I’m baaaack….Part III: fried bugs as a nutritious and tasty snack!

A very friendly Thai gentleman selling stir-fried insects outside the Chatuchak (weekend) market in Bangkok, Thailand

Hey! What’s this…another post so soon? It’s only been two days instead of a month! 

All self-sarcasm aside, I hope this foreshadows a return to regular postings for me. Hard to believe that once upon a time I was posting every day! These days I hardly ever get the time to take photos or play with bugs and worms and other wiggly things that most people consider icky—never mind actually writing about it. Between the arrival of spring (bringing the opportunity to go out and play with said icky things) and work (hopefully) quieting down, hopefully that will all change… 

I wrote in my last blog (see I’m baaaack….!Part II) that while I was in Bangkok I only had the time to take 28 photos (28 to be exact)—but I also wrote that those photos included a few images of insects. Well, here they are! 

As you can see from the accompanying photos, I saw a lot of insects in Bangkok. But they were almost all dead. Not just dead, they were fried! 

Here’s the story: on the one free afternoon I had while in Bangkok I took the skytrain out to the Chatuchak (weekend) market: the biggest weekend market in the world. This market is incredible: it is HUGE (according to Wikipedia it covers over 35 acres and contains more than 5,000 stalls); it’s CROWDED. It’s a vast labyrinth of stalls, tiny shops and carts selling absolutely everything. It’s chaotic, confusing and utterly fascinating. I spent a couple of hours going through the live animals and tropical fish area. Most of the animals I saw were the same species you might find in a pet shop in North America. There were some exceptions, however, such as the numerous pet squirrels (which appeared to be captive born). Happily most of the critters appeared to be legal and well taken care of—which perhaps wasn’t too surprising considering the largest global wildlife conservation meeting was taking place in the city at that time. I can’t help but wonder if things would be different if I visited now. Even with CITES CoP 16 happening I still saw a few examples of illegal wildlife trade, such as the one vendor who was selling wild caught fledgling hawks and owls. His set-up was clearly temporary and included a big sign saying that no photos were allowed… 

The most interesting vendor was a tiny store that sold only beetles, beetle larvae and the media and equipment to care for them. It was really cool (in more than one way as it was thankfully air conditioned). I know that beetle husbandry is a popular hobby in some countries, but not in Canada. Unfortunately the owner spoke no English—and I certainly don’t speak Thai—so I wasn’t able to ask any questions. 

Anyhow, the afternoon I was at the market the temperature was 35°C (95°F) and 100% humidity (or so it felt) and in the market there wasn’t a breath of air. After a couple hours I was absolutely dying—I desperately needed air conditioning, a shower and a gallon of water to drink. When I exited the market I came across this cheerful vendor who was selling a variety of fried insects. I wasn’t looking for a tasty snack, but I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to take a few photos. 

Fried caterpillars

Fried silk worm pupae (Bombyx mori)

 

Fried crickets

Another photo of fried giant water bugs–the idea of eating these critters was pretty intimidating as they were 7-10 cm (3-4 inches) long!

For those that don’t like to eat bugs, deep-fried fledgling birds were also available!

There isn’t much to say about my photo technique for these photos. I was too hot to want to think about it; I just set my camera to auto everything, took these snapshots and headed back to the hotel. 

I’m afraid that I can’t tell you how they tasted…maybe next time! 

Cheers,
EC 

The technical stuff:
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M5
Lens: Zuiko 12-50mm ƒ/3.5-6.3 zoom
Settings: auto exposure (wide view: F8 @ 1/320 sec; close-up: F6.3 @ 1/100 sec)
Lighting: Ambient light
ISO: 200

Polls: please help me make Macrocritters better!

My initial short term goal for this site was to develop and upload 30 posts in 30 days. Then the plan was to assess how well Macrocritters had been received and whether to changes needed to be made. However, as I have worked over the past couple of weeks to create content and promote the blog it has become obvious that I need to adapt and tinker with it much more often. Now that I have reached the half-way mark in my self-imposed 30 day post-a-thon, I’ve decided to ask for some feedback. So I have prepared three quick polls. I would really appreciate your input—and please don’t hesitate to comment!

