Check your trees at night for molting cicadas.
Here are some tips for finding and photographing newly emerged cicadas at night:
- Look for cicadas on trees where you’ve heard cicadas during the day, or where you’ve seen cicada nymph exoskeletons.
- Cicada nymphs emerge from the ground shortly after dusk. You can start your hunt then.
- Carry a flashlight and your camera. As you approach a tree, shine the flashlight on the ground close to the tree. You don’t want to step on any of them!
- Scan the tree trunk and all the limbs with your flashlight. Once you spot one, get ready with your camera.
- If you don’t spot any cicadas after dusk, try a half hour later, and then a half an hour after that, up until 11 pm.
- Non-techie digital camera tips:
- Set the camera on auto or portrait (usually a picture of a profile).
- Set the focus on Macro (usually a picture of a tulip) or manual.
- Experiment with these settings.
- Don’t touch the cicadas: for the most natural photos, you don’t want them to be disturbed.
Good luck. I hope they’ll work for you!
2 replies on “How to find and photograph cicadas at night”
I would like to know, especially during this year’s cicada population boom, why my sister’s yard is covered in them & we have none 2 miles away? We have lots of oak & elm trees at our house/neighborhood but have yet to see/hear any cicadas & her yard is simply booming with them.
Do the tibicans emerge all summer long? if thats the case i have a great film camera that makes short work of macro photagtaphy and a flat bed scanner I plan on getting a digital body for my stuff.
[Moderator: yes they do, but the clock is ticking. You have about 3 weeks.]