Micro – cosmos in your yard
Many new point-and-shoot cameras have a macro focus function, allowing you to take close-up photos of miniature creatures.
There are innumerable tiny creatures surrounding your home that on close inspection reveal unexpected beauty – and sometimes, depending on your point of view, unexpected horror.
It can be rewarding to take the time to notice them, and to photograph them if you’re so inclined. Many new point-and-shoot cameras have a macro focus function, allowing you to take close-up photos of miniature creatures.
Better is a digital SLR with a macro lens. A flash unit, either hand held or a ring flash that fits around the lens, allows shooting at high speed to freeze movement while maintaining good depth of field.
The following images were taken with a 90 mm macro lens mounted on a Canon Eos 40-D body. A hand held flash allowed me to shoot at an f-stop of 32, for maximum depth of field.
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- Assassin bug nymph. Only 1cm or so in length, this is a minature killer. Photo by Don Scallen
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- This newly hatched black swallowtail caterpillar is stretching the limits of my macro capability as it consumes its egg. Photo by Don Scallen
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- Cuckoo wasp. These gorgeous insects are parasites, laying their eggs on the larva of larger wasps. Photo by Don Scallen
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- A lovely little flower fly on a buttercup-sized blossom. Photo by Don Scallen
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- Halictid bee. Much smaller than a honey bee, these exquisite pollinators can be common in yards. Photo by Don Scallen
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- Jumping spider. Fear not – this nightmarish creature is about the size of a pea. Photo by Don Scallen
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- Leafhopper. These beautiful plant feeders are abundant, but at the size of a grain of rice, are seldom noticed. Photo by Don Scallen
