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Keegan’s Best Photos of 2013

2013 was an awesome year for my photography. I had some chances to explore astrophotography, I made some significant modifications to my gear, and I learned a lot about perfecting the light sources for my macro work. Here is a summary of my 20 or so best shots from the year.

All photos taken with my Canon 5dII. Macro shots with my Canon mpe-65 with the mt-24EX flash, and wide angle shots were taken with my Canon 24-70mmL.

Click any photo to go to the blog post to see technical details and more photos from the set. As always, prints are available for sale upon request.

Choosing my best and favorite photo from 2013 was tough. Since macro and spiders are my real passion, I had to go with these from my awesome day at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens

The weather of 2013 was largely crappy, so I didn’t get out with my telescopes but a few times. I did manage to snap this photo of M42, the Orion Nebula.

Orion Nebula

I got a few great photos of the Norfolk Skyline this year as well. Here is my favorite, taken in July.

I spent a weekend at Cumberland Island, one of my favorite places. The trees there are amazing, especially in the early morning sun.

I also started a few studio based macro projects. I’ve only published one, but I have two ideas to work on this winter.

I did a few timelapses as well. Here’s one of a spider building a web at Cumberland Island.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAdtHQ0yRbw[/youtube]

And here’s one of Jupiter, Orion, and Sirius rising from Medoc State Park in NC.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8CVqU5-UUo[/youtube]

And the rest here are a mixture of my favorites. Enjoy!

Tags: best of, best of 2013, macro, Norfolk, spiders, timelapse

Mantid Headshots!

For the fifth post in my series of an awesome day at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, I present to you this Mantid on her first day of school. I chased her around a bit, but eventually got an absolutely amazing photo. These are both the same shot, one is just a crop. I couldn’t decide which I liked more, so I uploaded both. I love the green gradient behind the head, it looks like a backdrop in a school photo.

All photos were taken with Canon 5dII, Canon Mpe-65, and Canon mt-24 ex flash, heavily diffused. Click the image for full size.

Tags: 5d mark II, great botanical day, macro, mantid, mp-e 65, mt-24 ex, norfolk botanical gardens, praying mantis

Damselfly with prey

For the fourth post in my series of an awesome day at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, I want to share this pretty damsel fly. It comes with a rather interesting story. Early in the morning (this was the first thing I photographed) I was sitting in the dirt by a bush looking for salticids when I noticed this brilliant green damselfly perched on a leaf. I sat and watched for a bit, when I happened to notice a small gnat fly near the damselfly. Damselflies are carnivorous, they hunt their food. I suppose this one was hungry, and much to my amazement, I saw it take flight, make a circle, catch the gnat, and land back down. All of that happened in less than a second. It was an amazing experience, something I’ve never witnessed in 5 years of photographing insects.

All photos were taken with Canon 5dII, Canon Mpe-65, and Canon mt-24 ex flash, heavily diffused.

Tags: 5d mark II, damselfly, great botanical day, macro, mp-e 65, mt-24 ex, norfolk botanical gardens

Pollinated Male Crab Spider

For the third post in my series of an awesome day at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, I want to share this skinny male crab spider. All photos were taken with Canon 5dII, Canon Mpe-65, and Canon mt-24 ex flash, heavily diffused.

Tags: 5d mark II, crab spider, great botanical day, macro, mp-e 65, mt-24 ex, norfolk botanical gardens, thomisidae

Spiders, yellow

For the second post in my series of an awesome day at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, I want to share this adorable little Salticid, and my first Thomisidae of the year. All photos were taken with Canon 5dII, Canon Mpe-65, and Canon mt-24 ex flash, heavily diffused.