I love to use macro photography to capture small insects and plants in lots of detail. It is often amazing when you see a macro photo blown up large on the computer screen for the first time and you marvel at the detail and complexity of nature. Even animals and plants that you completely take for granted can be so fascinating when you view them this close.
Here are some amazing macro photos on products in my Zazzle store Natural Beauty.
Showing posts with label photographs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photographs. Show all posts
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Thursday, 12 August 2010
The Amazing Vapourer Moth
I have quite an interest in moths. I can often be found out late at night hunting for interesting moths to photograph. One of the most fascinating species I have found so far was the Vapourer moth. I actually found this species as a caterpillar. It was the most extroadinary beast I have ever found. Here is a photo I took of this rather ugly beastie.
This animal totally fascinated me so I kept it indoors and fed it on dandelion leaves, not its typical diet but it ate them with gusto. It grew rapidly, as caterpillars tend to do, and soon entered into a chrysalis.
In the meantime I had identified the species as a Vapourer moth. Not just an extroadinary looking caterpillar but quite an unusual moth. Firstly the female is wingless. She will release chemical signals called pheromones. These chemical scents will attract a male. The male mates with her and she lays her eggs on the remains of her own cocoon. The female never flies.
The male is a day flying moth, not nocturnal like the majority of moths. He is very beautifully marked with his brown wings and their striking white eye spots.
Luckily mine turned out to be a male and after taking a few photos I let him go on his way. Here are some of the lovely products I made using one of my Vapourer moth photos.
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