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insect photography

Magical video shows billions of fireflies flickering through the night

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The flickering of a swarm of fireflies is one of the most magical things I’ve seen in my life. It always impresses me no matter how many times I see it. I started appreciating it even more lately, as it’s not lo longer a common sight in Serbia.

The biggest swarm of fireflies I’ve ever seen contained around 150 or 200 beetles. So, when I saw this Sriram Murali’s video, it made my jaw drop. He captured billions of these impressive creatures flickering through the night and turned their light show into a beautiful short film.

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This is what bugs look like when they get ready to fly at 6,000fps

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I follow quite a few YouTube channels. Some of them are purely for the visually stunning creations they post. Others are for the information they provide. Occasionally, though, you come across a channel that does both. That’s Ant Lab, the channel of Dr Adrian Smith at the Evolutionary Biology & Behavior Research Lab.

Dr Smith’s content focuses primarily on bugs, and we’ve featured him here on DIYP before. A few times, actually. His videos are as fascinating as they are beautiful and this one of various insects preparing for flight and taking off at 6,000fps is no exception.

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This slow-motion video of moths taking off is the most calming thing you’ll see today

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Dr. Adrian Smith of Ant Lab has shown us quite a few times how beautiful, unusual, and complex the world of insects is. His latest video is not only wonderful to watch, but it’s also the most calming thing you’ll see today. Well, unless you suffer from Lepidopterophobia.

Dr. Smith filmed seven gorgeous, colorful moths taking off in slow motion. Setting his camera to 6,000 fps, he has captured the movements in these creatures that we’re hardly aware of.

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These close-up portraits show that bees have “different personalities”

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When looking from afar, all bees look the same. But just like they’re complex and intelligent creatures, they also look different from each other. Photographer and drone operator Josh Forwood wanted to show these differences, so he took a series of macro bee portraits. His photos let us meet bees up close (and I mean, really close) and see how different their little faces really are.

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Photographer captures magical images of fireflies in Japanese forest

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I vividly remember the time when I first saw a swarm of fireflies. Their flickering completely enchanted me, and of course, I also tried taking some photos. However, they were quite… underwhelming, to say the least. But photographer Daniel Kordan has managed to capture the beauty and magic of fireflies. He turned them into a series of images he kindly shared with DIYP, along with his gear and settings that he used to create them.

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My process for creating insect portraits with macro photography

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Each print that I create is a composite of hundreds (sometimes thousands) of individual photos digitally stitched together. Using a method of macro photography called “photo stacking” it’s possible to create images with an incredible amount of detail, even when printed at a very large scale.

To show you the amount of work involved—often reaching 10 to 20 hours per image or more—I’ll walk you through my process using a giant stag beetle (Cyclommattus metallifer finae) from Indonesia. It is time-intensive and tedious, but worth it. Let’s get to it.

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2020 Bug Photographer of the Year winners will take your fear of bugs away

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Most people I know are afraid of bugs or disgusted by them. However, insects are a magnificent subject for macro photography, and they can look gorgeous, elegant, even comical. This year’s Luminar Bug Photographer of the Year winners show all sides of insects that could make you stop fearing them. After all, even the contest winner overcame his fear of insects through photography!

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Watch these weird insects as they take off in super slow-motion

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Super slow-motion can show us a lot of things that we’ve never seen before. Dr. Adrian Smith of Ant Lab wanted to show us how some unusual insects take flight, so he filmed them at 3,200 fps. It’s amazing to reveal what techniques they use to take off, but it’s also interesting to see how much they differ.

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