If there were one thing that was a pain in the “bip bip” this year, it was the unusual amount of wasps in the Montreal region.

I recall one meeting in the old Montreal, on the terrasse (on the roof) of the Nelson Hotel, while sipping a 10$ mojito, I was attack by the little beasts. The poor people who ordered a pink martini, was a whole lot worse for them…

A few weeks ago, as the leaves started to fall, I found this nasty nest.

Now I do understand why they were so many: have you seen the size of this thing? Unreal…

Nikon D90
Exposure : 1/750
Aperture : f/9.5
ISO: 800
Focal length : 300 mm (450 en DX)
Aperture, Topaz Denoise and Detail, Nik Color Efex pro

I just hope they will be more “discrete” in 2010…

François Meehan

Sometimes when you are doing shots of animals or insects, you might wonder “who is oberving who?”.

For example, take this magnificent grasshopper, her ” friends” were avoiding me as if I was a monster (from their perspective, I probably was . None of them would let me approach within 5 feet with my equipment. This one had a totally different behavior.

Nikon D90
Exposure : 1/60
Aperture : f/22
ISO: 400
Focale length : 105 mm (157 en DX)
Integrated Flash with Gary Fong’s Puffer and a Nikon SB-900 flash with Warm gel et diffuser in remote mode.
Aperture, Nik’s Viveza, Topaz Denoise 3 and Adjust.

I was able to approach it within 1.5 foot, took shots for a good 10 minutes with 2 strobes. It slowly moved on its plant, allowing me to try different angles.

At a certain point, I was wondering if it was not “analyzing” me, it felt weird…

Nikon D90
Exposure : 1/60
Aperture : f/22
ISO: 400
Focale length : 105 mm (157 en DX)
Aperture, Nik’s Viveza, Topaz Denoise 3 and Adjust.

For the occasion, I used the built-in flash with a diffuser (Gary Fong’s puffer) and a remote SB-900 flash in remote mode equipped with a warm gel, also with a diffuser, hand held, no tripod.

François Meehan

Even tough we were going at the jardins de Métis for the flowers (other articles to come on the subject), I saw some good opportunities to shoot insects.

For the occasion, I used my Sigma 105 mm macro and the Nikon SB-900 with a warm gel, in wireless mode. Did also use the D90 integrated flash, along with Gary Fong’s Puffer .

Had to config flashes with a -7 compensation (ITTL mode), the sun was really strong. Light not easy to work with, did learn a lot that morning.

Please take note that I am not an expert when comes to talk about insects (and flowers for that matter). I had to research and asked for help to identify my victims. It is quite possible that I am wrong, in such case don’t hesitate to let me know.

Let’s start with a red dragonfly, most probably a crimson-ringed whitheface.

Don’t forget to click on the images to see them bigger…

And then an azure damselfly.

And to finish, a lovely spider, sorry, could not find its kind.

Pictures of the flowers of “jardin des Métis” to follow soon.

For the 3 pictures:

Nikon D90
Exposure : 1/200
Aperture : f/11
Flash SB-900 in wireless mode
ISO: 640
Focal length : 105mm (157 en DX)
Aperture, Topaz Denoise 3, Define from Nik software

François