Banded Pennant
Double Trouble State Park
Ocean County NJ
July 2021
Learn more about the Banded Pennant – http://www.dragonfliesnva.com/My%20Documents/KevinPDF/pdf/identify/species/BandedPennant-FINAL.pdf
Banded Pennant at Double Trouble State Park
Tag Archives: Macro
Squash Bee Image For Penn State Agricultural
Great news, my image of a Squash Bee (taken 2014 in Lafayette, Sussex County NJ) has been selected for inclusion in a Penn State Agricultural brochure on pollination.
It is important to accurately label and identify your nature photography subjects because you never know who is looking! My image was found on my old Flickr site.
Northern Cricket Frog at Greendell Marsh Ecological Preserve
Northern Cricket Frog at Greendell Marsh Ecological Preserve
Frelinghuysen Twp, New Jersey
With the recent warm weather the cricket frogs are out at full force in the puddles, ponds, and wetlands.
Visit Friends of Greendell Marsh Ecological Preserve on Facebook for more information on the preserve
Species info on Northern Cricket Frog – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_cricket_frog
Blue-faced Meadowhawk in NJ
Blue-faced Meadowhawk
Cox Hall Creek WMA, Cape May County NJ
September 2014
Info on the Blue-faced Meadowhawk – https://www.odonatacentral.org/index.php/FieldGuideAction.get/id/47552
Visit Cox Hall Creek (now part of Cape Island WMA) https://ebird.org/hotspot/L350765?yr=cur&m=&rank=mrec
Elfin Skimmer dragonfly
Elfin Skimmer
Dover Forge, Ocean County NJ
The smallest dragonfly found in NJ and not the easiest to photograph either.
More info on the Elfin Skimmer – https://blogs.stockton.edu/ssnh/insects-other-invertebrates/our-smallest-dragonfly-and-most-valuable-habitat/
Northern Gray Tree Frog
Northern Gray Tree Frog
Jonathan’s Woods, Morris County NJ
This Tree Frog was silent and mostly motionless so it was dumb luck that I noticed it.
Tamron SP 180mm macro lens + Canon M50
Luna Moth @ Allamuchy Mountain
Luna Moth
Allamuchy Mountain State Park in Stanhope NJ
This moth was hard to notice close to the understory of the forest floor.
More info on Luna Moths – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_moth
Tamron 18-400mm Full Resolution Butterfly
I took this digital photograph of an Painted Lady butterfly recently in Chester New Jersey. Click on the picture to download or view the high resolution original. Zoom in to view the sharpness from the new Tamron 18-400mm ultra-telephoto all-in-one lens.
Tamron 18-400mm Macro Sample Image of an Painted Lady Butterfly. Straight Out Of Camera.
The Tamron 18-400mm F/3.5-6.3 DI-II VC HLD all-in-one lens was handheld in conjunction with the Canon SL2 Digital Rebel. I am extremely impressed by the fine detail resolved in this SOOC (straight out of camera) shot. The tiny hairs by the butterfly eyes are very well defined. I also like the pleasing bokeh of background flowers.
100% crop from above SOOC photograph
Tamron 18-400mm VC 100% Crop SOOC. Handheld at 400mm F/9 on Canon SL2. Photo by Dave Blinder
Exposure settings:
Tamron 18-400mm VC @ 400mm, Autofocus On, Vibration Compensation On
Canon SL2 in Aperture Priority Mode +2/3 exposure, AI Servo Focus
1/800 F9 ISO 800
Purchase the new Tamron 18-400mm from Amazon using my affiliate links (help support my blog)
Tamron 18-400mm for Canon – http://amzn.to/2xvjzbX
Tamron 18-400mm for Nikon – http://amzn.to/2xPqXj9
Canon EOS Rebel SL2 Digital SLR Camera Body Only – http://amzn.to/2xBsFU8
Do you have any questions about the lens, camera, or photograph? Any more sample images you’d like to see? Let me know.
New Jersey Nature Photography: Water Falling on Leaf #1
Yesterday, while out doing local nature photography in Morris County, New Jersey, I decided to pair my Tamron 14-150mm Di III All-In-One lens with a set of Meike MK-P-AF3B extension tubes to my Olympus PEN EPL3 micro four thirds camera. The purpose of the extension tubes was to allow the lens to focus closer than normal. The main drawback of tubes is always the loss of infinity focus.
Below is my favorite shot from yesterday morning, and an uncropped one. It always becomes a visual exploration for me to photographically capture little segments of nature, especially with moving elements like water. The weathered Oak Leaf was a great secondary element, located just under the trickles of water. The trickles were falling off a mossy rock in a slight bend in the stream. Post-processing on the photo included a slight creative white balance shift, and also some reintroduction of contrast to the RAW file.
A closeup photo of three small trails of water descending around an old Oak Leaf in #NewJersey. Picture taken with the #Tamron 14-150mm All-In-One Lens, Meike AF extension tubes for close focus, and the #Olympus PEN E-PL3 micro four thirds camera.
Exposure settings: 1s F/9 ISO 200, 132mm
Equipment used:
Tamron 14-150mm Di III All-In-One lens
Zeikos 52mm circular polarizing filter
Meike MK-P-AF3B extension tubes
Olympus PEN EPL3 m43 camera
Manfrotto 488RC2 ballhead
Benro carbon fiber tripod
For a quick look at the camera and lens setup, view on my Instagram account – http://instagram.com/p/wl108iKs_J/
Butterfly Photography: Sachem Skippers on Boneset
Closeup photos of butterflies make for effective images because these insects are inherently “cute” or “beautiful” to us homo sapiens. Probably has to do with their harmless nature or being harbingers of warm weather. An important part of a quality butterfly photo is a clear view of the insect generally with minimal distractions in the nearby foreground and background. An attractive perch also makes a world of difference.
A recent butterfly macro photograph taken in Ocean County, New Jersey.
The above image was taken recently at Jakes Branch County Park in New Jersey. Equipment used: Tamron SP 90mm VC F/2.8 1:1 Macro Lens and a Canon EOS 7D DSLR. Handheld photo with the lens-based stabilization (VC) turned on. Camera settings: 1/160 shutter, F/7.1 ISO 200. More often than not I will shoot butterflies with an aperture of F/5.6 because it is one of the sharpest apertures of my particular macro lens. With sufficient planing of the camera, this can get a decent amount of depth of field on the subject as well. In this case, I decided to go with an aperture of F/7.1 to increase my chances of getting the eyes of both Sachems in focus. Still not an easy task with 2 moving wildlife subjects.
I shot approximately 12 frames very similar to this one, but each time I would angle the camera body very slightly to the left or right and try to get the eyes of both Skippers aligned to my focus point. When I magnify this particular frame on my computer I can see the detailed cells of the eyes on both butterflies without blur, so for me this is a keeper.
