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Nearsighted

A close-up look at the world (without glasses)

By Austin Bachand

May 4^th, 2021

Side by Side

Close up... then even closer up

At Court Square in Harrisonburg, Virginia

A chalk heart seen up close shows textures normally invisible to passing pedestrians.

The remnants of woolly aphids, a type of aphid that produces a white wool-like covering, sit on a leaf found in Court Square. The aphids are not very harmful to the leaf, but they may bring with them diseases that could be harmful.

The old spruce tree in Harrisonburg's Court Square holds a new pine cone bud.

A differential grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis) sits on a bush on the Rockingham County Circuit Courthouse in Harrisonburg's Court Square.

The yew shrubs in Court Square produce a seed surrounded by a gelatinous berry-like substance called aril. The seeds themselves are poisonous, while the aril is harmless.

Bugs

Prepare to see spiders!

The eastern tiger swallowtail, or Papilio glaucous, Virginia's State Insect.

A male Common Blue Damselfly, scientifically named Enallagma cyathigerum, found at St. Vincent Lake near Latrobe.

A red-spotted purple butterfly on an old sock found in the woods.

Argiope aurantia, commonly known as the yellow garden spider, or "zigzag spider" for the way they shape their webs.

Other Close-Ups

Raindrops rest on a leaf of one of the plants in Harrisonburg's Court Square.

Cedar-apple rust is caused by the plant pathogen Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae.

Equipment and Process

I use a bellows system (sometimes multiple bellows) to extend the lens from the camera body. The bellow seen here is a Minolta mount film enlarging bellow attached with a Minolta to Canon adapter, which conveniently adds an extra couple centimeters to the extension.

This system creates a very shallow depth-of-field, so a large aperture is often needed.

Separating the camera from the lens combined with the large aperture greatly reduces the amount of light that enters the camera, so I often add light with an off-camera strobe.

In order to manually focus the lens, I use a bright flashlight and a very steady hand.

I typically will mount it on my regular tripod, but with some setups, I am able to handhold which is how I can get some images out in the field, like the butterfly seen above.

Footnotes

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FootNotes

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Daily Life - Harrisonburg, Virginia

Nearsighted

A close-up look at the world (without glasses)

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