American Emerald (Cordulia shurtleffii) - Middle Road, Boothbay Harbor, Maine

One of our northern types that can be found all the way to Hudson Bay.
I presume they were named "Emeralds" for the color of their eyes.

Tags:   KH0831 Maine dragonfly xplr 210 ThousandPlus Insect Odonta Smithsonian2018 Macro 300mm 300mm+1.4xTC Town 1000+ Top 1000 Odonata Aqueous Eukaryota Animalia Arthropoda Insecta Nature

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Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) with a cedar siding BG - Suburban New Jersey, 25 miles west of "The City" (NYC)

I brought home some JIP seeds from the swamp 5 - 10 years ago, and now I have these guys growing wild around the edges of my lawn. Though I have to say that my lawn is not all that well defined and there's a short demilitarized zone between the grass and the areas left to the wild where Jack and his friends can be found.

Can you see Jack's little leaf hopper friend sharing the shelter of his pulpet?

Tags:   KH0831 Town xplr 386 wfgna odshaped green ThousandPlus Flora NJ 1000+ Top 1000 Macro New Jersey New Jersey Nature

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Florida Scrub Jay - Playalinda Beach Road, Canaveral National Seashore, Wilson, Florida

These guys like to travel in troops, and this guy kept a close watch on me while his buddies were lookin' for viddles in the undergrowth.

Tags:   KH0831 Florida Bird ThousandPlus 1000+ Top 1000 Nature

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Thick-legged Hoverfly (most likely Syritta pipiens) - My back yard in suburban New Jersey, 25 miles west of "The City" (NYC)

I decided to play with the flash again today, but this time I decided to go with a fast shutter speed
to take the ambient light out of play and use the flash speed to freeze the little buggers.
For this shot I had the flash on a tripod at about 30 degrees vertical and horizontal off the lens axis
and about 2 feet from the subject. The flash was manual at ¼ power while the camera was set at F-25 and 1/50.

Regarding the the focus on this shot, it was manual focus since I had the 2xTC in the mix.
I calibrated the viewfinder by focusing on a still subject on the camera back,
and then adjusted the diopter to get the subject as sharp as possible through the viewfinder.
But even so there's a bit of luck involved getting tight focus on a moving target like these guys.

Note: Since the camera was set to manual and I used a flash trigger to actuate the remote flash
(set to manual power ratio mode; not ETTL) there is no indication of flash (or flash return) in the EXIF data.

Rig:
   • Canon 5DMII, 180 mm macro lens, 2xTC, and 550 Speedlite
   • Yongnuo 603 Flash triggers
   • Benro BH2 ball-head on a Slik 503QF tripod with a
   Manfrotto 357 Pro Quick Release Adapter for the flash
   • Giotto MH-1000 ball-head on a Gitzo GT3830 Tripod with a
   Manfrotto 357 Pro Quick Release Adapter for the camera
   
   Note: No point in spending good money on name recognition when gear of sufficient quality can be had for less money, and then save your money for good glass where quality does matter!
       

Tags:   KH0831 Town ThousandPlus NJ Insect Fly Hoverfly Syrphid Eukaryota Animalia Arthropoda Insecta Diptera Syrphidae Eristalinae Milesiini Tropidia scita Tropidia scita Musca scitus Eristalis milesiformis dorsalis rufomaculata fallenii Macro 1000+ Top 1000 New Jersey New Jersey Nature

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Virginia Knotweed (Tovara virginiana; a.k.a. Persicaria virginiana) - Suburban New Jersey, 25 miles west of "The City" (NYC)

One of the many weeds on my property, which I am thoroughly exploring this year considering the heat and humidity we've been having these days. And even so, after short photo sessions outdoors I retreat to the shelter of the AC after only about a half hour of shooting.

Tags:   KH0831 Town wfgna 4petals green white Flora NJ ThousandPlus 1000+ Top 1000 Macro New Jersey New Jersey Nature

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