Really small critters

I finally spent the time to replace the rather expensive incandescence bulbs in my Nikon Model M with high intensity LED lamps (using a small desk lamp from Ikia).  The result were better than I expected!  Here is a dark field image of some rotifers that were in a dish filled with rain water in my flower garden.

They are not sharp since they are moving rather rapidly, but all in all they don't look bad!

I have no idea

Just another bug.  The total length of this one was about 12mm.  I am not sure why, but I thought his head and "shoulders" looks almost robot-like.  I guess I have been watching too many sci-fi movies.

The Blue Dragonfly

I have probably several hundred photos of dragonflies, most of them out of focus or otherwise not very pretty.  This one is not terribly good, but I like it anyway.  I shot this hand-held using my 70-300mm zoom with extension tubes.

 

Just another bug

This guy was on the window in my garage, so he agreed to a photo shoot (RIP).

I also decided to put him in stereo, so here is the "side" mug shot:

and the same thing in anaglyph.

Chirp no more.....

I like crickets, but not when they make too much noise.  This guy (gal?) will no longer bother me in the basement.

If you click on the image you should see it full-screen.  If you look closely you can see that he has two protuberances toward the rear of his body (shown below).  I hesitate to ask what they are used for....