Peruvian Amazon: Manu NP Part 3

[pbertner]

A newly moulted adult amblypygid or tail-less whip spider. As the exoskeleton hardens, the colours will darken; the body will become black, and the claws, blood red:



A camouflaged fulgorid hopper:



A different species of fulgorid hopper under UV light:



A cricket uses its long legs to reach its Christmas meal:



A translucent cockroach. Of the more than 4600 cockroach species, there are fewer than 50 species which communicate disease and which are closely associated with human environments. The majority are decomposers and essential to nutrient cycling:



An aposematic stink bug guards over its young:



Digger wasp (Sphecidae):



A cat reconciles its curiosity with caution being the better part of valour... an Ocelot's (Leopardus pardalis) wary approach towards a camera trap:



Thanks for looking and commenting,
Happy holidays,
Paul

[MarkSturtevant]

Always such an interesting set!

[Stanier]

As always excellent photography under, what I imagine are very taxing conditions. The translucent cockroach is a lovely image and what I think is of a Jaguar is superb. Many thanks for sharing the photographs.

[Beatsy]

Another really nice set. The digger wasp is the stand-out image for me. Captivating!

Cheers
Beats

[pbertner]

Many thanks, Beats, Stanier (actually an Ocelot, the mini-Jaguar of the Amazon) and Mark, much appreciated as always and happy new year.

[Stanier]

My apologies and I should have read the caption. My excuse, I was entranced by the image which is superb.

[rjlittlefield]

Lovely images, as always!

I'm curious about the Ethical Exif coding for the ocelot image.

I understand H3, "aware of photographer’s presence and modifies its behaviour as a result".

But then I see a palette icon, which I take to mean "use of cloning or extensive post processing", and I'm struggling to guess what might have been done to merit that warning.

Was there some foliage in the way, or distracting reflections, or something more significant?

--Rik

[Sippyjug]

Outstanding series

[pbertner]

Thanks Sippyjug!

Rik - Good catch. The PIR sensor used to trigger the camera was partially visible to the left of the ocelot, and was thus cloned out. For cats, especially subjects like Jaguars where there spots are used as identifying markers for individuals I'll never touch up with cloning or healing. For more minor blemishes (in camera trapping it's usually correcting for dirt or rain on the lens which appear as messy smudges) I'll be a little more aggressive in the editing, as long as it doesn't change the subject or fundamentals of the photo. Although I conceived of the Ethical Exif pre-AI, it's becoming more and more important to be honest with the audience. If that means taking some of the magic out of the finished product and peeking behind the curtain, I think that that's the price we pay, and as long as that tradeoff is understood then there can be a healthy relationship free of deception between the viewer and photographer.