Still waiting

The Northern Illinois Brood XIII of the periodical cicadas has not yet made its appearance in Elgin. June bugs are also emerging right now, but are being upstaged by cicadas. I was out last night doing some practice shots with a digital point and shoot and still find myself impressed with what those cameras can do.

This poor June bug found itself acting as a stand-in, captured with a Kodak EasyShare C633 Zoom. In case you're interested in the settings used: Close up setting with a slight telephoto zoom, ISO 80, exposure -1.0, center-weighted focus, flash on. I taped several layers of tissue paper over the flash to soften the light. The C633 only focuses to about 5 inches (13cm) on closup, but the telephoto and 6.1 mp allows for a bit of enlargement. Also, auto-focus does not work well in the dark, so I used a small flashlight to illuminate the bug prior to tripping the shutter.

This photo was rotated to take advantage of the landscape the birch tree offered. Sort of looks like the June bug is crawling over the surface of the moon (June moon bug?).

All in preparation for the main event (hope it's not a dud here).

Here is another set of cicada photos captured by James Workman in LaGrange, IL and posted on Flickr.

Here is a very good blog that presents updates on cicada sightings across the Chicago metro area.

Update: Here's an interactive map that charts Cicada sightings in the Chicago area, courtesy of the Lake County Forest Preserve District.

Here's what one sounds like. For full accuracy, turn your volume up until it's about as loud as a kitchen blender.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2007 James Jordan.
Cicada
Cicadas