Species diversity observed in 24 hours of macro photography
A few years ago I happened to schedule three separate macro photography sessions over the span of a bit under 24 hours. Each shooting session had a group of macro photographers shooting together. When going to take photos of insects in an open area (e.g. not a jungle), we'd usually pick sunrise/sunset/night times, to avoid the harsh sunlight and the hyper activeness of the subjects. Here are the photos I took, shot in Israel in early March. 1) Night session – A bit before midnight in Caesarea 22:30 - arrive at the location, get my equipment ready and start looking around. 23:05 – The first cool photo I took was of a juvenile unidentified jumping spider (family Salticidae), this is a three-image focus stack. This little jumper was very inquisitive and curious, I did gently direct it to this position, which is the reason you see sand particles on it. 23:18 – First time seeing this genus ( Hypsicorypha ) of plant-mimicking mantis from the family Em...