Fluorescent harvestmen

Posted on October 22, 2012 by João Burini


glowing fluorescent harvestmanDiscocyrtus species on UV
ISO400 | 8s | f/11 @ 34mm / Canon 450D, Canon 18-55 5.6 IS

The colors of this photo have not been altered, this is the result of the glowing caparace of a harvestmen under a ultraviolet flashlight. During the 8 seconds of exposure with the camera on a tripod it’s body remained motionless, while the entire movement of the second pair of legs acting as antennae got registered continuously.

Harvestmen are often mistaken as spiders, but despite having a similar overall shape (the general opinion, though I disagree), they belong to an entire different order, they are also arachnids but placed under Opiliones, which is the same taxonomic level of difference between a spider and a scorpion, for instance.… Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Photo Journal, Science | Leave a comment

Lens reversing technique

Posted on October 3, 2012 by João Burini

This is a brief explanation of the technique without entering the technical aspects of it, I’ll be just talking on pratical experiences here. Sometimes when I’m asked which macro lens I use, the person gets surprised when I answer none. Macro can be a very cheap kind of photography, it can be done without actually needing to expend hundreds on a true macro lens. For reference, I was able to find the main lens I use for reversing (Soligor 28-35) for less than U$20, that’s  cheaper than a good close-up filter or branded extension tubes.

What I use to achieve magnification are various alternatives methods, and I’m not against macro lenses but I simply never owned one, and think I should invest in other fields I’m lacking more at the moment, like a better telephoto. … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Equipment | 4 Comments

Invisible barklouse

Posted on August 30, 2012 by João Burini

Not so difficult to spot this camouflated barklouse (Psocoptera) among the lichen, is it? It might even sound dumb to be calling this one invisible:

Camouflage of psocoptera
Camouflated Psocoptera at 2:1
Canon Xsi, ISO 200 | f/11 | 1/200 on a 28mm reversed, stack of 2 shots.

 

Except… how about now, without the help of magnification? The natural view to the naked eye:

Camouflage of psocoptera
Canon Xsi, ISO 200 | f/18 | 1/200 @35mm on a 18-55 5.6 IS

… Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Photo Journal | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Acanthoponera queen

Posted on August 25, 2012 by João Burini

Last week I went into my usual rainforest spot and came across a very nice finding, a queen of the pretty uncommon Acanthoponera genus, you can find the full story on the Meet your Neighbours page.

rare ant queenAcanthoponera mucronata queen
Canon XSi, ISO400 | f/11 | 1/200 @28mm on a reversed Soligor 28-35mm
One flash on camera and one held at the left. Stack of 3 shots.

rare ant queen on handAcanthoponera mucronata queen
Canon XSi, ISO800 | f/18 | 1/200 @45mm on 18-55mm 5.6 IS +22 diopter (Raynox msn-202)

Despite the Acanthoponera being a first timer for me, looking through my archive I see in the past I had come across at least one ant of this same subfamily in the area, another predator, a worker of Heteroponera flava, I remember this one was seen during the day (as well as another one in a different region) on a rotten log on the ground, as opposed to the nocturnal sighting of the Acanthoponera.… Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Photo Journal, Science | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Lycosidae & Pompilidae aka the wolf and the hawk

Posted on July 11, 2012 by João Burini


tarantula hawk and a wolf spiderPepsis species vs wolf spider
ISO400 | f/22 | 1/200 @55mm, under the sun with fill flash

I find parasitic wasps the most challenging ones to get their pictures taken, they are not social so you can’t find a bunch sitting in a nest like we are used for most. They are solitary, and when looking around for hosts they barely sit still, always walking and frenetically scanning the ground with their antennae. Pepsis is a genus with about 130 species from the Americas, these wasps belongs to the Pompilidae family bearing some of the biggest wasps in the world. They are specialized in spider hunting, hence the famous tarantula hawk nickname for some of the species.… Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Photo Journal | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Compact cameras on macro

Posted on July 2, 2012 by João Burini

I will just leave these two wasp pictures here, stripped of exif information.
If I tell one of them was taken with a compact camera and other with a DSLR minutes apart, would you be able to identify which is from which?


yellow wasp on a leaf

Wasp, insect eyes

Certainly not. Still it’s very easy to see people insisting you can only take quality pictures with a DSLR. I agree they are required in some more demanding situations, dynamic range and pixel density are different, and yes it’s a fact that you can’t compare the ISO1600 of a DSLR from the ISO1600 of a common compact for example, but the the thing is that these little cameras are usually more capable than what the common user thinks, specially in stituations where you have full control of the light or if you don’t want print the photos in poster sizes.… Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Equipment | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Helicina, a stranger on land

Posted on June 25, 2012 by João Burini

land sea snail
Helicina species
Canon XSi | EF-S 18-55mm 5.6 IS +22 diopter | ISO400 | f/18 | 1/200 @35mm

Not an easy one to come by! If you are used to the terrestrial snails anatomy you will easily notice something unusual about this one.

The eyes – placed directly in the head instead of the tip of the tentacles, other differences but not seem in the picture is that it also has an operculum and it doesn’t belong to the Pulmonata order like the common land snails, instead it’s placed under Archaeogastropoda alongside mainly with marine molluscs.

What does this means? That this is pratically a terrestrial sea snail!… Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Photo Journal | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM – Review

Posted on June 19, 2012 by João Burini

This is basically a review I wrote in 2009 right after I got this lens, but updated with the now three years of experience using it.

It has a metal mount, the lens is light (at about 600g) and feels very balanced on my 450D (keep in mind all I say is based in a 1.6x crop camera, I don’t know how it behaves in a fullframe).
Placement of the focus ring is after the zoom ring, which I like. I don’t know if it’s a standard in zoom all lenses but I noticed you can also zoom it by push and pull, instead of using the zoom ring.… Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Equipment | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Larvae living on jelly

Posted on June 12, 2012 by João Burini

A gooey looking transparent insect, when I encontered it last year I thought it could be the larva of a either a fly or a neuroptera, after a bit of research it turns to be the larva of a crane fly, prior tipulid and now placed in it’s own family, Limoniidae.
The majority of species in this family have aquatic larvae, and only three recent papers makes observations of larvae living in terrestrial habitat surrounded by a mass of jelly. These observations were all very similar and on species of the same genus, Geranomyia, in Costa Rica and the Fiji, I believe this one is also Geranomyia.… Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Photo Journal | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The gear

Posted on June 4, 2012 by João Burini

As a starting post I think it’s worthy to show the tools used to create the images you see. Some of the photos shown in the galleries were taken with older equipment, but what I’m using nowadays is as follows:

canon camera and lensesCanon 450D (Xsi)
Canon 18-55mm 5.6 IS
Canon 50mm 1.8
Canon 70-300mm 5.6 IS
Canon FD 300mm 2.8
Soligor 28-35mm
Canon Powershot G9

The Canon FD had it’s mount adapted to EOS but of course everything is maintained manual. The Soligor 28-35 is used for high magnification macros with a reversal ring (which is probably ground to explore on a post of it’s own), and I also use a bunch of filters, extension tubes, and Kenko 1.4x teleconverter sitting always on the 70-300.… Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Equipment | Tagged , , | 1 Comment