Tag Archives: photography

Diffuser comparisons for 100mm macro lens

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

I really wish I could just buy three Canon Speedlite 580EX II flash units, mount one directly on the camera, run the other two wirelessly on each side as slaves, put a nice big soft box diffuser on each of them, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Buprestidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Best of BitB 2012

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

Welcome to the 5th Annual “Best of BitB”, where I pick my favorite photographs from the past year. 2012 was one of the most intensive travel years I’ve ever had—I spent 8 weeks in Argentina from February through April, made separate … Continue reading →

Posted in Blaberidae, Blattodea, Bombyliidae, Carabidae, Cerambycidae, Chloropidae, Chrysomelidae, Cicindelidae, Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Dictyoptera, Diptera, Fulgoridae, Hemiptera, Lampyridae, Lepidoptera, Milichiideae, Noctuidae, Reduviidae | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

Life at 8X: MPMI Cover

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

The January 2013 issue of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (volume 26, number 1) is now online. Why do I mention this? You may recall the cover photos of the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines, from my post Life at 8X—soybean aphid—one of a series of … Continue reading →

Posted in Aphididae, Hemiptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Approaching the unapproachable

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

Yesterday I gave a talk at the Entomological Society of America’s Insect Macrophotography Symposium, focusing on techniques that I use for photographing wary insects in the field. Turnout for the symposium was awesome (I estimate ~125 people in attendance), and as … Continue reading →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Persistence Pays

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

For the past three years I’ve crisscrossed the country in search of some of North America’s rarest tiger beetles, each time hoping to get that “perfect” photograph of an unconfined beetle exhibiting natural behavior in its native habitat. I’ve managed … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Hand-held caddisflies

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

I recently found a folder in my files with a number of photos taken way back in April during a visit to Sam A. Baker State Park in the Ozark Highlands of southeastern Missouri. I never got around to posting them … Continue reading →

Posted in Philopotamidae, Trichoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

How to deal with a crappy photo of a beautiful beetle

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

One thing I’ve discovered after trying my hand at insect macrophotography for the past three years is that I take a lot more photos than I can possibly post. As a result, I tend to focus my efforts on more … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Post processing—then and now

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

I recently happened upon one of my first attempts at post processing a photograph of a pinned insect specimen. The subject was Anomalipus elephas (large armoured darkling beetle), a tank of an insect (this example measuring 32 mm in length) belonging to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments