Tag Archives: techniques

Oversized, double-concave diffuser for MT-24EX twin flash

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

This jewel beetle is, of course, Megaloxantha bicolor palawanica me beetle on several occasions while testing out different diffuser designs for my Canon MT-24EX twin flash unit. In the most recent one, I had tried combining SoftBoxes with my oversized concave … Continue reading →

Posted in Buprestidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Giving me the weevil eye!

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

The order Coleoptera (beetles) is, of course, the largest single group of animals on earth, and by most accounts the Curculionidae (weevils) and their close relatives are the largest family-level group within the order. At 60,000 species and counting, weevils account … Continue reading →

Posted in Coleoptera, Curculionidae | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Diffusion versus post-processing, or perhaps something even better?

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

One of the comments on my post Diffuser comparisons for 100mm macro lens was by Stephen Barlow, one of the original “concave diffuser” advocates, who claimed that the “dead” appearance of Photo #4 was an artifact of post-processing and not really a problem … Continue reading →

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

How to collect larvae of Amblycheila cylindriformis

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Ted C. MacRae

Step 1. Go to your favorite grassland habitat in the western half of the Great Plains anywhere from Texas north to South Dakota and look for barren soil amongst the vegetation. Clay banks near streams or in ravines and even vertical clay … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

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

Beautiful box of Buprestidae

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Ted C. MacRae

I’ve been working on identifying Buprestidae accumulated from a variety of sources over the past year—mostly exchanges and gifts, before beginning the processing specimens collected during this past season. Once identified, and combined with specimens gleaned from material submitted by … Continue reading →

Posted in Buprestidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 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