Bug-a-day #4 – Gnat

According to Wikipedia:

“[Insects] are among the most diverse groups of animals on the planet, including more than a million described species, and represent more than half of all known living organisms. The number of extant (that means “currently living” – I had to look that up, too) species is estimated at between six and ten million, and they potentially represent over 90% of the differing metazoan life forms on Earth.”

Soooo … a simple challenge like “Bug-a-day” should be an easy task, right?  …

WRONG!!

Plenty of bugs around in the woodland, even during this early part of the year. But could I find one that would stay still long enough for me to photograph it this afternoon? Could I heck!

So you’ll have to make do with a Gnat.

Not my favourite bug, no real point to them in my opinion. They’re about 2-3mm long (that’s 1/10th of an inch to those working with old systems), and they like to tickle your arms and fly into your nostrils. They seem to enjoy hanging out in swarms – particularly near water (where I was) when the sun is setting (which it was).

Having said that, considering the luck I was having pinning down bumblebees, butterflies, and grasshoppers, at least this Gnat sat still on a closing Celandine long enough for me to take a few shots.

So, for what it’s worth (at least until tomorrow), Gnats are my new best friends …

In fact, I love this one so much, I’m posting two pictures of him/her/it:

And yes, I have an admission to make – in case you hadn’t guessed. The photos weren’t as sharp as I would have liked, so I used a Photoshop Tool! (scream…). Something called a “smart sharpen” apparently combines “gaussian blur” with the sharpening tool. I pumped it up to about 200% and came up with the above.  I have no idea what any of what I just said means – but I’m quite pleased with the result.

Looks almost painterly 🙂

© Alice through the Macro Lens [2012]