life on six legs

My Top Twelve Photos of 2012

chris wirth — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 04:27:01 +0000

And it’s that time of year – here are my best or perhaps more aptly – my favorite photos from 2012 (in no particular order). First, a photograph of the once thought extinct Cicindela floridana - taken while I was conducting research in Florida at the end this August. I was quite surprised when this individual allowed …

Photographing Butterflies with a 30 Year Old Lens

chris wirth — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 03:53:13 +0000

I photographed this grey hairstreak (Strymon melinus) with my Canon 7D and an adapted Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 lens over the past weekend. I used a diffused 580 EX Speedlite to provide fill light. As expected for a 30+ year old lens, the focus is manual; but this is not an issue for macro work as …

Brephidium pseudofea

chris wirth — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:48:48 +0000

Photographed on Big Pine Key, Monroe County, Florida in August 2011.

Calosoma wilcoxi

chris wirth — Sun, 22 May 2011 03:26:39 +0000

Back at the end April I had a chance to escape from classes and get out into the field for a weekend of collecting and photography. The day was slightly cooler than anticipated but still productive; throughout the day I saw numerous Calosoma wilcoxi scuttling about. While smaller than its larger cousin C. scrutator, this …

spring has sprung…

chris wirth — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:45:57 +0000

and the Dogwoods are in bloom. Molorchus bimaculatus is a small cerambycid which commonly frequents flowers in the early spring; sure enough they were out in numbers this past Friday. This mating pair was quite oblivious to my intrusion and went on about their business, or rather, the female went on about feeding and the male, well, …

a look at Callophrys wings

chris wirth — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:57:53 +0000

These stunning green-patterned wings are those of Callophrys gryneus gryneus, the “Olive” Juniper Hairstreak. I was experimenting with some old Canon gear, a FD bellows and 35mm bellows lens, hoping to create a composite image of a butterfly’s wing. But, creating a clean series turns out to be impractical as the focus differed too much between shots. I instead focused …

feeling antsy…

chris wirth — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 04:49:43 +0000

This summer I photographed quite a few ants, so here are the best of the bunch: Photos taken with a Canon 7D , 65mm macro lens, and 580EX flash unit. And yes, I did just go for the awful pun…

my favorite shots from 2010

chris wirth — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:34:35 +0000

And once again it’s time for my top five favorite shots from 2010: Cicindela albissima female with prey, Kanab UT Agapostemon sp. on flower Jumping spider on flower Agapostemon sp. feeding “You feeling lucky?”

A quick thought about polarizing filters…

chris wirth — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 04:28:04 +0000

While test various styles of diffusers I came across a one involving a rather unique method of removing highlights: cross polarization. As detailed in Wil Hershberger’s article here, this technique involving a polarizing filter and special polarizing film to cover the flash(s). I constructed a similar setup to the one shown in Wil’s article but with …

A summer with the 580EX…

chris wirth — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:30:20 +0000

In my previous post I detailed my transition from using Canon’s MT-24 EX Twin Flash to the Canon 580 EX for macro work. Now, at last, here are a few samples of the lighting produced by the new setup. I have been quite pleased with the diffusion provided by the 580EX/Micro Apollo softbox combination – …