WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Curves
A while ago I purchased, very cheaply, several broken mechanical watches on eBay, specifically for the purpose of taking some close ups of their innards – these are a few of them. I think they have a certain beauty, and also meet this week’s brief of Curves.
Ladybirds
I have written before about finding Ladybirds ( Coccinellidae ) inside my home, having been unwittingly carried inside on firewood, where they have gathered to begin their winter hibernation. The warmth inside wakes them up, and I find them clustered on the widows, probably drawn to the light. Yesterday when a carpenter removed some rotting timbers from near the roof, this is what I found when I went to clear the rubbish away. There were hundreds of the little beetles hiding away inside a groove in the timber that gave them a snug dry and dark place to sleep until Spring.
Being very fond of these helpful insects, today I collected a few that were wandering away from the cluster and moved them to my pot of moss for a photo session. They are not easy subjects to photograph – tiny, round and shiny, plus they do not stay still! The piece of timber will be moved to a sheltered spot, and the remaining Ladybirds left undisturbed. I hope they survive till warmer weather.
First Day of Winter
There has been over 60mm of rain in the last few days, most of the leaves have gone from the deciduous trees and the garden is beginning to look a bit bare. Few insects are around, and there is not much to photograph. The roses still have a few blooms though, and these photos were taken over the last week or so. Still practicing……this time with the 100mm macro to focus on water drops.
Macros….practice, practice, practice….
Another practice session with the new camera. This time specifically macro, using the 100mm macro lens to try and achieve tack sharp focus. The little brown toadstools were only about 3 cms tall, while the Fly Agaric were much larger. My favourite is the Red Fly Agaric with the water droplet. Click on any image for a larger view.
This is my 250th post on this blog – a minor milestone. I thank every one of the 80+ followers for being interested in the photographs I take – you keep me motivated!
Sewing Room Skink?
This morning I found a little skink in my sewing room…….on checking with the Museum of Victoria Field Guide site, this little lizard is a common Garden Skink of the Lampropholis species. It must have lost its way!
Gently caught and transported outside to my moss pot, it became the subject of practice with the 5D. I’m finding the numerous modes of auto focus a bit of a challenge, but managed to get some good shots. Some of these have been cropped a little, but all were taken with the 100mm macro lens. He was quite small, about 8-9 cms long. If you look carefully you can see my reflection in its eye!
Just a word about these galleries – you can click on any image and it enlarges, the whole then becomes a slide show. The gallery itself will show images in a different order each time it is opened.
Ladybirds
I’ve been rescuing Ladybirds again. I think they come into the house on firewood somehow, perhaps they are hiding in crevices or under the bark, but I am never aware of them at the time. Then they must emerge and fly towards the light, as I find masses of them on the window screens, or around the widow edges. There is a wonderful website about them if you are interested – HERE. Today I must have caught and removed at least 25 of the little beetles and released them onto my large pot of moss that is often use as a background for photography. Of course I then had to take some pictures before they flew away. Here are a few……..
These are all taken with my usual Canon 550D and the wonderful 100mm macro lens and tripod.
Texture Tuesday – Also late!
Taken this morning……it’s Autumn here now and weather is getting colder. Still some roses about, but this gorgeous one was the only one on that bush. Sorry – can’t recall it’s name.
Processed with KK’s textures Isobel (86%) and Blue Bayou (50%), both at Soft Light with textures removed from the rose.
Texture Tuesday – Flower Power
I spent a short time today lying on my grass, observing and photographing dandelions and bees. I have used one shot for this week’s Texture Tuesday image. This has two layers of KK’s textures – “Paper stained music” and “Fall in”, at multiply and soft light modes respectively. I had difficulty deciding on the colour for the quotation as dark colours appeared too harsh and light ones too bright – I eventually settled on this after a lot of trial and error!
These are some of the other photos I took:-
Praying mantis
Found this fellow on my window this morning ……..it was about 35 mm long.
As usual, you can click on any photo for a larger image, and you will get a slideshow.