A question about the type of content on Macrocritters:

A question about the current subject matter on Macrocritters:

A question about the future content on Macrocritters:

Thanks!

EC

Tech meets bug: using Photoshop Elements to edit a macro photo of a tussock moth caterpillar

I wrote in a previous blog (When is a tussock moth not a tussock moth?) that I would go out and find a real tussock moth to photograph. Well, I haven’t succeeded yet, but I did find a nice specimen of silver spotted tussock moth caterpillar (Lophocampa argentata). Below is a standard ID photo of the little beast. Note that the hairs on its back form little tufts or “tussocks”—hence the name tussock moth.

 

I photographed this caterpillar as it crawled around on the branches of a dead tree. For the most part it didn’t do anything particularly interesting or photogenic. But whenever it came to the end of a branch it would rear-up and wave around (looking to find another branch to climb on I assume). This was a great pose, but it was tricky to catch considering how it was moving and the shallow depth of field I had to work with. But eventually everything came together and I managed to get the photo below. As soon as I hit the shutter I knew I’d like it.

 

All-in-all I think this is a nice little photo. Now I’d like to share with you the steps I took to make it even better using Photoshop Elements 8.0. Before I do I want to be clear that I am no expert with Photoshop! But that is Ok because I typically don’t usually do much more than tweak the contrast and/ or crop the photo. For this photo, however, I did just a little more…

The first step was to adjust the contrast. Normally I start by clicking “Auto contrast” (under the “Enhance” tab) and usually I am happy with the result. If necessary I will tweak it manually as needed (Enhance/Adjust lighting/Brightness/Contrast). In this case the contrast was already good.  Next I needed to crop the photo in order to get a little more up close and personal (when in doubt, always get closer). If you haven’t used Photoshop Elements before, this couldn’t be easier. You just use the Crop tool to draw a box around the portion of the photo that you want to keep, adjust the edges as desired and hit enter. Voila!

 

The photo is looking good now, but there were a couple of reflections on the head that I really wasn’t happy about. This is where the Clone Stamp Tool is so incredibly handy. I zoomed in close on the head, selected the Clone Stamp Tool and set the size to 25 px. Then it was just a matter of selecting (alt-click) areas of the caterpillar’s skin and stamping (click) over the reflections. I find that the best way to do this is to select an area of an image right next to the area you want to stamp over. This allows for the best most seamless match of colour and tone. It only took a minute to remove the reflections.

Plus, by exposing for the black underside correctly I felt that the beautiful orange hairs lost a little saturation. So I went back to the “Enhance” tab and selected Adjust lighting/Shadows/Highlights and darkened the highlights just a little to bring out the colour. I also lightened the shadows to provide a bit more detail in the dark underside.

Here is the final result:

I hope you like it…

Cheers,

EC

Close-up photography: insects meet Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)

Here are some really killer photos…

My subject matter tonight is again about insects. More specifically, it is about a couple of insects that encountered the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) in my bog garden. Hmm…I guess we are really talking about insect corpses.

To be honest, my bog garden it isn’t really a garden, it’s just a big pot with a variety of carnivorous plants growing in it. But it is easily the most interesting spot in the whole garden. It is always fascinating to see what kind of bug has been trapped by which plant.

Anyhow, I think most people are familiar with Venus flytraps and how they trap insects. Venus flytraps grow in bogs and similar habitats that are low in the nitrogen and phosphorus that plants need to survive (nitrogen and phosphorus are primary nutrients for plants, along with potassium). So flytraps have evolved the ability to trap and digest insects and other arthropods in order to acquire these nutrients. Their “traps” are formed by two opposing lobes at the end of their leaves, each of which is fringed by a row of “teeth”. If a small enough prey touches the tiny hairs on the inner surface of the trap (it has to touch 2 hairs in a short period of time) the trap closes. If the prey is too big it might be able to muscle out of the trap. If not, If the edges of the trap slowly force themselves together, eventually sealing the trap to form a pouch around the prey. The trap then secretes enzymes into the pouch to digest the prey. Kind of creepy eh?

This first photo below is of a very long legged insect that has been successfully trapped by the plant. I have no idea what kind of critter it was—I’m guessing maybe a crane fly (family Tipulidae), but really, your guess is as good as mine. In fact, if you have a guess I’d love to hear it! [Update: The consensus is that it wasn’t an insect at all—it was a harvestman order Opiliones)—EC]

 

Once digestion is complete there isn’t much left of the prey than an empty husk. The trap then opens again and is ready for business once more. The second photo shows the remains of an insect in a newly re-opened trap. It looks like an ex-fly to me.

It sure is tough being a bug…

Cheers,
EC

The technical stuff:
Camera: Olympus E-620 digital SLR
Lens: Zuiko 35mm macro
Settings: manual exposure (photo 1:F11 @ 1/125 sec; photo 2: F22 @ 1/125 sec)
Lighting: on-camera flash (diffused)

Close-up photography of a spider and a bumble bee

The whopper that didn’t get away…

You really have to admire the ambition of this little spider—it seems to be hunting way out of its weight class! I found this spider and its prey a few weeks ago when I was out hunting with my camera in my garden. I believe the prey was an Eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens). I originally thought the spider was an orb spider (family Araneidae) but now I don’t think so and have no idea what kind it was. It also appears to be a male too.

Technically this wasn’t a difficult photo to take once I had the exposure set—after all, these critters weren’t going anywhere. Well, the bee wasn’t anyways. The problem was the logistics: firstly, the bumble bee was hanging not far off the ground, which meant I had to get into a rather uncomfortable position to get the photo at its eye level. Secondly, the day was quite breezy and the bee was swinging and spinning around. Lastly, the little spider kept running up and down the web and leg, and most of the time it seemed to be behind the leg. I really wanted to capture the spider in a good visible position; and the bumble bee’s leg that was hanging down had to be in the same plane of focus as the leg that was ensnared in the web. And of course I needed both the spider and the bee in focus despite the limited depth of field.

All together I took 29 photos. My favourite (below) was number 28.

The picture below was a close runner up:\ for best shot:

This last shot was is interesting too because you can see the spider’s face. Too much of the bumble bee is out of focus though, and I had to crop the picture tighter to remove a distracting bit of plant in the bottom left corner.

All-in-all I think this is an interesting image that provides a glimpse into the life of a spider (and death of a bumble bee). Its just too bad that I couldn’t shoot it in a way to throw the background more out of focus—it’s a bit busy.

Cheers,
EC

The technical stuff:
Camera: Olympus E-620 digital SLR
Lens: Zuiko 35mm macro
Settings: manual exposure (F14 @ 1/125 sec)
Lighting: Olympus RF-11 ring flash (TTL)

The Eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) is actually native to eastern North America. So it was a little surprising that it is one of the most common species of bumble bee in my garden in Vancouver, British Columbia! According to E-Fauna BC the species was imported into the province as a pollinator and subsequently escaped from greenhouses and became established around Vancouver.

When is a tussock moth not a tussock moth?

Why, when it is actually a large yellow underwing moth of course!

OK, I admit I blew it. My very first post on this site was entitled “Close-up photography of a tussock moth” in which I introduced some of my approaches to macro and close-up photography. One of the points I was trying to make was that if you carefully observe an animal and try to consider its “needs”, then you are more likely to be able to anticipate or even manipulate its movement to allow for better photographs. I used my experience in photographing a tussock moth as an example. All-in-all I think it was a pretty good first post. The problem, as it turns out, is that the tussock moth wasn’t a tussock moth. To be fair, I did note that I hadn’t been able to identify the species. But still I assumed that it was a tussock moth…and we all know what happens when you assume…

In order to finally get a proper identification of the moth I posted its picture on bugguide.net and asked if someone could help. Sure enough, within a couple of days it someone suggested it was a large yellow underwing (Noctua pronuba). And when I googled large yellow underwing [seriously, is that an awkward name or what?], sure enough that’s what it was.

