Mosquito problem (Page 2): To keep them out of your photo, you might try this. Since mosquitos are zeroing in on your carbon dioxide that you exhale to find you, set your camera on a...

Paradox Loc: Payson, Arizona

To keep them out of your photo, you might try this. Since mosquitos are zeroing in on your carbon dioxide that you exhale to find you, set your camera on a tripod and remove yourself for a distance. Then using a remote shutter release, take the photo. Using an insect repellent might keep them off of you but they are still in the area and in your camera view. That is why you need to get a distance away from the camera. Like a pied piper, draw them away so they are not in the camera shot.

tomad Loc: North Carolina

lenben wrote:

On a recent trip to Alaska, I really could not get mosquitoes out of the way to take photos. Yet I have seen plenty of photos from the same locations (on the Tundra) which do not have these pests in the way. How do they do that? Any thoughts?

Just take photos OF them. A friend who lives there told me they are as big as hummingbirds...

ckayakne Loc: Wolfeboro/Portsmouth, NH

battery operated fan

ckayakne Loc: Wolfeboro/Portsmouth, NH

battery operated fan

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Apaflo wrote:

Or late spring and very early summer, before the bugs are out.

The key is the temperature, though wind can be helpful too. If it is 45F there won't be mosquitos, but at above 60F there will be. It depends a little bit on exactly where you are, but those temps are a good guide for hordes of mosquitos on tundra.

Seasonal problem sounds right. I ran a half-marathon in Anchorage in Mid-June 2017. The bugs in Earthquake Park were so thick the aid stations had staff offering to spray repellent downwind of the water stop.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

lenben wrote:

On a recent trip to Alaska, I really could not get mosquitoes out of the way to take photos. Yet I have seen plenty of photos from the same locations (on the Tundra) which do not have these pests in the way. How do they do that? Any thoughts?

I have used several of the new electronic repulsors and they seem to work well.

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

Early in the year, mosquitos are everywhere and incessant. By August they diminish sharply in most areas, though certainly not gone. By September, they’re few and far between except in marshy areas.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Temperature has a lot to do with the mosquitos - they lose enough lift when the temp drops below about 52-54 degrees that it usually grounds them. I applaud all the "No Insecticide" folks, why kill off everything, bee's, butterflies, and all the bugs (flying or not) that the other critters depend on for food (and it gets right into our food chain, and is poisoning us too). They stopped all the serious and repetitive spraying here in our area of Florida a few years back (trucks and helicopters - budget $$ and environmental concerns) and I think the mosquito population is very small, nearly none any evening I set out (and I have 2 ponds in my yard and a 3 acre pond behind my property. hmmm, maybe they were spraying mosquito larvae too, to keep up the need for Mos. Control (just kidding). Compared to when I came to Florida in the 60's as a teen, there are really very few bugs now. I like the sound of the "mosquito barrier" will have to try that if they start getting thicker, but for now, all is well.

carl hervol Loc: jacksonville florida

What you need is themacell mosquito repellent it work with butane cartridge I keep with me all of the time it within 15 of youyou can get at wallmart there about 25.00 there well worth it .

Rozebud

lenben wrote:

On a recent trip to Alaska, I really could not get mosquitoes out of the way to take photos. Yet I have seen plenty of photos from the same locations (on the Tundra) which do not have these pests in the way. How do they do that? Any thoughts?

Time of year. I was in Kotzebue the 1st week of June and was able to shoot w/o mosquito interference. However, you could tell that the bugs were starting to get bad.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

jerryc41 wrote:

I experienced mosquitoes in Maine, and I would want them to an bigger or thicker. Good luck!

"...I would want them..." Obviously, that should have been "wouldn't."

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Rozebud wrote:

Time of year. I was in Kotzebue the 1st week of June and was able to shoot w/o mosquito interference. However, you could tell that the bugs were starting to get bad.

This is exactly correct! It's the temperature that makes the difference.

I live much farther north than Kotzebue, and it warms up later here. But early June in either place will still mean temps cooler than 60F. No mosquitos yet.

Later in the summer the temperaturea will be higher than 60F and mosquitos will be swarming. If a person stands still, or walks in the same direction as a light wind, the carbon dioxide from breathing will attract thousands of mosquitos very quickly.

But then later in the year the temperature drops and that no longer happens.

If you are traveling to an unfamiliar location, check weather records to see what range can be expected to determine what the mosquito conditions will be like. Allow for year to year variations though, because it may well be warmer than normal.

Carlosu

Check out the Thermacell repellents

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

rgrenaderphoto wrote:

The key is to go to Alaska in late September, early October, right before the end of the season. When the fire weed blooms, the 'skeeters are gone.

That time of year is great up here. As some put, there are no skeeters, no bears and no tourists...

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

Carlosu wrote:

Check out the Thermacell repellents

Thanks for the link

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I learned some new stuff today - very interesting article I found: http://www.flyaway.rs/en/flyaway_studies.html
What surprised me was the comments on banana's (a no-no) and using vanilla and olive oil as a repellent...