Aphid Infestation


Device Model/Make: Nikon D5100Focal Length: 18-55mm, Vivitar Macro FilterF number: 8Shutter: ~1sISO: 100Postprocessing: Quicktime, iMovieI had the idea for a timelapse project (inspired by this) before I went to grad school that involved a flower blooming. It was raining the afternoon that I wanted to start, so I ran outside during a lull in the rain after dinner. I cut off a stem with several flower buds and stuck it in a bottle with some water. I set up a lamp to cast consistent lighting for the duration of the timelapse (used a CFL to minimize energy use) and set it up so the lighting was primarily coming "over your left shoulder". The white wall behind would help diffuse it all.I let my camera run on its built in interval timer until the battery died, taking a picture every 60 seconds. It would make it through only about 450 or so (7.5 hours). I woke up the next day, swapped batteries, and changed-up my framing. I repeated this twice before late in day 3 I noticed a fuzzy blob on the stem of the flower. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a bug. Then I realized there were lots of them. I called off the timelapse and ejected the flower from my house, but then I had a thought that what I'd captured could still be interesting. As it turns out, 1 frame per minute is actually a reasonable speed at which to capture life in the insect kingdom.I'm rather happy with the results, although I'm never touching a flower from outside again. Hope you got a kick out of it.