“Drawn by sweet nectar and bright colour, the pollinators themselves add flamboyance to the joyful spring blossoms.” – Ed Lehming

While I was capturing some images of this spring’s Hepaticas movement to my side caught my attention and presented me with this shot. Like the honey-bee post from yesterday, this was also shot hand-held but the beetle was not flying and so, made the image a lot less technical, though I had widened my aperture for a previous shot, which made the focal plane a bit narrower, but it all worked out. Sometimes you just have to give it your best effort and hope for the best. It was not till I looked through my viewfinder that I noticed the bright colour of the beetle’s thorax, since it is only about a centimeter in length. That’s an element of macro photography that I simply love; the ability to spend time enjoying the detail of things that the naked eye can’t see very well.

These kind of images also prompt me to research the specifics of the elements of my photo. This time I discovered that the main subject of my photo is an aptly named Fire-colored Beetle – Dendroides canadensis, part of a larger family of Pyrochroidae (Fire Colored Beetles). So, I have learned about a new species that I don’t recall having seen before this encounter. From what I have read, they are active mostly at night and that would explain why I have not seen them before.

Nikon D800
Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 (272ENII)@90mm
1/800 sec, f/14, ISO 800