Defying the Frost
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Defying the Frost
Larger view here: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2587/400 ... ffdd_o.jpg
Fujifilm S5pro, Zeiss Luminar 63mm f4.5, bellows, flash + morning sun :: 13 one second exposures stacked in Helicon focus.
Hey everyone!
I just discovered this awesome forum and this is my first post. I've already learned a lot from the last couple of days intense browsing of this forum
This is a male Anthomyiid that I shot on a cold morning a couple of days ago. It actually seemed less bothered by the cold than I was and I haven't figured out why this cold blooded fellow was covered in dew drops rather than frost like everything else. Theories?
Anyway it kept shifting around and as soon as I fired a flash at it it started cleaning its eyes with its forelegs. I had to start over from the beginning of the stack many times.
Here is a shot of the, still experimental and rapidly changing, rig I used in this shot (diffuser is missing and I have a Leitz Milar mounted instead of the Luminar):
Thanks for viewing and I'll go right back to reading up on photomicrography! I do all my shooting of live subjects out in the field but I'm really excited to learn about all the neat tricks and techniques I've seen presented here – in particular on the topic of higher magnification photography of non-living subjects – and the stunning results that can be produced! Cheers!
/John
- Charles Krebs
- Posts: 5865
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:02 pm
- Location: Issaquah, WA USA
- Contact:
Congratulations and welcome.
Superb image, and obviously superb technique; lens is fantastic too.
Superb image, and obviously superb technique; lens is fantastic too.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
Thank you so much for your comments everybody!
I'm sure shots like this will be much easier for me soon thanks to this forum. I've just learned about the linear focusing stages with micrometer actuators! I didn't even know these things existed and I've had a lot of trouble getting the focus increments precise enough with the coarse rails and helicoids I've been using!
/John
I'm sure shots like this will be much easier for me soon thanks to this forum. I've just learned about the linear focusing stages with micrometer actuators! I didn't even know these things existed and I've had a lot of trouble getting the focus increments precise enough with the coarse rails and helicoids I've been using!
/John
- rjlittlefield
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23564
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
- Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
- Contact:
A wonderful photo -- and welcome aboard!
About the ice versus water drops, I would guess that the temperature is barely below freezing and the surface of the fly is so clean and water-repellent that it does not provide nucleation sites. If that's right, then the water droplets would be very slightly super-cooled. I'm looking around for any that have crystallized. Might be a couple just above the wing base, but I'm not sure.
In looking that closely, I noticed something that I'm puzzled by. Just above the wing base, there's what looks like another chunk of membrane, and the thorax above that has an odd contour -- kind of jutting up and back instead of rounding down toward the abdomen as I would expect. I can't imagine how these could be artifacts, but I have to ask: do these features accurately reflect the fly, or are they artifacts that crept in during the stacking?
Edited to add... Ah, I see. Checking in BugGuide, it seems that I'm probably looking at a "well developed calypter" and a thorax shape that is not unusual for the group. OK, forget that question!
--Rik
About the ice versus water drops, I would guess that the temperature is barely below freezing and the surface of the fly is so clean and water-repellent that it does not provide nucleation sites. If that's right, then the water droplets would be very slightly super-cooled. I'm looking around for any that have crystallized. Might be a couple just above the wing base, but I'm not sure.
In looking that closely, I noticed something that I'm puzzled by. Just above the wing base, there's what looks like another chunk of membrane, and the thorax above that has an odd contour -- kind of jutting up and back instead of rounding down toward the abdomen as I would expect. I can't imagine how these could be artifacts, but I have to ask: do these features accurately reflect the fly, or are they artifacts that crept in during the stacking?
Edited to add... Ah, I see. Checking in BugGuide, it seems that I'm probably looking at a "well developed calypter" and a thorax shape that is not unusual for the group. OK, forget that question!
--Rik
Could it be that the fly crawled out of a hole while dew was forming as opposed to the vegetation which had been there all night freezing ?rjlittlefield wrote: About the ice versus water drops, I would guess that the temperature is barely below freezing and the surface of the fly is so clean and water-repellent that it does not provide nucleation sites. If that's right, then the water droplets would be very slightly super-cooled. I'm looking around for any that have crystallized. Might be a couple just above the wing base, but I'm not sure.
Nice photo
Andrew
Wouldn't its "shifting around" undo any supercooling?
If the air temp is above 0, the ice on the ground is melting(/subliming).
The water on the fly is from dewfall - moisture over-laden warmer air, condensing on any nucleation site it passes.
?
Which is kinda what Andrew said, except that it could have been icebound all night, but quicker to thaw. Don't they generate any heat?
If the air temp is above 0, the ice on the ground is melting(/subliming).
The water on the fly is from dewfall - moisture over-laden warmer air, condensing on any nucleation site it passes.
?
Which is kinda what Andrew said, except that it could have been icebound all night, but quicker to thaw. Don't they generate any heat?
- rjlittlefield
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23564
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
- Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
- Contact:
Knowing that the air temp is above freezing certainly opens some more possibilities. One of them is that droplets on the fly are less connected to their substrate so they warm up faster.
--Rik
Sure. The question is how much. The only data I know that seems relevant here is that some moths are able to raise their internal body temperature by 10 degrees C or so, to enable flight at low temperatures. But to do that they have to actively shiver for many seconds, inside a thick coat of furry scales. By analogy I would expect a quiet fly to be only a small fraction of a degree above ambient.Don't they generate any heat?
--Rik
A black body in the morning sun
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
- rjlittlefield
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23564
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
- Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
- Contact: