FireFlies

[napolar]

There is a field near my home that has thousands of fireflies after dark. I am thinking that it would be a cool picture, but I am not sure how to set the camera. I will be using RAW, but after that I am open for any suggestions. BTW I will be on a tripod. Anyone tried this?

[J Rabin]

Jeesh.
I don't get them til between June 5 and June 10 every year. Jealous. The few different species have different flight/bioluminescence patterns for the males and females to find each other and mate, except for the species who's female mimics another species, attracts the male, then eats his head off when he arrives to mate.
Anyway, you're probably better catching them, building a set up with twigs, leaves, etc., and taking the photos. I can't image how you can do something like an 8 second f/8-f/11 exposure without getting all kinds of noise, jumpy lights, vibration blur.
I like the species that makes its bioluminesence light while flying in a downward "J", but around me, their flight pattern is 12-16 feet off the ground. Don't know how to photograph that.
Anyway, catch them and terrarium (spelling?) them for the photos. Their luminescence patterns are not always predictable though.
Let me know what you come up with that works! J.

Edit idea: Capture firefly. Place on a leaf that is being held in a clamp. Illuminate the leaf from the opposite side with an LED flashlight to illuminate the leaf, and firefly, and to meter and focus, but not enough light to lose the greenish/yellow luminescence color. Does this make sense? Uh-oh. I'll have to go try this in two weeks....

[Feihung08]

There is a field near my home that has thousands of fireflies after dark. I am thinking that it would be a cool picture, but I am not sure how to set the camera. I will be using RAW, but after that I am open for any suggestions. BTW I will be on a tripod. Anyone tried this?
You know, you might want to check the "fireWORKS" threads that are floating around this part of the forum. I'm sure those techniques will work just as good as any. I mean, basically just throw your camera on a tripod and put it in AV mode with NO flash and see what happens. I would shoot at dusk so that there is some light in the sky or else it will just look like some little dots. That would be the utter basics. Using the Manual and/or Bulb mode would be the more experienced way I'm sure.