  On one of her recent grooming's, she returned with the fashion accessory around her neck.  It fits her personality perfectly.  While shopping in Target this past weekend, we were looking over the cat and dog costumes and saw the jester ears, which are made for cats.  Since Zephyr is small for her breed, I suggested we go for it.  You can see the results. 

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens

90mm Focal Length

Exposure 1/60 sec @ f4.0

ISO 400

curves adjusted for contrast 

Here's another shot with birthday present bows stuck to her head.  She's a really sweet dog.  Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but makes up for it with unconditional love. 

 

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
45mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f4.0
ISO 400
curves adjusted for contrast 

Who did it? Katydid

This katydid was handing around the back door near the bug light, munchin' on small bugs.  I guess that  indicates that the bug light is not really effective, eh?  Since it was 9:30PM, I was too lazy/tired to get the tripod, so I used the flash instead.  It's like it's (she's?) staring directly at you. 

Canon EF 100mm f4 Macro USM lens
100mm Focal Length (no kidding!)
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f2.8
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast
flash used

Duck at dusk

I shot this at Lake Galena at dusk last Sunday.  I really like the color at sunset.  The wake left by the dusk was also pretty interesting.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
65mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f4.0
ISO 800

Livin' large

So now that Summer is over, I'm posting a shot of Zephyr learning how to swim. She was not fond of it at first, but after getting her to hook her front paws over the edge of a 'subskate', she got more comfortable. She then figured out how to get her rear paws on the subskate, she was good. She's been swimming a few times since and she is getting more comfortable. She can swim pretty well - no flapping of paws and splashing all over the place.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/640 sec @ f9.0
ISO 200
Exposure slightly reduced

Sand Crab

In honor of Labor Day, I thought I'd post something I've been saving since our vacation. Some children found a crab at the water's edge at Rehoboth Beach. I snapped a shot before he burrowed back into the sand. Check it's right eye, I swear it was looking at me. It must have conversed with the seagull.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/400 sec @ f8.0
ISO 200

How to grow a butterfly

For the last 10 years or so, we've caught butterfly caterpillars, cared for them, watched them transform to butterflies and released them. The credit really goes to my wife, who figured this out and does most of the care and feeding. We accidentally discovered this when we came home from vacation one year and the parsley plants were infested with caterpillars. My oldest son and I set out to destroy them, but my wife intervened. She captured some and a few weeks later, we discovered they were swallowtail butterfly caterpillars.

The 'configuration' is we have a butterfly bush in the back yard (clever, eh?), but we didn’t always have one. Near the butterfly bush, my wife places several planters full of growing parsley. The butterflies feed on the bush then fly over to the parsley and deposit their eggs, an event we have yet to witness. The vast majority of the ones we collect are Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

This year’s collection started July 29th. My wife found two caterpillars in the parsley, about 3/16" (~5mm) long. If they're caught much smaller than that, they escape from the containers and get lost in the house (DAMHIK). We’re not sure how long it takes from the eggs being laid until they hatch, but I doubt it’s very long. All told, we collected eleven caterpillars this year.

On August 2nd, the first one was 5/16" (~8mm), pictured below.

On August 4th, they measured 5/8" (~16mm). They doubled their size in 2 days. Around this time, they shed their skins and transformed from black to green (note to self – next time photograph the molting). In the picture below, it's August 7th and they are now 1 1/16" (~27mm) long.

On August 10th, after growing to about 1.5" (38mm), this one entered the chrysalis stage. You can still see the caterpillar, but it is surrounded by fine, almost hair-like web.

August 11th, the webbing has transformed into a shell-like cocoon.

August 19-20, you can see that the cocoon is changing color to black. It won’t be long now!

August 21st, the first butterfly emerges. We've yet to witness the emerging process and someday, I hope to photograph it. We had two more emerge the next day and several more are getting very close.




It’s now drying its wings on a Gerber Daisy. This day was horribly humid and it took more than an hour for the wings to dry enough for it to fly away.

From a 3/16" (~5mm) caterpillar to a fully mature butterfly took about 24-25 days. On August 19th, the Philadelphia Inquirer had an article on how few butterflies there were in the Delaware Valley this year. We didn’t notice much difference in quantity from prior years however; we estimate that are as much as a month later than usual. We’ve usually completed this by late July.

Tall web

A shot of a spider web high atop an arborvitae on a foggy morning. This particular morning yielded many good shots, which I will definitely be sharing. I thought this one looked pretty neat against my neighbor's house.

If you click on the image, you will see a slightly larger image ,which I thinks looks even better. I've had 'Boris the Spider' in my head ever since I shot this.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens
Exposure 1/1600 sec @ f2.8 (Aperature Priority)
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

Ladybug

Whilst shooting photos of butterfly's, I saw a ladybug sitting on a coleus. It was going to town, running here an there. It was impossible to get this guy (or girl) to sit still for a shot, but I finally succeeded.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
28mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/160 sec @ f5.0
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast
I knocked the exposure down to get the bug to 'pop'

Sneak peek

Here's a shot of one of our future Swallowtail's. He's a munchin' on parsley. That's his roommate in the background, along with numerous piles of caterpillar poop. They eat so much now, that their containers must be cleaned and refilled twice a day.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
28mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f5.6
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

Butterfly, Part II

I'm pleased to announce that we've had an abundance of butterfly's visit us this year! As I'm writing this from the kitchen table, I see two feeding on the butterfly bush. This morning, I swear I saw a hummingbird, but it flew away before I had a chance to snap a photo.

In a prior posting, I mentioned that we had not captured any caterpillars. I'm pleased to announce that we have *a bunch* as of this posting and we're helping them grow big and strong.

I've been taking periodic shots of their growth. After one emerges from chrysalis, I'll put up the whole sequence. The caterpillars are doubling their size every 2-3 days and they are getting very big. I expect the largest will go to chrysalis within the next few days. The metamorphosis takes ~ 2 weeks. I should have the whole thing ready late in August.

This morning, we had our first Monarch!!

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f5.6
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast



Here's another Swallowtail butterfly, photographed in the back yard. I very slowly approached the butterfly bush and waited for it to land on a nearby flower. I really like this shot!

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/200 sec @ f5.0
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast


While riding around today, I stopped to shoot some photos of an interesting bridge that I'll post later. I saw a Black Swallowtail flying about and it landed on the bridge about 2 feet from where I was standing.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f4.0
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

You lookin' at me?

Mr. Seagull and I had a stare off at the beach a few weeks ago.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/800 sec @ f10
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast