The Smaller Majority

A portrait of the competition

White-throated Round-eared Bat (Lophostoma silvicolum) is an insectivorous bat that specializes in hunting katydids, the very same group of insects I like to catch (albeit for different reasons.) This species is common in rainforests of Central and South America. Note the large, leaf-like flap on its nose, which is a device that helps the bat…

Macro lenses: longer is better (sometimes)

What is the best lens for insect macrophotography? I am asked this question every now and then, and the answer is always: “It depends.” The choice of your macro lens in nature photography depends on which aspects of your subject interest you the most. True macro lenses come in different focal lengths, but they all…

Beautiful aliens

Biologists despise alien species. I don’t mean species coming from different planets, but species that colonize areas where they don’t belong. Rats in New Zealand, earthworms in New England, wild boars on New Britain, Wasmannia ants on New Caledonia (can you see a pattern?), they all have been introduced by people to new places, sometimes accidentally,…

Improvising with light

One of the more valuable skills in nature photography is the ability to improvise, and make do with what you have at hand. I would love to be able to have all my equipment with me every time I take a walk in an interesting area, but this is never the case. The one predictable…

Wide angle macro

Although I consider myself primarily a macro photographer, my favorite lenses are not those designed for macrophotography, but rather those that are used chiefly for landscapes and other large subjects. I am talking of course about wide angle lenses, which means lenses of the focal length shorter than 50mm. Many photographers are surprised to discover…

Out of Africa

A few days ago I came back from Mozambique, where I had spent 8 weeks conducting a comprehensive survey of orthopteroid insects (katydids, grasshoppers, and their allies) of the Gorongosa National Park. Needless to say, I also took a lot of photos; 14,520 to be exact. I thought that I went there well-prepared for any…