Continuing the theme of bugs on buds and blooms, here we have an Northern Sawfly on Northern Blazing Star, again from my photoprowl to the Kennebunk Plains last Saturday. Blazing Star is a thistle like flower, and begins life as a tightly furled bud that has to remind you of artichokes 🙂 if only artichokes were purple. I like the contrast of the bug with its hard bright striped shell, and the emerging softness of the flower, but what really makes the image work, I think, is the bokeh…that lovely pattern of greeny yellow out of focus behind the flower. That is the advantage of an extreme telephoto macro…this shot is at 1680mm equivalent field of view…though the actual focal length is a more reasonable 150mm.

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.  As above. f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 125. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.