Litoria ewingii – Brown Tree Frogs
When down by the lake in search of emerging dragonflies early one morning, I discovered the water reeds were full of these gorgeous little frogs – Litoria ewingii, who come in a variety of colours, and are rarely over 3 cms long. I love them! By the time the sun is coming over the trees and it begins to warm up, they are gone, hiding in the grasses and reeds on ground level.
Click on any image for a larger view.
Rescue
Recently I read a lovely story of the rescue of a Blue Banded Bee, with great photographs by Mark Berkley, an Australian photographer who loves macro as much as I do, so I thought to share my own experience in rescuing tiny creatures. About two weeks ago I lit my slow combustion heater as it was really cold that night, and added several red gum logs to the wood basket for the purpose. I did not burn it all, so one log has been sitting on the hearth ever since…..it must have been full of ladybirds as I have been finding them huddled in corners on my windows ever since. I do not know the life cycle of these insects beyond knowing that they go through several stages before they become adult, or whether these insects had hatched in a crevice of the wood (doubtful), or the cold had made them decided it was time to shelter for the winter. Some appeared alive and moving, others were quite stationary and looked dead, but they had obviously been able to fly towards the light and settle once they had emerged from the wood. I have been collecting them and taking them outside, releasing them onto a pot of moss where a light sprinkle of water revived most of them so they could fly away. I must have saved at least 30 of them, and of course, there were photographs too!
A Mixed Bag
Some recent shots – probably the last for a little while as I’m off on holiday to Singapore. Hopefully I shall have a selection of different-type shots when I return. These as usual are from around the garden, and all macros…enjoy! Click on any photo in the gallery for a larger image.
Happy New Year
Henri Cartier-Bresson said ” Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” On that basis, I should get some good ones soon!
Here’s to another year of striving for that elusive perfect shot!
Gotta love a Lily!
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Surprise
Like many I was not surprised to wake and find we had survived the supposed apocalypse that was predicted because the ancient Mayan calendar had simply run out of time……I can confirm that the day passed peacefully, as usual in this little corner of the world. What did surprise me was the very weird eyes on this strange fly I captured through my macro lens recently when seeking insects to photograph. I have no idea what it is, it was tiny and was feeding on nectar in the centre of a rose.
Little Froggies…….Littoria ewingii
There are several species of small frog that live around the garden and by my lake. At night the calls are deafening, and I often find them in the grass or garden when working outside. These however, live in the Hydrangeas which are just outside my back door. They pretty much vanish through the winter, but at this time of year there are many young ones to be found amongst the leaves. They are Littoria ewingii or Southern Brown Tree Frogs and the adults only reach about 45mm in size. These ones are tiny, about the size of a finger nail, and to give you an idea, one in the photos below, is sitting on the underside of my little finger. As usual, click on an individual photo to enlarge it.
Ladybird, Ladybird……..
There seem to be a great number of these lovely little insects around the garden at the moment, which is a good thing as there is a plague of tiny greenfly on everything. They can be found feeding on these tiny pests which damage roses and many other plants too. May they grow fat and multiply! It is also interesting to see the variety in size, number of spots and colour……I guess it might mean something if you were a ladybird? Click on any image for a larger view.
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Delicate
It was hard to choose a subject this week, there are so many delicate things that I love to photograph – flowers, insects, fungi, feathers and so on. I have chosen rose petals – transient, soft, fragrant, so easily bruised or marked by insects and definitely delicate.
These are all taken using my Canon 550D, 100mm macro lens and tripod.
Macro magic…..
Spotted this rather beautiful moth near the lake this morning…….it looks like a malevolent fairy!
And a hard working, heavily laden bee…..
Tiny Beauty
These delicate little butterflies were only about half an inch tall, I caught them sitting on buds of Lavender late one afternoon. As usual, I used the 550D, macro lens and tripod.
Thank you to all who have visited and commented in the last few days – I have now reached the heady height of having 64 followers, and many lovely folk leaving kind comments. It’s just great to know my images are being enjoyed around the world! 14 different countries and 125 138 146 views today alone! I’m amazed.
Insects and Spider #2
All from the garden in the last few days, with the exception of the Ladybird nymph eating eggs and the very young Praying Mantis which were photographed in a Melbourne backyard. Click on any photo for a bigger view.
