One man's bug obsession

[Cigar Guy]

Amazing close-up macro photographs of insects and spiders by John Hallmén
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Amateur bug photographer John Hallmén has been fascinated by insects since he was a boy. In the last three years he's made a name for himself by photographing the tiny creatures he finds in the Nackareservatet nature reserve near his home in Stockholm, Sweden. Using a mixture of studio and alfresco shots John magnifies the insects to show the beautiful colour and detail of his subjects

A large ant (Camponotus herculaneus)

A jumping spider. You can see John's reflection in its eyes.

A puss moth caterpillar (Cerura vinula)


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[Cigar Guy]

A black ant (Lasius niger)

For studio shots John uses dead bugs that he collects from nature or harvests when they happen to come near him. "I've found that a completely random approach often pays off," said John who works as a freelance graphic designer. "For example the Nomada bee landed in my coffee cup when I was having a family picnic"

A studio image of a Nomada bee (or Cuckoo bee)

Sometimes it takes hours to achieve the desired lighting for his pictures. "With the sleeping Megachilid bee I anxiously watched it for an hour," he said. "I was hoping it would stay asleep until the sun hit the patch of dry grass in the background, turning it from a drab, dark grey into a nice gradient. When it did I had only a couple of minutes before the sun hit the bee and woke it up"

A sleeping Megachild bee (Megachilidae, Anthidium punctatum) which has locked its mandibles tighly around a stalk the night before


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[Cigar Guy]

A hover fly (Rhingia campestris, Syrphidae)

A male blue damselfly straddles the gap between two dry grass reeds

For field shots John rises before sunrise to hunt for slumbering critters concealed in the foliage. "Sometimes you'll find them covered in dew that forms in small, spherical droplets," he said. "This can turn a tiny, inconspicuous insect into a shimmering jewel"

A blue damsel fly with two spherical raindrops or dew drops on top of its head


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[Cigar Guy]

A dew-covered fly (Anthomyiidae) perches on dry grass covered in frost

A jewel wasp on a sedum plant.

A studio portrait of a small yellow ant (Lasius flavus)


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[Cigar Guy]

Studio image of an Ectemnius wasp.

A studio image of a horse fly (Chrysops sp)

Studio image of the extended mouth parts of a 5mm long fly.


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[Cigar Guy]

A Frit fly (Platycephala planifrons, Chloropidae)

You can see more of John's amazing macro images of insects at his Flickr site


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[Cigar Guy]

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