Shortleaf » insect http://shortleaf.com Photography by Ryan McCoy Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:01:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Hungry Bee http://shortleaf.com/2010/04/hungry-bee/ http://shortleaf.com/2010/04/hungry-bee/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:20:18 +0000 Ryan http://shortleaf.com/?p=1799 I enjoy trying to capture small things in nature that we don’t often notice or pay attention to. Small moving subjects are extremely difficult to shoot because they are small, unpredictable and the depth of field in these shots is extremely shallow. I’ve shot many insects in the last couple years and here is my latest attempt, one of my better ‘bee’ shots I’d say.

383-Drinking Bee
Bee’s tend to hop from flower to flower and don’t stay very long at each one. Chasing the bee from flower to flower is frustrating so I have concluded the best way to take their photo is to pick a flower and hope the bee comes to you.

I have yet to get a decent photo of a bee (or anything) in flight, but that is high on my list of photo “to-do’s”. I am thinking I may have to pre-set the focus and wait for a bee to not only come into the frame, but into the focal plane as well. Here is the ‘best’ in-flight shot I’ve managed to get so far:

This photo was just a matter a millimeters away from being a pretty cool shot. If the focus ring would have been adjusted just ever so slightly, or I would have waited an additional nano-second the bee would have been in perfect focus.

]]> http://shortleaf.com/2010/04/hungry-bee/feed/ 0 Wasp http://shortleaf.com/2009/09/wasp/ http://shortleaf.com/2009/09/wasp/#comments Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:20:20 +0000 Ryan http://www.ryanmccoy.us/?p=1213 Here is a wasp I was watching climb around on my poblano pepper plant today at lunch:

-click to enlarge-

wasp-1

If you are like me (who isn’t?) you have probably wondered how insects can walk around on surfaces that are vertical or even upside down like it’s no problem.

The wasp has tiny claws that keep it from sliding off the pepper

Apparently wasps have CLAWS

Do they use some kind of foot glue or do bugs have the power to defy gravity? Neither…I noticed in several of these photos, the wasp has tiny little claw things at the end of its feet that seemed to keep it from falling off the pepper. So while this is not quite as exciting as discovering a super-power, I still find it interesting.

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