Photographer – Page 17 – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Emerge II

Watch a Monarch butterfly leave the chrysalis

August 24, 2021August 15, 2021 MichaelStephenWills12 Comments

For Father’s Day 2021 I received cages for raising Monarch butterflies. A large zippered door is a great feature, one side of the cage drops away for easier access and photography. Here are some photographs of the developing chrysalis and emergence.

In the first step of chrysalis development, the caterpillar climbs to a chosen location and weaves a silk pad from the abdomen. We are looking down on the caterpillar through the top of the woven material that forms our cage. The silk pad is a small white dot to the right.

Click photograph for a larger view and use Ctrl-+ (press down Ctrl, hold, then click plus sign repeatedly) to zoom in closer.

After the silk attachment pad is complete, the caterpillar releases itself to hang in a shape of the letter “J.”

The caterpillar sheds the outer skin as the chrysalis forms around it.

Just prior to emergence the chrysalis turns from opaque green to translucent Iappears dark). Here the wing pattern and body markings (white dots) are visible.

I used a Manfrotto tripod, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV dslr (high resolution video capability) and Canon’s EF 100mm f/2.8 USB macro lens for the following up close coverage of a Monarch emerging followed by wing expansion.

Click me for better experience viewing the following video. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page. Note the replay icon (an arrow circling counter-clockwise.

Thank You for visiting.

Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Night Blooming Cereus VIII

reaction to cold temperature

August 21, 2021August 14, 2021 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

Our “Night Blooming Cereus” is blooming earlier in 2021, blooms opened twice during nights of early August. I put the name in quotes because during the course of writing the first seven posts ( I through VII ) I learned this is NOT a member of the genus Cereus, it is actually an epiphyte of the Epiphyllum genus.

For those familiar with the early history of New York City and Hudson Valley it is easy to see why a common name of the plant is “Dutchman’s Pipe Cactus.”

Emerging flower buds of a Epiphyllum cactus.

Click me for another Night Blooming Cereus Cereus flower post.

References

Wikipedia, “Epiphyllum”, “Epiphyllum oxypetalum,”epiphyte.”

Zion Narrows VII

highwater?

August 15, 2021August 14, 2021 MichaelStephenWills

Mysterious alcoves through cross-bedded Navajo Sandstone, 15 feet, or more, above the streambed. I use mysterious in the sense I wished the formations were mysterious, standing there with nowhere to climb, witnessing the effects of floods that high above. The location is The Narrows just above Orderville Canyon junction, Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah

Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Zion Narrows VII

laying around in The Narrows

August 11, 2021August 10, 2021 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

This polished basalt, the product of volcanic eruptions and eons-long weathering, is common on the Virgin River bed. Zion National Park, of The Narrows just above Orderville Canyon junction.

Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Zion Narrows VI

long and narrow

August 9, 2021August 5, 2021 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

I combined two 50 mm exposures for this view of an interesting rock and beetling canyon walls. Upstream from here it is a day’s walk to reach ground safe from flash floods, downstream at least one hour. Narrows of Zion National Park, Utah

Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Yellow Hibiscus IV

anthers and stamens

August 7, 2021August 7, 2021 MichaelStephenWills10 Comments

Evening breezes brought to a halt my series of hibiscus bloom photographs, that bloom faded and shriveled, to be replaced by another. I captured the images of this post on a very quiet summer evening. This bloom was facing up closer to vertical that the previous.

A key identification for all 300 species of hibiscus is the long stamen tube. I have yet to see a local insect interacting with the stamen, always they are in the flower throat. In the tropics, pollination is thought to proceed from large butterflies and birds.

Click photograph for larger view in new tab. From WordPress Reader you need to open the post to use this feature.

Here are three macro photographs of this bloom, all from the Canon 100 “macro” lens. I learned by experience to tamp down the diaphragm to the smallest setting, f / 32 for this lens. The different aspects were achieved by moving the lens objective closer to the bloom. This is a “fixed” lens, it has one focal length.

References

Wikipedia – “hibiscus.”

Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Yellow Hibiscus III

anthers and stamens

August 4, 2021July 31, 2021 MichaelStephenWills7 Comments

Nyctinasty (flower response to light: opening with or closing without light) in hibiscus plants is a mechanism to protect against adverse conditions such as cool temperatures that can be damaging. Through a lack of light stimulus and circadian rhythms the plant is able to trigger the molecular movement of ions to allow for the closing of the flower.

Click photograph for larger view in new tab. From WordPress Reader you need to open the post to use this feature.

Here are three macro photographs of this bloom, all from the Canon 100 “macro” lens. I start with the shutter diaphragm open at 4.0 (“F-stop”), a little narrower at 4.5 and a bit more at 9.0. For this lens the maximum opening is at 2.8, the narrowest is 32. As the opening narrows (F-stop increases) the exposure time needed to capture enough light lengthens and the range of the image in focus increases.

References

Wikipedia – “hibiscus.”

Zion Narrows V

narrow and tall

August 3, 2021July 30, 2021 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

This long exposure blurs the two distant human figures looking downstream toward junction of Orderville Canyon, around corner. Narrows of Zion National Park, Utah

Yellow Hibiscus II

flower and buds

August 1, 2021July 30, 2021 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

This is a perennial, commonly known simply as “hibiscus”, or less widely known as rose mallow. Other names include hardy hibiscus, rose of sharon, and tropical hibiscus.

The hibiscus flower is traditionally worn by Tahitian and Hawaiian girls. If the flower is worn behind the left ear, the woman is married or has a boyfriend. If the flower is worn on the right, she is single or openly available for a relationship.