Magical Long-Exposure FIREFLY Photos

This enchanting forest in the Chūgoku region of Japan, is the home to gold fireflies that charm the area regularly. Magical

This article is more about how these pics went viral, but I thought the pics alone were really cool and unique. I grew up down south and fireflies are a beautiful subject that evoke many good memories. They create an atmosphere that is enchanting and seem to slow time.
These pics are for a coming exhibition called "Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence.”








All Photos By:Tsuneaki Hiramatsu

The long-exposure photos near the river were taken near Okayama City in the Hokubo area, and capture a certain type of firefly called the Genji Botaru. The photos in the woods were taken near Niimi City and the famous Tennoohachiman shrine and capture the Hime Botaru.

To make the photo where you see hundreds, if not thousands, of small firefly lights, Hiratmatsu used time-lapse photography to take several continuous exposures and then combined those exposures in post-production. Each photo where the firefly lights become trails is just one long exposure.

www.wired.com...
Not a lot to the article, but good for a view for sure.

Peace,
spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


but I thought the pics alone were really cool and unique.


Awesome indeed...just like your avatar pic.





They sure look bright...one might actually think they were indigenous to the Fukushima plant site.





Cool pics...thanks.

this truly is magickally beautifull! here in ontario we have the 'green' version fireflies. they are charming as well!
thanx for the post!
most impressive!
peace

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Really cool pics,and makes me wonder-If our eyes had a longer exposure,we would think these were light worms.

Everything is relative.
I love it when I see another example of that.

reply to post by facelift

Thanks facelift, I too got a kick out of the avatar pic.
Fukashima might just wind up making all the bugs glow
Let's hope not...

Peace,
spec

reply to post by reficul


Glad you dug it reficul. Maybe you shpuld set up a camera for some time lapse shots, I'd love to see some green fireflies, aka lightening bugs down south.

Thanks for the reply,
spec

reply to post by Silcone Synapse

Thanks SS. Over exposed eyes huh? Yea I think I experienced that a few times in my youth, dialated shutters and long tracers, weeeee!
These bugs really do create an atmosphere of delight, all we need is some house beats and we got ourselves a forest rave. haha

peace,
spec

Found a cool HD vid of some lightening bugs:

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


ya we call 'em that too! but seeing its feb in ontario,not much of a chance to see them now!!!
as a kid,we used to catch 'em in jars and bring them in the house and shut the lites out and watch them glow!
their beauty still amazes me! never new about the golden ones!
thanx again for the post!

WOW! I can't wait to try this next spring! I love doing long exposures with different light sources, but I NEVER thought of fireflys! So cool!

Spec, you come up with some cool stuff. Last time Evelyn, now this.

Nature indeed is wondrous.

reply to post by Klassified

Spec, you come up with some cool stuff.

i second this.

SnF

love it!!

I really like the ones with the single exposure.

As a kid we would catch them then grab one at a time out of the jar and wait for their butts to light up. As soon as they would light up we would smear it on our face like war paint. Yes I know doing this kills the wonderous lightning bug but hey, I was a kid.

We would run around in the dark playing tag only to be seen by our glowing face paint. The glowing from each bug only lasted for about 8 minutes or so. It was alot of fun. I really miss seeing them every summer.


ETA: your avatar OP made me actually Laugh Out Loud

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


a star to you! thank you so much for this, what a marvel!

Someone go and get me a can of Raid.
On a positive note they are a sight to see. I once heard that God was an artist and the world his canopy. When you take the time to stop and look at nature there certianly is some truth to that statement.

Gorgeous pictures, nature's wonderful isn't it!
It's a shame our species seems to be trying do hard to destroy it.

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


speculativeoptimist,
Thank you for sharing these amazing photos with us! That is so very cool how you caught all of those fireflies lit up like that with your exposure...I am in awe at the beauty of the forrest at night time! There are some things that the human eye cant catch the beauty of and this is one of them. Thank you for sharing this beautiful outstanding very interesting set of pictures!!

Truly amazing! I lived in Leavenworth, KS for a year and a half (while stationed at Fort Leavenworth when I was in the Army in the mid 80's) and they had "lightning bugs" there. I remember thinking just how cool they were. Other than the few times I saw them there, I have never seen them in person as we have no such thing in Washington state.Very cool break from all the doom and gloom lately!

Fantastic images. Truly magical! Kind of takes my breath away and definitely sparks my imagination.

Thank you for posting.

beautiful pictures, nature is amazing, thank you for sharing