Having a Rough Week? Take a Peek at These Awe-Inspiring Photos of Fireflies
These pictures of Japan's hard-to-beat firefly show will take you back to your childhood.
By Tehrene Firman
365March (Yu Hashimoto), http://365m.blog.jp/
Fact of life: Everyone looks forward to seeing fireflies for the first time each summer. In fact, summer doesn't feel like summer without them. The specks of flickering light are nothing short of something out of a storybook. But just wait until you see how it looks through the lenses of these Japanese photographers.
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Hiroyuki Shinohara
According to the blog Spoon & Tomago, photographers flock to secret locations across Japan every summer to witness lightning bugs do what they do best: glow.
The photographers don't have much time to capture the tiny beetles (yes, beetles) in all their glory; evidently they're only around in May and June between 7 and 9 p.m.
Photographers create these stunning images by combining 10 to 100 copies of the same frame into a composite, making it look like there are many more fireflies than there actually are, according to Spoon & Tomago.
Fireflies communicate through their lights, most often as part of their mating ritual: Males fly around displaying a blinking pattern that is unique to their species, and females sit on shrubs and grass and "respond" with their own special blinking pattern. How sweet is that?!
Sadly, firefly populations appear to be dwindling thanks to development and light pollution, researchers say. Between that and the fact that a firefly's lifespan is only about two months, we should make every second of their beautiful existence count.