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Snow Fleas

Gallery: Weekly ChallengePosted February 1, 201380 views4 comments

This is a follow-up to my last post, just to give you a better idea of what Hypogastrura nivicola looks like when you get your nose right down in the snow. After I shot Jumping Dust I went back with a macro lens for this. It was a dark, dismal day, so I had to use high ISO settings and slow shutter speeds, but the results aren't too bad for a documentary photo. (I come from a world where about 99% of nature photography is for documentation, illustration and education, rather than art.)

There's an even closer shot in the macro gallery, HERE.

Canon 5DII
Sigma 150 Macro + 1.4X TC
1/5 sec. @ f/18
Tripod

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on February 2, 2013 at 5:27 AM

Interesting little bug. Amazing that they can thrive in the NE winters. I like the abstract quality of the snow with the touch of blue in your image. So there is "art" in there as well as a documentation of events. I'll have to look more carefully at the next fallen leaf.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on February 2, 2013 at 9:22 AM

Very cool, Wayne. I like the patterns formed by the ice crystals as well as the details emerging of the Snow Fleas.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Carolyn Derstine on February 2, 2013 at 1:31 PM

Nice follow-up to your previous posting of these critters. Good to get a closer look at these bugs but also of the interesting designs in the ice. I like your comp too with the locations of the bugs and the inclusion of the leaf. Fine image, Wayne, whether documentary or art!

Registered on February 16, 2011, 610 Posts, 3684 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on February 2, 2013 at 6:18 PM

This is great Wayne. I always wondered what those "snow fleas" actually were.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments