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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 11, 2011 14:00:10 GMT -8
Greetings! I have been lurking here for about a week and figured it was time to stick my head up and say Hi! I am quite new at collecting and know very little about the science involved. My first specimens are actually on some pins that came in a sewing kit.  I figured as an intro, I would show you my cicada display, but my good camera is missing and my old camera is busted. The only camera I have at the moment is a vid camera that takes horrible quality stills. So until I break down and buy a camera, this is the best I can do.  I have them set up the same way I was doing my beetles, groups of three showing the top, bottom, and spread. I had a bunch of moltings, so I decided to throw them in to "pretty it up" a bit. Though it is difficult to tell from the horrendous photo, it turned out quite nice. |
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Post by downundermoths on Sept 11, 2011 14:49:53 GMT -8
Welcome aboard... Whatever you collect, however you present them, as long as it pleases you, that is all that matters... Keep posting on here... One or two of us are really nice people  Barry |
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Post by starlightcriminal on Sept 12, 2011 10:22:43 GMT -8
Welcome! There might be three really nice people here Barry, that's not fair I don't see the picture displaying though, which I mention because I haven't been able to figure out how to post an image either. Is there a thread anywhere describing the procedure yet? Can someone please explain for us? |
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 12, 2011 12:43:26 GMT -8
Hmm... It is odd that you cannot see the image. Perhaps photobucket was acting up when you tried it.
As for posting images, you must first upload the image to an image hosting service such as photobucket or imageshack.
Once you have it uploaded you must then copy the direct link to the image.
On the Post Reply screen (or start new thread screen as the case may be) you should see three lines of icons above the text box. The top one has letters and lines and the bottom one has emoticons. The one in the middle starts with a Youtube looking icon, in that middle line you want to click on the fourth icon. It looks like a landscape picture in a frame. That will place the image notation in the text box ("img" twice, both in separate sets of brackets). Just paste the url of the image between the two. At this point I always click preview to make sure that the image is working properly.
Thank you for your welcoming replies. I hope I was able to help
Rev. R. Farrier
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 12, 2011 20:19:59 GMT -8
I just got home with a new camera though I am quite disappointed in it. Still, it is better than what I had. I didn't set up a light box, so I am sure I can get better quality shots even though it is just a cheap camera to hold me over until I can afford something better. So here is a much better shot of the cicada display.  Enjoy Rev. R. Farrier p.s. Please ignore the time stamp. I set it correctly, but when I changed the batteries it seems to have went awry. I really don't like this camera  |
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Post by jamesd on Sept 12, 2011 23:34:32 GMT -8
Nice. Where I live, during summer you can hear them all the time, though rarely seen, unfortunately.
Welcome to InsectNet.
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Post by starlightcriminal on Sept 13, 2011 6:15:09 GMT -8
Thanks Rev. Seems like my trouble viewing the image has to do with the firewalls at work, I can see them at home. I guess I need an account to upload photos at one of the sites you mentioned, that was the step I was missing. Lots of cicada in Florida, not uncommon to see them either. I don't know how many species but I think I can recall at least three that appear different casually. At least two for sure, a big and a small. Very technical sounding, no?  |
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Post by downundermoths on Sept 13, 2011 17:21:51 GMT -8
No... |
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ckswank
Full Member
Posts: 239
Country: USA
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Post by ckswank on Sept 14, 2011 20:11:26 GMT -8
Welcome, Rev. Nice display & pictures. I'm in the same boat with my camera. It's about 6 or 7 years old. Takes good enough pictures for the most part, but really lacking in detail for closeups.
Charlie
P.S. There are a lot of fine people here on insectnet. I'm sure you noticed the sarcasm in the earlier posts.
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Sept 14, 2011 21:34:49 GMT -8
Thank you. My camera situation is really bugging me (no pun intended  ). I have never had a nice camera, but the 6 megapixel camera that I misplaced (I know it is in this house, but it has been over a year since I have been able to find it!) took much better photos than this 9.1 mp piece of junk that I just wasted $40 on. My old camera and an improvised light box (and a little tweaking in the Windows Photo Gallery) could could produce images that would rival those of an expensive set up. |
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Post by starlightcriminal on Sept 15, 2011 6:27:20 GMT -8
So I checked- there are four genera of cicada in Florida, made up of about 17 species total. A bit more than "big" and "small" but not so many that it would be hard to learn them all. Now to figure out which big one and which small one I am thinking of. The two "big" that I think I remember are a blue-green species and a darker species that I think has orange/red on it. The smaller one was also blue green but much much smaller than the first two. Hmm... not much to go on. I guess I need photos.
I found the camera on my phone is remarkably good if the lighting is OK. Otherwise I have an obnoxiously large Cannon that gets little use due to the scale and amount of accessories to lug around and then I have a small Nikon, one of the older models that has a hotshoe so I can mount bounce flashes and slaves. Makes a huge difference in photo quality if you can use a flash that isn't camera mounted or has some ability to be repositioned as a bounce- I believe there is even a small mountable box for the flash although I don't find a need for it personally. The Nikon was pretty cheap and is a nice, small, metal bodied point and shoot style camera that is much better than the later versions where the automatic features are ramped up but the hotshoe is lost.
B&H has some good deals on older camera models that are tried and tested if you are looking to replace, they're very reliable and have quality stock in general. I think mine was $100-150 at the time, I'm sure it's cheaper now if you can find it.
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ckswank
Full Member
Posts: 239
Country: USA
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Post by ckswank on Jul 16, 2012 14:38:04 GMT -8
Just posted this to Youtube a few days ago. It is of my 5 year old grandson investigating a cicada at our light sheet in the backyard. First time he was brave enough to hold a large insect other than a butterfly or moth. It was taken with a "Flip" video camera. Sorry about the shaking. Both my mom & her father developed these tremors as they reached middle age & it got progressively worse as they got older.
Charlie
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Jul 17, 2012 14:06:34 GMT -8
Adorable child! I never knew that some cicadas came from beetles. I have been seeing a ton of cicadas at my sheet lately. I was amused by them at first, but as their numbers increased, I began to be annoyed by them. They keep up a lot of racket beating their wings against the sheet and the occasional male hollering when it gets stuck in the grass or something. They tend to be so loud that I cannot listen for the subtle thud of the large beetles when they land nearby. Keep teaching that child. He has a good head on his shoulders. Rev. R. Farrier |
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I figured as an intro, I would show you my cicada display, but my good camera is missing and my old camera is busted. The only camera I have at the moment is a vid camera that takes horrible quality stills. So until I break down and buy a camera, this is the best I can do.
).