Amazon - Photographic Hoppertunities I

crotermund · Post by **crotermund** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:54 pm

This guy was very small. When I saw him from a distance I actually thought it was something carrying an ant.

Perhaps it's just me, but this one reminds me of a shark.

I changed the orientation on this one. He was actually facing up.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:58 pm

Wow! Fascinating creatures, great photos.

Are these on support (tripod/monopod), or did you manage to hand-hold this sharp?

I have a feeling there's a lot more detail in the camera files than what we're seeing here.

Any chance of linking to a tighter crop or a bigger version of #1? <insert begging-puppy emoticon here>

--Rik

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:46 am

I too find #1 to be quite interesting and would like to see a bit more of this little critter.

Quite a deadly looking hopper I must say, never seen anything anywhere the likes of this. Maybe you should post it on bugguide.net and see what the folks over there come up with. I would assume it would raise some eyebrows for sure. Great set of images though Craig, that blue hopper is sort of "racey" looking, reminds me of the paint job I have seen on a few old "muscle cars."

Moebius · Post by **Moebius** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:27 am

I like your pic of #1 much more than the one shot I got and posted previously. I wonder what purpose a hopper would need to mimic an ant. Protection?

I don't know if I got the hopper from #2. Definitely does look a shark.

#3....I was going to post that guy in the next few days.....

Ken

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:49 am

At first look , I thought the first treehopper was a nymph...until I saw the clear wings

I always think their heads look like the bow of a boat

Wonderful pictures again Craig.

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:09 am

Those Amazon hoppers mainly appears in bile mood, somehow.

Is it because of hot and humid climate?

crotermund · Post by **crotermund** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:54 pm

Thanks a lot for the feedback everyone. Rik - these are all shot with a monopod. The first picture was a really tiny subject, shot from a distance, off balance, on a hill, at an odd angle...

Ok, you get the picture. Anyway, as you and Ken requested, I am including a supercrop below that I feared would probably be a little too grainy to view. Hopefully it isn't too bad.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:11 pm

Craig said:

I feared would probably be a little too grainy to view.

On the contrary, looks quite well in my opinion. Super shot here with good details. I just wonder if all that armament is functional?

I would hate to find out personally though. Maybe you should have asked for a volunteer to pick the little guy up to see what happens when he is fooled with. Sort of like Marlin Perkins and Jim on "Mutual of Omahas, Wild Kingdom."

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:20 pm

crotermund wrote:I am including a supercrop below that I feared would probably be a little too grainy to view. Hopefully it isn't too bad.

This crop seems to be at the limit of what got captured, but to my eye there's a lot more accessible detail in this image than in the smaller pic (the first one).

That word "accessible" is chosen with care. If you press me for an example, I'll have to point to the fine hairs on the left front femur. That's the only detail I can find that's clearly separated in this view and not separated at all in the smaller pic.

But there are a lot of other details that are well separated here, while just barely separated in the smaller pic. In the smaller pic, I find that I'm likely to overlook those entirely, or having seen them at all, to wish that I had more pixels to be sure what they are.

So I'm very happy to have this version. Yep, it looks just a bit blurred. But I'm fine with that!

--Rik

Gordon C. Snelling · Post by **Gordon C. Snelling** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:20 pm

Craig
Great hoppers, I forget which species that one is with the strange "horns" They sure are cool though and always raise an eyebrow or two.

crotermund · Post by **crotermund** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:16 pm

Thanks for the input, Rik, I appreciate it. I will revisit this one and see if I can find something in between the 2 that shows more detail w/o hitting the blurry level of the supercrop.

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:47 am

superb, just superb!