So now I have had to go re-edit my first post title and text. It’s too bad because I really thought that Close-up photography of a tussock moth had a nice ring to it. Somehow Close-up photography of a tussock moth large yellow underwing just isn’t the same. But that’s what it is now. I guess I’ll just have to go out and find a real tussock moth to photograph now!

Here is one last look at our friendly neighbourhood large yellow underwing:

 

The technical stuff:
Camera: Olympus E-620 digital SLR
Lens: Zuiko 35mm macro
Settings: manual exposure (F16 @ 1/125 sec)
Lighting: Olympus RF-11 ring flash (TTL)

Macro photographs of flesh (Sarcophagidae) and blow (Calliphoridae) flies feeding on salmon carcass

I really like photographing flies. Many are quite colourful, and all are fascinating when you see them close-up. And the nice thing is that you don’t need to hunt them—you can get them to come to you. To get the photos below I simply took the carcass of a salmon I had cleaned and put it out in the garden. Then I got my camera ready and waited. Within 10 minutes flies started to arrive and feed. These critters can be pretty wary about letting you (and your camera) get too close. But that changes once they start feeding. So all I had to do was sit there and take pictures (with a cold drink nearby). I just used the on-camera flash for these shots.

It really doesn’t get too much easier than that. I maybe think I should add another rule to my list: whenever possible, follow the “KISS” principle (Keep It Simple Stupid)!

The first photo below is of a blow fly or greenbottle (family Calliphoridae). These are very pretty flies with iridescent green bodies and bright red eyes. The second photo is of a flesh fly (family Sarcophagidae). These critters are characterized by black and gray stripes on the thorax and a chequered abdomen. Both types of fly feed and lay their eggs on carrion.

 

The technical stuff:
Camera: Olympus E-620 digital SLR
Lens: Zuiko 35mm macro
Settings: manual exposure (F16 @ 1/125 sec)
Lighting: on-camera flash set to maximum power
 

There are approximately 1500 species of Calliphoridae flies worldwide. The larvae of these flies (maggots) are widely believed to consume only dead meat and not live tissue; and have been used for “maggot therapy” which involves putting live maggots into wounds that are not healing properly. The idea is that the maggots will clean the wound by eating the dead flesh. Hmm…maybe I should have saved these photos for my blog next Halloween!

Close-up photography of a longhorn beetle (Brachyleptura rubrica)

As much as I like working on my blog (and I really do) I also have a busy day job. For the next three days I will be in all day meetings and won’t have much time to write. So my posts for these days are going to be short (and hopefully sweet).

The photo below is of a gorgeous specimen of longhorn beetle (Brachyleptura rubrica) that my youngest son found in the garden last summer. As soon as I saw it I had to photograph it. Most critters are not entirely cooperative about getting their picture taken, so I often have to take a lot of photos to get something great. It isn’t uncommon for me to take 20 or 30 pictures before I am satisfied. In the case of this beetle, I placed it on a green leaf (for colour contrast) and took this picture. And that was it—I was done. I took a few more pictures from different angles (as the beetle just stood there), but there really wasn’t much point. Then I took it outside where it promptly spread its wings and flew away. It was like it just dropped by for a photo-op…

Note however, that this photo breaks a couple of the rules that I mentioned in my very first post (Close-up photography of a large yellow underwing): I didn’t shoot at its eye level, and it really isn’t doing anything more interesting than just stand there. But hey, rules are meant to be broken, right? Well, maybe not most rules—you really shouldn’t run with scissors or eat anything bigger than your head for instance. But hey, photography rules are never hard and fast. In this particular case it’s the bright red colour of its wing covers that is the most striking feature of the beetle. So shooting from above was all that was needed to produce a nice photo.

The bright red wing covers on this beetle are properly called elytra. They are the hardened forewings (“front wings”) that are characteristic of beetles. The elytra protect the hindwings or flying wings that lie underneath. A beetle needs to open the elytra and spread the hindwings in order to fly.

The technical stuff:
Camera: Olympus E-620 digital SLR
Lens: Zuiko 35mm macro
Settings: manual exposure (F16 @ 1/125 sec)
Lighting: Olympus RF-11 ring flash (TTL)