Insects & Spiders

Garden Insect Photography with Collection Imager Geoff Thompson

by Geoff Thompson, Queensland Museum Collection Imager 

What does a museum micro-photographer do when locked down?

He builds a modification for his flash diffuser and heads out into the garden to photograph small creatures, with his own camera and macro lens.

After editing and adjusting, only a few images are worth sharing. Queensland Museum entomologists have identified these as far as is possible. Often it is impossible to identify an insect from a photograph. Entomologists may need to see features from many angles and sometimes at high magnification on a specimen, to be sure of an identification. The trouble is photographers rarely manage to catch the insect as well as photograph it.

Yellow Shouldered Ladybird - Apolinus lividigaster
Yellow Shouldered Ladybird, Apolinus lividigaster, an aphid feeder. © Geoff Thompson
Blowfly, Lucilia sp. on grass seed head, Brisbane, Queensland Australia
A blowfly, Lucilia sp.resting on a grass seed head. © Geoff Thompson
cryptine ichneumonid wasp_sml
A parasitic wasp, Family Ichneumonidae, subfamily Cryptinae. Resting on a leaf. © Geoff Thompson
Polyrhachis rufifemur_sml
A lovely golden spiny ant, Polyrhachis rufifemur, crawling on the underside of a Lemon Myrtle leaf, Backhousia citriodora. © Geoff Thompson
Bromocoris souefi_sml
A Pentatomid bug, Bromocoris souefi (Distant), on the bark of Elaeocarpus reticulatus (Blueberry Ash). © Geoff Thompson

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