Alex Wild's bug photography

I'm enjoying Alex Wild's colorful bug photos. He's a biologist at the University of Illinois. This is a Thasus acutangulus nymph, taken in Mexico. "The bright colors advertise this bug's distastefulness," he writes.

Here he talks about the macro lens he uses for many of his shots, Canon's MP-E 1-5x macro.

Alex Wild's Myrmecos Blog (Via AntBlog)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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VoiceUXGuy

Surely that’s “macro lens,” not “lans.” :)
Anonymous

i love these bugs – we have them in belize and the back side reminds me of a mix between mexican wrestling masks and japanese noa masks. strangely, i have only ever seen them on piles of tree branches that i have cut and piled and left to dry for a week before burning them (the sticks – not the bugs). i usually see these bugs in pairs – they are about the size of a quarter and easy to spot and always make me smile.
Anonymous

Oh, how beautiful. Thank you, Mark.
johnhoeffleur

Not too much to boast about at the University of Illinois lately but this is rad. Good on ya!
Itsumishi

First I looked at the photos then thought. This is the lens I need. Then I read the first paragraph.

Every Macro photographer I know uses this. I know people that have switched from Nikon just to use this lens.

Yep still want this lens.

Then I see the price. Expensive, but you get what you pay for.

Then I read further. Christ. That thing sounds difficult to use.

Focusing is achieved by moving the camera backwards and forwards you say?

Oh and you need to invest in a flash specifically used for Macro and close up photography. Another $600 or so.

You definitely need to be pretty serious before you purchase that lens it seems. Still, I want.