BANNED From Instagram. Apologies for the lack of posts recently, but my cell phone was banned from Instagram for a couple of weeks. We had a discussion and decided that the cell phone will not click storm Instagram any longer but be more strategic....In the meantime... Here is something exciting: Andrena mendica. This is one of the missing bees of the Eastern United States that we identified as "missing" about 10 years ago in a publication that was generated by handing out a list of the eastern bees to the handful of people who identify and hunt bees and asking which they had seen in the last 20 years. Turns out that most bees had been seen (btw, not claiming that everything has gone to Hell turns out to make a boring paper that creates zero headlines or tweets, if we had been smart we would have at least titled it "Reverse Apocalypse" or something catchy). Of the not seen bees, they were all rare to begin with or of possible dubious taxonomic status. Since then, many have been found as was our friend A. mendica. The founder was Michael Ulyshen form the US Forest Service where it lurked in his canopy traps (Yes Mike I still haven't sent the specimens back, but hope to this week). More fun canopy trap finds from Mike soon enough. Photo by Bee Lab tech Erick Hernandez. (Useful Hint: When on Instragram your goal should never be to see how many photos you can click per minute)
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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/
Art Photo Book: Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World:
www.amazon.com/Bees-Up-Close-Pollinators-Around-World/dp/...
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:
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
