Magicicada cassinii, side_2021-05-24-16.41.03 ZS PMax UDR rtf

Description :

The Bee Lab Goes Crazy...with Cicadas. The Bee Lab used to be an endangered Whooping Crane production facility and as such had about 100 pens, and to provide cranes with a bit of shade in their pens (we all like shade) in the Maryland summer heat the crane keepers planted a tree in most pens (mostly the Bradford Pear, notorious for spawning baby pears in vast numbers in order to wreck native environments and cause environmentalists to become hooked on herbicides, we are gradually taking them down (I now officially have my chainsaw safety certificate!) but now I am glad that we have been slow about removing them as you will see after I stop this parenthetical business, which has gone on too long), each tree surrounded by open land mown only once or so a year and is the definition of perfect 17-year cicada habitat. I have NEVER seen so cicadas (and I have been through several cicada events) you literally could walk across the backs of their exuviae throughout the area. Anyway am stopping now as we will present a series of shots of the players of the drama. Here, look, this is the mini-species Magiciada cassinii, smaller than the dominant emerging species. Photo by the prodigal technician Anders Croft. ~~~~~~~~~~{{{{{{0}}}}}}~~~~~~~~~~ All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish. Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200 We Are Made One with What We Touch and See We are resolved into the supreme air, We are made one with what we touch and see, With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair, With our young lives each spring impassioned tree Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change. - Oscar Wilde You can also follow us on Instagram - account = USGSBIML Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen: Best over all technical resource for photo stacking: www.extreme-macro.co.uk/ Art Photo Book: Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World: www.amazon.com/Bees-Up-Close-Pollinators-Around-World/dp/... Free Field Guide to Bee Genera of Maryland: bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf Basic USGSBIML set up: www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4 Bees of Maryland Organized by Taxa with information on each Genus www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up: Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques: plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo or www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU Excellent Technical Form on Stacking: www.photomacrography.net/ Contact information: Sam Droege sdroege@usgs.gov 301 497 5840