Water Striders (or pond skaters)

Post your macro and close-up images in this gallery. You may post all subject types whether natural or unnatural, living or non-living.

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Edwin Bont
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Water Striders (or pond skaters)

Post by Edwin Bont »

Here are some Water Striders.
They even have cute babys :)
Image
A bit bigger version http://www.edwinbont.nl/forums/babyschaats1.jpg

Image
a bit bigger version http://www.edwinbont.nl/forums/schaats10.jpg

Image
a bit bigger version http://www.edwinbont.nl/forums/schaats9.jpg

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Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

These are wonderful Edwin. The way you captured the waters surface tension in relation to the striders leg is perfect! Very well done Edwin :o
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rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Edwin, you don't post much, but your pictures are always worth the wait. These are really excellent (as always!) :D

I notice that you've got an Internet domain of your own now. The new site looks like it's going to be great! One little glitch is that when I tried to look at some of your earlier posts here in the forum, I discovered (of course) that all the images show as broken because they're no longer at their original URL's. :cry: Any chance I can find them somewhere on your new site? <Insert "begging puppy" emoticon here.>

--Rik

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Post by rjlittlefield »

By the way, if you're interested in surface tension and baby water striders, you might find this paper interesting. It's currently posted at http://courses.washington.edu/biomechs/waterstrider.pdf .
[i]The hydrodynamics of water strider locomotion[/i], David L. Hu, Brian Chan & John W. M. Bush wrote:Water striders Gerridae are insects of characteristic length 1 cm and weight 10 dynes that reside on the surface of ponds, rivers, and the open ocean. Their weight is supported by the surface tension force generated by curvature of the free surface, and they propel themselves by driving their central pair of hydrophobic legs in a sculling motion. Previous investigators have assumed that the hydrodynamic propulsion of the water strider relies on momentum transfer by surface waves. This assumption leads to Denny’s paradox: infant water striders, whose legs are too slow to generate waves, should be incapable of propelling themselves along the surface. We here resolve this paradox through reporting the results of high-speed video and particle-tracking studies. Experiments reveal that the strider transfers momentum to the underlying fluid not primarily through capillary waves, but rather through hemispherical vortices shed by its driving legs. This insight guided us in constructing a self-contained mechanical water strider whose means of propulsion is analogous to that of its natural counterpart.
Some related text & videos can be found at http://www-math.mit.edu/~dhu/Videoweb/videoweb.html .

And of course Wikipedia has a good article on the subject.

--Rik

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Hah -- found the gold mine! This link is worth posting by itself: http://www-math.mit.edu/~dhu/.

This guy is really into water striders!

--Rik

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Edwin Bont
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Post by Edwin Bont »

Thanks for the links and the comments.
These animals are realy interesting.

rjlittlefield my account at lycos.nl is locked because of too much traffic and directlinking.
I coppyd the macrofolder to my new webspace: http://www.edwinbont.nl/forums/Macro/

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Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

A great gallery you have Edwin, wonderful. :D I simply got a kick out those jumpers with the eyeballs! :lol:
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Kenneth Ramos
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Kens Microscopy
Reposts of my images within the galleries are welcome, as are constructive critical critiques.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Thanks, Edwin! :D
--Rik

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Sven Bernert
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Post by Sven Bernert »

Hi Edwin, wasn't I commenting on this already? :?:

I was doing something similar a while back when working with water striders:

Image

The reason for posting this here is lighting. Mine was lit using two 420 EX on a flash bracket (+ ST-E2). The light in yours look *a lot* better to me, so my question is: what did you use to light those small critters so well? :lol:

Thanks,
Sven
If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you're not out there, you'll only hear about it. - Jay Maisel

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Edwin Bont
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Post by Edwin Bont »

I use one 420EZ and a small softbox on it on a flashbracket.
http://members.lycos.nl/eddysign/softbox1.jpg

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twebster
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Post by twebster »

Hi ya' Edwin, :D

I caught these over at the Fred Miranda site earlier. Stunning images :!: :D

Best regards as always, :D
Tom Webster
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Phoenix "The Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!

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Beetleman
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Post by Beetleman »

He Killed my fly with the large eyes (Edwins second picture) :cry:
http://www.photomacrography1.net/forum/ ... php?t=5057

Supurb shots Edwin!!
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda
Canon PowerShot S1 IS with Canon 250D closeup lens

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