Capturing Blue Ghost Fireflies…
After photographing bioluminescent dinoflagellates on the Space Coast, I felt confident enough to try capturing another form of bioluminescence: the elusive and rare Blue Ghost Fireflies that inhabit the Southern Appalachian Mountains. This is a chronicle of that experience.
A 10 second exposure of a Blue Ghost Firefly (on camera they show up as a neon green with a long light trail)
But first, a bit of trivia about the Blue Ghost Firefly. This unique and rare type of firefly glows a bluish-whitish-green color. Unlike regular fireflies, which blink, the Blue Ghost Firefly can stay lit while hovering over the forest floor, 18 inches to 3 feet off the ground, for up to a minute. According to folklore, these creatures are the ghosts of Confederate soldiers who passed away in the Appalachian Mountains. The males fly above the forest floor, while the wingless females remain in their larval state, resting on the leaf litter. These fireflies are found only in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, in places such as Pisgah National Forest, Cataloochee in the Smoky Mountains, and a few other scattered locations. They live deep in the wild places of the forest, where it is damp and moist with good leaf litter. Additionally, they only come out for 3-4 weeks in late May to early June. So, we set out for Pisgah National Forest, hoping not only to see this rare phenomenon but also to capture it.
After being told that Dupont State Forest, once a hotspot for Blue Ghost Fireflies, was no longer a great place to see them, we set out for Pink Beds in the Pisgah National Forest. An important detail to remember is that you must stay on the trails and off the forest floor to avoid trampling the females. I wondered if there were regular fireflies in the area too, hoping to capture pictures of both kinds. However, a ranger informed me that she hadn't seen any regular fireflies there (a key detail that would come up later).
On the first night, we set out at dusk with a few other people, heading deep into the forest trail with the hopes of spotting the Blue Ghost Fireflies. A mile in, we turned off our lights and saw some flashes, but they didn’t look much different from regular fireflies. Maybe one or two seemed to glow longer than the rest. I was very underwhelmed. We ended up traipsing through a 3.2-mile trail in the pitch dark, with only flashlights and spotty service, hoping not to get lost. I took a few shots, thinking maybe I had captured some Blue Ghosts, but who really knew for sure? All I knew was that even with my ISO at 51,000, a f/1.4 lens, and a shutter speed of 1/15th of a second, the forest was still pretty much pitch black in the video, just as it was in real life.
Video captured of regular firefly (their yellowish hue, larger size and characteristic blinking are distinguishing chracteristics from the Blue Ghost Fireflies)
Female Blue Ghost (the size of a rice kernel) glowing on the forest floor amongst leaf litter
On the second night, we decided to go to a different spot with some friends who had local intel and had seen the Blue Ghosts before. We arrived at Cove Creek Upper Camp in the Pisgah National Forest and saw some blinking lights. I thought, once again, maybe they were Blue Ghosts and perhaps they had just decided to blink that night. Our friends said those were regular fireflies, not Blue Ghosts. It had never occured to me that there might be regular ones to distinguish, so we continued up the trail, looking just above the ground. Suddenly, we started spotting a different type of firefly—smaller, greenish-blue, and hovering over the ground with a steady ghostly light. We even saw females on the ground and in rock crevices that glowed an even more distinct shade of blue. The trick is to discern the Blue Ghosts from the regular fireflies! I tried to capture them on video but faced stark limitations due to the pitch darkness of the forest and the low light capabilities of my equipment. I did manage to capture what I believe to be a female Blue Ghost Firefly among the leaf litter, as well as some faint shots of the males steadily glowing.
A 13 second exposure of another Blue Ghost - note the long light trail indicating a steady glow
Feeling very challenged, I realized that still shots were the only way to truly do these fireflies justice. This puzzled me because, with shooting bioluminescent water, video is better for capturing the effect. However, with these fireflies, it was clear that photos were the only effective method. So, we set up tripods and started snapping away, but these little guys are very elusive—no sooner would we find one than it would waft away somewhere else and disappear. I ended up with only one or two decent shots of a Blue Ghost Firefly! I feel so thankful to have seen them. Here are my tips for anyone looking to photograph or videotape these fascinating bugs, based on my experience and what I would have done with more time.
1.) Start with photography - multiple exposures and long exposures: 15 seconds + while playing with higher apertures and lower ISO.
2.) Have patience - especially if there aren’t a ton of Blue Ghost fireflies around.
3.) Realize video is way harder to capture than photos - you need that shutter to be open longer to not only capture their extended light trail, but to let in the light needed to capture them.
4.) Get local intel as much as possible from rangers or people in the area - seems like there are little honey holes where they hang out - sometimes it’s as simple as being on the north slope of the mountain or so I’ve heard…