Buprestidae all in a row

[beetleman]

and some Tiger beetles in the next row. This is shot from part of my collection. I have collected insects since my late teens. These metallic Wood boring beetles I bought from a company on Long Island NY years ago. The Tiger beetles and the smaller Buprestidae in the lower left corner are local, the large green and red metallic ones are from Indonesia. I have not added anything to this collection in a few years..just do not have the time. The 7th grade in the middle school in town here does a science project with the kids having to collect 12 insects representing some of the major insect groups. I loan my collection to the school and they display it for a few weeks during this time. Do you know how many times I have been called "Doug The Bug" They may not looked labeled like a formal collection but each insect has a number on the pin and I do have all the data listed in a book. I always planned on doing the labeling when I retire and need something to do. This is a stack of 25 images using the focus ring on the camera lens instead of my focus rail moving the camera forward.

1/6s
F/14
ISO200
Av mode full frame

[Ken Ramos]

Even Vlad Ţepeş would be envious of this photograph. When they mount these things, are the insects already dry or are they freshly mounted and allowed to air dry? Impressive display there "Doug the Bug"

[Tony T]

..each insect has a number on the pin and I do have all the data listed in a book.

Ouch and more Ouch

As an entomologist, this hurts.

Remember, an insect collection is a collection of LABELS illustrated with specimens.

The specimens are too good not to be labelled.

[rjlittlefield]

Interesting that these pins appear to have heads that are formed in one piece with the metal of the shaft. My pins have always had plastic heads, going way back to the 60's.

Composition and almost unlimited DOF make this a very attractive photo to me.

I can't help mentioning that there's a fuzzy triangle in lower left foreground. Somehow I always find fuzzy foreground to be more of a distraction than fuzzy background. But in this case the area is so small it's not a problem.

--Rik

[Ken Ramos]

Rik commented:

Interesting that these pins appear to have heads that are formed in one piece with the metal of the shaft. My pins have always had plastic heads, going way back to the 60's.

If I am not mistaken, you can get those extra long & "thin" straight pins, one piece, in the sewing section at Wal Mart and probably at any sewing outlet.

[Tony T]

If I am not mistaken, you can get those extra long & "thin" straight pins, one piece, in the sewing section at Wal Mart and probably at any sewing outlet.

What are you guys trying to do to me ; 1st we have bugs with no labels, now you are sort of recommending sewing pins from Wal Mart - pass the sedatives

[Bruce Williams]

Reminds me of a mechanical horse racing game I had as a kid . Hmmm....wonder what happened to it???

Good result - what stacking software are you using Doug?

Bruce

[beetleman]

Thanks for the comments everyone.
Tony wrote

Ouch and more Ouch

I am very sorry & embarrassed Tony. I know what you mean about the labels. Like I said they are sort of labeled. I do have all the Data on them. When you are working and raising a family of 4 kids and working alot, it is hard to label your insect collection. Someday it will be a very formal collection I assure you.

Ken Wrote:

When they mount these things, are the insects already dry or are they freshly mounted and allowed to air dry?

Some I pin right away. If they dry out, you can soften them up in different ways so you can pin them later.

Rik wrote:

Interesting that these pins appear to have heads that are formed in one piece with the metal of the shaft. My pins have always had plastic heads, going way back to the 60's.

The pins I have are made by Newey Goodman LTD. Bermingham England.
Called "Asta Insect Pins" black tempered steel. I am not sure but I might have ordered them from Edmonds Scientific years ago. The silver pins you see in the picture are some of my earliest insects probably pinned when I was 14 or 15 years old and are just straight pins for sewing. That is all I could get my hands on when I was young.

Bruce Asked:

what stacking software are you using Doug?

I used Helicon Focus with the default settings.

[Ken Ramos]

Okay, question no. 2 Do you use a killing jar before hand? If so, do you use chloroform to affixiate them or dry cleaning fluid, which is pretty much the same thing I think or something else?

[beetleman]

Ken, I do use a killing jar and I usually use Ethyl acetate which is commonly used in nail polish removers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_jar

[Ken Ramos]

Thanks Doug

[rjlittlefield]

Ken, I do use a killing jar and I usually use Ethyl acetate which is commonly used in nail polish removers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_jar

Now there's a useful snippet of information. Buying a bottle of nail polish remover at destination sure beats trying to get a chemical bottle labeled "Ethyl acetate" from here to there through TSA!

--Rik

[Cyclops]

Nice colourful subject but I couldn't bring myself to killing anything. I find it great tho that you have had these since you were a kid! Fantastic that is!