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Ant on a pink plant
I happend to catch this ant wandering around a flower. Ants actually do seek nectar from flowers but because they have very little hair so there is no place for pollen to stick on them so they are rather poor pollenators. Photographed with: Nikon D7100, Nikon 40 mm MACRO lens, Nikon SB-400 flash (hand held off camera), tripod mounted. ISO 400, 1/100th, f11, MANUAL MODE.
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Model train meets real world. Train crossing Middlefield CT.
An Atlas model railroad N-Scale, 1:160th, Conrail GP-40 locomotive from the 1970’s with freight cars was photographed in my studio using a Nikon D7100, Nikon 105mm F2.8 lens. The train consisted of 62 images all at various focus points and merged into one final photograph using Helicon Focus Stacking Software. I also photographed the railroad crossing and old building at the Middlefield CT train crossing on West St. Using Photoshop CC 2022 I merged the miniature train image into the real life image of the Middlefield train crossing to create this image.
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Praying Mantis
Interesting facts about the praying Mantis: There are about 2000 species of Praying Mantis but only 18 species live in North America. The remainder live in tropical climates. In 1977 the State of Connecticut named the European Praying Mantis the state insect. It is not native to North America but fairly proflific. They have approximately a 1 year lifespan and females will typically lay their eggs in fall as they develop through winter. Females will frequently cannibalize their male counterpart during the reproductive process. The large majority of Preying Mantis have two eyes but only one ear located on their underside just forward of the hind legs. This ear comes…
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Swallowtail Butterfly
This butterfly was busy jumping from flower to flower. I believe in belongs to the Swallowtail family of which there are over 550 species but I’m no butterfly expert. Fun Facts: Butterflies taste with their feet allowing them to quickly identify food sources. They only consume liquids which are typically nectar. Butterflies cannot fly below 55 deg. F. Their ideal temperatures for thriving and flying are between 85-100 deg. F. On cold days they are forced to either shiver or bask in the sunshine to warm up their body temperatures. The lifespan of a butterfly consists of the caterpillar stage, the pupa stage and the adult butterfly stage. Depending…
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Bumble Bee Closeup
This bumble bee was very busy today making his way from flower to flower. I felt he created a striking image as he contrasted with the purples and greens. Photographed with a Nikon D7100 APS-C, 24.1 MP camera and a Nikon 105 mm, f/2.8 MACRO lens. 1/1000th, f9, ISO 1600
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Walking with flowers, Elizabeth Park, W. Hartford CT (Video)
It was a beautiful May afternoon. I took various photographs and pieced them into a video clip. Below are the still images from the shoot:
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Old man winter has arrived!
Winter is upon us. The day’s are short and nights are cold. All of us in CT have been blessed with a very warm start to winter during December but come January I’m sure temperatures will return to normal. This photo is of a local horse farm in Hamden, CT. Photo taken with Nikon D7100 and 15-88 zoom lens.
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Water Colors
[wzslider autoplay=”true” height=”800″ info=”true” lightbox=”true”] This was a fun shot that produced bright bold colors. The set up of this shot enhanced it’s appeal (I hope). I’ve included a shot of exactly how this was taken: 1). Utilize a number of colored pencils all having the same length and sharpened to the same points. 2). Tape them to a piece of wood so they are aligned side by side. 3). Find a suitable glass jar. NOTE: I did not have a glass jar. All I had was this rather thick plastic jar. The thick plastic works against image sharpness. Try to use glass to obtain the sharpest detail you can.…
