Cricket on mums

iPhone 8Plus, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode, Snapseed app border

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

 

Eastern tiger swallowtail on Vervain

Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro lens, 1/250 sec, f/13, ISO 400

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Stack ‘o butterflies

I think the top and bottom ones might be Clouded Sulphurs, middle one is a Variegated Fritillary; feasting on Purple coneflowers (with purple Lantana in the background)

Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro lens, 1/250 sec, f/14, ISO 400

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

It’s the bee’s knees!

Bumblebee on Peruvian lily (Alstroemeria) iPhone 8Plus, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode

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Tryst on Celosia

I believe this is a pair of Margined Leatherwings (a type of soldier beetle) engaged in a tryst on a spire type Celosia. (iPhone 8Plus, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Bumblebees on Blanket flower

Table for two! Tiny bumblebees feasting on a Blanket flower (Gaillardia)

Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro lens, 1/250 sec, ISO 400, f/14

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

Featured on Shutterbug online!

Last summer I was contacted by an editor I work with through Nikon and also Shutterbug magazine. He wanted to run a photo and behind-the-shot story of one of my images in the July 2018 issue of the magazine. Then one month before its debut, the print version of the magazine folded (in other words, Shutterbug was shuttered!). This would have been the second time my work would have appeared in the print publication (the first time was when my fern stamps were featured). Last week I got an email asking if they could run it online and I said of course! So here’s the image and the behind-the-shot story. Special thanks to my friend Sherry Goldstein (the woman who pointed this beautiful critter out to me). Click on the link below to go to the post!

https://www.shutterbug.com/content/always-carry-your-camera-how-botanical-photographer-captured-beautiful-butterfly-image?fbclid=IwAR2JI7E7VTu3Ml9d3-QkTFQIHAUEGKwjWKdvMxJiwiCZcvrYjsLzaQMVJ9U

iPhoneography: Flower fly on Rudbeckia

Flower fly (also known as Hover fly) on Rudbeckia bloom, against a backdrop of caladium leaves (iPhone 8Plus, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

iPhoneography: Cucumber beetle on Gerbera daisy

iPhone 7Plus, Camera+ app in macro mode, Snapseed app border

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

Skipper butterfly on chive bloom

Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

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Crab spider on Columbine bloom

Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro, 1/100, f/18, ISO 500

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Crab spider on Columbine bloom

Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro, 1/100, f/18, ISO 500

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Honey bee on Jerusalem artichoke bloom

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Honeybee on ‘Sombrero Adobe Orange’ coneflower

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Skipper on ‘Sombrero Adobe Orange’ coneflower

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Skipper on Purple coneflower

Skipper on Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved

Hoverfly on a Shasta daisy

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Hoverfly (also known as a flower fly or syrphid fly) on a Shasta daisy

Here’s a random fact I just came across: there is a flower fly found only in the cloud forests of Costa Rica that is named for Bill Gates (Bill Gates’ flower fly). Another one is named after Gates’ associate Paul Allen (Paul Allen’s flower fly). The flies were named such in recognition of their “great contributions to the science of Dipterology” (From the order Diptera, which includes insects that use just two wings to fly)

So now you know, too. You’re welcome. 😁

But wait! There’s more! Curiosity took me to a site that answered my burning question—how long do hoverflies live? A lot shorter life than I imagined! Here’s the answer:

Their live span is similar to other flies. They can live anywhere between 15 to 30 days and it all depends on the climate and temperature they are in.

Tiger on a tiger: Eastern Tiger swallowtail on Tiger lily

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Buffet line: Skippers on Purple coneflower

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Skipper butterfly

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Skipper butterfly on Verbena bonariensis (also called Vervain)

Eastern Amberwing dragonfly

Going through my dragonfly photo archives and came across this “high key” photo of an Eastern Amberwing dragonfly (Perithemis tenera) perched on a waterlily bud. Amberwings are one of the smaller dragonflies. The depth of field is shallow on its wings, but I like this shot because the body and head is still sharp. The high key/bright sunlight works in this photo, too. Normally I try to shoot on overcast days or use a diffuser—but you can’t really use a diffuser on moving subjects! This was shot at Green Spring Gardens a couple of years ago.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Female Blue Dasher dragonfly

Female Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) on Sacred Lotus leaf

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

Blue Dasher dragonfly

Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) on water lily bud

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Cicada on Love-in-a-mist

Ah…finally out and shooting flowers for the first time this season, thanks to the urging of my dear friend Michael Powell on this beautiful Sunday. We went to Green Spring Gardens to shoot and although it was pretty windy for photography, we both still managed to capture some images in between blusters! Here’s a shot I got of a cicada making its way through a cluster of love-in-a-mist blooms.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

