Many Melissodes...and there are many look just about the same making them yet another difficult group to differentiate. Here is a common eastern one...a species that makes its way to the north of its near look alike. Picture taken by Ashleigh Jacobs, photshopping by Elizabeth Garcia. Specimen collected on Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Kent County Maryland.

~~~~~~~~~~{{{{{{0}}}}}}~~~~~~~~~~

All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.

Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200


Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all
Ye know on earth and all ye need to know
" Ode on a Grecian Urn"
John Keats


You can also follow us on Instagram account USGSBIML Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:

Art Photo Book: Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World
www.qbookshop.com/products/216627/9780760347386/Bees.html...

Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY

USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4

PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf

Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU

Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
www.photomacrography.net/

Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov
301 497 5840

Tags:   bee bees biml usgs droege sam droege ashleigh jacobs elizabeth garcia taxonomy:binomial=melissodes comptoides melissodes comptoides apidae apoidea melissodes kent county' maryland fws eastern neck national wildlife refuge usgs zerene stacker stackshot macro dofstacking upclose antennae eastern refuge

© All Rights Reserved

Many Melissodes...and there are many look just about the same making them yet another difficult group to differentiate. Here is a common eastern one...a species that makes its way to the north of its near look alike. Picture taken by Ashleigh Jacobs, photshopping by Elizabeth Garcia. Specimen collected on Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Kent County Maryland.

~~~~~~~~~~{{{{{{0}}}}}}~~~~~~~~~~

All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.

Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200


Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all
Ye know on earth and all ye need to know
" Ode on a Grecian Urn"
John Keats


You can also follow us on Instagram account USGSBIML Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:

Art Photo Book: Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World
www.qbookshop.com/products/216627/9780760347386/Bees.html...

Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY

USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4

PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf

Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU

Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
www.photomacrography.net/

Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov
301 497 5840

Tags:   bee bees biml usgs droege sam droege ashleigh jacobs elizabeth garcia taxonomy:binomial=melissodes comptoides melissodes comptoides apidae apoidea melissodes kent county' maryland fws eastern neck national wildlife refuge usgs zerene stacker stackshot macro dofstacking upclose antennae eastern refuge

© All Rights Reserved

On the big side of long-horns is Melissodes comptoides...as you move south and to the prairies...you get tricked up with M. communis and all its color variations. Fortunately, there are ways to tell them apart. Often common and found in many open habitats...particularly if you plant some composites for them...which of course ... you are. Photo by Brooke Goggins.
~~~~~~~~~~{{{{{{0}}}}}}~~~~~~~~~~

All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.


Photography Information:
Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

We Are Made One with What We Touch and See

We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.
- Oscar Wilde


You can also follow us on Instagram - account = USGSBIML

Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:


Best over all technical resource for photo stacking:
www.extreme-macro.co.uk/

Free Field Guide to Bee Genera of Maryland:
bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf

Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY

USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4

Bees of Maryland Organized by Taxa with information on each Genus
www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections

PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf

Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU

Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
www.photomacrography.net/

Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov



301 497 5840

Tags:   zerene stacker stackshot geological survey united states geological survey department of the interior droege biml bee inventory and monitoring laboratory bug bugs canon close-up macro insect patuxent wildlife research center pwrc usgs dofstacking stacking entomologist canon mpe65 animals animal bee bees apoidea hymenoptera pollinator nativebee entomology macrophotography usinterior taxonomy:binomial=melissodes comptoides long-horn big composite prairie prairies

© All Rights Reserved

On the big side of long-horns is Melissodes comptoides...as you move south and to the prairies...you get tricked up with M. communis and all its color variations. Fortunately, there are ways to tell them apart. Often common and found in many open habitats...particularly if you plant some composites for them...which of course ... you are. Photo by Brooke Goggins.
~~~~~~~~~~{{{{{{0}}}}}}~~~~~~~~~~

All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.


Photography Information:
Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

We Are Made One with What We Touch and See

We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.
- Oscar Wilde


You can also follow us on Instagram - account = USGSBIML

Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:


Best over all technical resource for photo stacking:
www.extreme-macro.co.uk/

Free Field Guide to Bee Genera of Maryland:
bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf

Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY

USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4

Bees of Maryland Organized by Taxa with information on each Genus
www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections

PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf

Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU

Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
www.photomacrography.net/

Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov



301 497 5840

Tags:   zerene stacker stackshot geological survey united states geological survey department of the interior droege biml bee inventory and monitoring laboratory bug bugs canon close-up macro insect patuxent wildlife research center pwrc usgs dofstacking stacking entomologist canon mpe65 animals animal bee bees apoidea hymenoptera pollinator nativebee entomology macrophotography usinterior taxonomy:binomial=melissodes comptoides long-horn big composite prairie prairies mbpready

© All Rights Reserved

On the big side of long-horns is Melissodes comptoides...as you move south and to the prairies...you get tricked up with M. communis and all its color variations. Fortunately, there are ways to tell them apart. Often common and found in many open habitats...particularly if you plant some composites for them...which of course ... you are. Photo by Brooke Goggins.
~~~~~~~~~~{{{{{{0}}}}}}~~~~~~~~~~

All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.


Photography Information:
Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

We Are Made One with What We Touch and See

We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.
- Oscar Wilde


You can also follow us on Instagram - account = USGSBIML

Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:


Best over all technical resource for photo stacking:
www.extreme-macro.co.uk/

Free Field Guide to Bee Genera of Maryland:
bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf

Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY

USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4

Bees of Maryland Organized by Taxa with information on each Genus
www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections

PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf

Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU

Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
www.photomacrography.net/

Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov



301 497 5840

Tags:   zerene stacker stackshot geological survey united states geological survey department of the interior droege biml bee inventory and monitoring laboratory bug bugs canon close-up macro insect patuxent wildlife research center pwrc usgs dofstacking stacking entomologist canon mpe65 animals animal bee bees apoidea hymenoptera pollinator nativebee entomology macrophotography usinterior taxonomy:binomial=melissodes comptoides long-horn big composite prairie prairies

© All Rights Reserved