Fireflies in the back field.

Thomas · Jun 10, 2019

We use to catch them and put them in someone bedroom. :devil:

/pine · Jun 10, 2019

Fireflies light up in order to attract a mate...so in reality the pictures are of a bug orgy...

buckeyefarmer · Jun 10, 2019

Or the getting drunk part beforehand..

DMax82 · Jun 10, 2019

MossRoad said:
There's no breaker for the security light? You mentioned it's on a power pole, so is it not run through your meter and just a monthly charge from the power company?

Several of my neighbors have dusk to dawn streetlight-type lights on their houses and poles. It pretty much kills the night view of the sky in the entire neighborhood. I had to take my kids way out about 30-40 miles to find a good dark area so they could see the milky way. We used to see it here all the time 30-40 years ago. Too much light pollution now. Sad.

Yeah, monthly charge, no breaker. I'm going to speak with them tomorrow about cutting it off. Barring that I'll just climb a ladder and remove the bulb for a couple of months.

DMax82 · Jun 10, 2019

Sigarms said:
DMax82

Curious what the camera setting was and time of evening?

We have a bunch out now ourselves and may suggest to the one boy to take his camera out to see what he can get.

Here is my process. It is fairly involved, but not too difficult. For me there are three essentials: Digital SLR camera, cable release (even a super cheap one on Amazon will work just fine), and a tripod. I usually start about 15 minutes after sunset. Where I photograph in the mountains they are only super active for about 40 minutes, but here at my farm they are busy throughout the night. Darkness without the moon can be a limiting factor.

1) Set camera on tripod and attach cable release. Turn off image stabilization if you have it.
2) Compose the scene you like, autofocus, then switch to manual focus.
3) I shoot at f/8 with a shutter speed of 6 seconds. I start at ISO 100. Sometimes I do f/5.6 if I am in the forest.
4) If the initial exposure looks good I set the cable release to continuously shoot.
5) As it darkens I adjust the ISO upward to capture the fireflies. I am not worried about background detail, as the initial exposure should be adequate.
6) I usually top out at about ISO 1600. Rarely shooting for more than an hour. A full hour is 600 shots.
7) I transfer the image files to my PC and open them in a program called StarStax. It is for star trails but works great for this application. It is free and simple to use.
8) The program layers all of the images on top of each other. While each individual picture might only have a bug or two, when added together there are usually tons.
9) I am not an expert with StarStax, in fact I am still very much experimenting with all of the settings. It is a lot of fun though.

Here are some pictures on my website of my first summer photographing them two years ago. I wasn't able to do much last summer.

217 Fireflies. – Tennescenic

DMax82 · Jun 14, 2019

Well, I went to the electric cooperative and asked about removing the light. They said "No problem, we can do that for free. However, once we remove it, we will never come install another one should you change your mind." I ran that by the wife, and she declared that the security light will stay. If it wasn't so high up or I wasn't so terrified of heights I would simply climb up a ladder and remove the bulb.

I was out of town last night and was able to go into the forest to photograph more fireflies. I will mess with the pictures later this evening hopefully.

MossRoad · Jun 14, 2019

DMax82 said:
Well, I went to the electric cooperative and asked about removing the light. They said "No problem, we can do that for free. However, once we remove it, we will never come install another one should you change your mind." I ran that by the wife, and she declared that the security light will stay. If it wasn't so high up or I wasn't so terrified of heights I would simply climb up a ladder and remove the bulb.

I was out of town last night and was able to go into the forest to photograph more fireflies. I will mess with the pictures later this evening hopefully.

Bummer on the light.

DMax82 · Jun 16, 2019

From the other night in the forest. I might remove the huge streak, as it is rather distracting. Will be out of town a lot this week, so should have ample opportunity to take more pictures.