The studio effect

With the sky full of clouds and very washed out during the heat of the day, doesn’t this look like I invited this Common Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) into my studio for a portrait session against a white backdrop? Pretty awesome and unexpected effect!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Monochromatic study, Slaty Skimmer dragonfly

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Slaty Skimmer dragonfly

It’s obvious I spent quite a bit of time stalking Slaty Skimmers at Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens yesterday afternoon! Several of these beauties kept coming back to this same bare branch and I stayed close by to capture various angles. It was a great opportunity to experiment with varying depth-of-field, exposures and compositions.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Hoverfly on Rudbeckia bloom

Hoverfly (or Flower Fly) on a type of Rudbeckia (don’t know specific type); photographed at Green Spring Gardens. Flower flies are very tiny (usually about 1/4 inch from head to tip of tail), but this one was even tinier!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Slaty Skimmer dragonfly

Slaty Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula incesta); photographed against a backdrop of sunlit Sacred lotus leaves; Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Slaty Skimmer dragonfly

Slaty Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula incesta); males have blue/black bodies and black heads; photographed against a backdrop of sunlit Sacred lotus leaves; Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Six-spotted Fishing Spider

Six-spotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes triton); it’s so hard to get perfect depth-of-field with these tiny subjects, but I’m happy with the overall look of this shot regardless (thanks to my friend Michael Powell for the identification). Re: size—this one was probably about an inch or so long (they can get up to 2.5 inches!). The lily pad was a smaller one.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Silver-spotted skipper

Silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus) on Pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Mating Red Milkweed beetles

Mating Red Milkweed beetles (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus); photographed at Lilypons Water Gardens in Adamstown, MD

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Carpenter bee on ‘Towering Orange’ Cosmos

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Honeybee and Pineapple lily

Honeybee headed for a Pineapple lily (Eucomis comosa) at Green Spring Gardens

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Closeup of immature Common Whitetail dragonfly

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Ladybug on Hydrangea

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Carpenter bee on Hollyhock bloom

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Longlegged fly

A Longlegged fly (barely 1/8″ long); found my identification through the “Bug Eric” blog at: http://bugeric.blogspot.com/2014/05/long-legged-flies.html

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Trout lily

I photographed this trout lily at Green Spring Gardens this morning after a light rain. The bloom is about 1″ in diameter. Look at the petal on the far right. About halfway up the edge of the petal, you’ll see a tiny bug. This little guy was so tiny, he was barely viewable when I looked away from my macro lens. He was probably about 3/16 of an inch long!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Monarch on zinnia

Just uncovered this never-before-shared gem from my archives—overlooked in the cull of hundreds of butterfly images from the Wings of Fancy exhibit at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD a few years ago.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Inchworm, inchworm

I spent quite a while photographing this little inchworm as he made his way along the jagged path of an Autumn fern stalk in the woodland garden at Lewis Ginter this afternoon. Here’s something I didn’t know until I did some homework: this little inchworm is actually not a worm—it is the larvae of a Geometer moth (exactly which type, I haven’t a clue). The word Geometer means to “measure the earth,” which is what the inchworms appear to be doing when they move in this looping crawl. They have two to three pairs of legs at each end so they can “inch” their way through life. (Now I can’t get the inchworm song out of my head!)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Re-post: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Zinnie ‘Zowie’

Temps have been in the 30s and 40s here in (usually sunny) Texas, with murky gray skies almost every day. I’m in need of some color!

Originally posted July 27, 2010

Overcast and very pleasant day, perfect for a quick (and fruitful) lunchtime shoot at Green Spring Gardens. This is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on a ‘Zowie’ Zinnia.

Note: I was actually trying to get a shot (with the tripod in place) of just the two Zinnias when the Swallowtail landed on one of the flowers. I held my breath and got just two shots before it flew off. I live for moments (and wild color) like this!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Re-post: Halloween Pennant dragonfly

One of my favorite dragonfly shots…previously posted in July 2008—photographed at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington, D.C. For more about the Halloween Pennant dragonfly, click here. Read photographer Bill Horn’s tips for photographing them on his Photo Migrations website.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. 

Carpenter bee on African daisy

Carpenter bee on African daisy (Osteospermum)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Top ‘o the world

Teeny tiny (barely 1/4 inch) unidentified insect on Pineapple Lily (Eucomis comosa); photographed at Green Spring Gardens

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Wasp on Queen Anne’s Lace

Unidentified wasp on Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Flowerfly on Rudbeckia

Flowerfly (or Hoverfly) on Rudbeckia bloom; photographed at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Pink tiger lily

Unidentified insect inside a pink tiger lily; photographed at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens; it looks like he’s wearing a tuxedo!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.