Hayden and Daddy's photography session at Roma St Parklands

Hayden and I took a trip to Roma St Parklands on the train on Sunday.  He loves trains, was a good excuse to get out of the house, and have a bit of a scout around RSP to see if there were many insects around for some macro photography opportunities.

This was an unusual fly I found.  It's a treehopper mimic fly, a very pregnant one by the looks of it.



And I quite liked the purple velvet texture of the stalk this robberfly was perched on.  Was hoping to get a better shot, but there was a brown flash in the field of view, and when I looked up from behind my camera there was a female blue wren licking her lips right next to where he was.  Can only assume the predator (robberflies are insectivores) became lunch.



To keep Hayden entertained, I gave him our compact digital camera and taught him how to click the shutter.



I figured he could take thousands of photos, it costs nothing.  He absolutely loved it.  And these are some of the shots he took.  Some not too bad.  I honestly had nothing to do with these, he did everything himself.  All I did was download them and do some very basic white balance/contrast adjustments.  No cropping or anything.  Not bad for a 2.5 year old?

Said the spiders to the fly...

Went to New Farm Park playground this morning, managed to sneak away from Kristy and Hayden for 20mins to take some macros.

Fly:


Jumping spider:

Hunting bugs

I recently joined the Australian Invertebrate Forum to learn and share more about Australian insects and spiders. To try to learn how to find more critters, I got the following advice from one of the more experienced members there, "critter guy":

Damsel in distress

Well, not really. This cute little damselfly was patient enough with me to allow a portrait. Took this at Mt Coot-Tha Botanical Gardens yesterday.

Scorpionfly

First time I've ever seen a scorpionfly. It was very patient with me taking lots of shots. Not particularly happy with the lighting, the flash is a little harsh.

Rainy day macros

Was supposed to go to Roma St Parklands today for another meet with some local macro enthusiasts. The weather had other ideas.

Cleaning out the fridge and found some mouldy cake. Ever wondered what mould looks like at 1:1, 3:1, and 5:1 lifesize? I did.

Sounds disgusting, doesn't it. Not sure what you think, but I think it looks beautiful at this scale. Like some alien forest.

5:1 lifesize


Crop from another shot:


More after the jump...

RSP macro meet

Had arranged for a bit of a local macro-enthusiasts meet at Roma Street Parklands this morning. The weather had other ideas, unfortunately. Wasn't looking good, so the others decided to stay at home. Understandable.

Me? I'm an idiot and went in there regardless. Was drizzling from around 7am to 8am, so I just wandered around looking for options if the rain did break. When it did, this shot of a hoverfly was the only one I considered worth mentioning :

My macro rig

Finally got around to taking some shots of my current gear in a couple of different configurations I've used. Thought I'd make a post about it all.

My answer to "Which macro lens?"

I come across this question a lot on the photography forums I frequent. The answer is usually the same, so I've decided to post it here to save myself a lot of redundant typing from now on. If you have anything to add, disagree with me, or have questions/answers that you don't think I've covered, please let me know so I can improve this post.

More babies in the house

Baby bugs that is.

I noticed some kind of true bug, pretty sure it was a seed bug, on the wall near our laundry. Kept an eye on it and sure enough it layed some eggs on the door frame. Been watching them hoping they'd hatch, and they must have done so some time in the last few hours before I took these shots. Grabbed a few of the little cuties near where they hatched then moved them, very delicately, outside onto some plants. Made sure I took the opportunity to get some shots on the nicer green background.

Think this is my pick of the litter.


Just to give you an idea of how small they are, this is them next to my pinky finger.

Macro-photography quick tips

Just thought I'd share some of the things I've learned about macro photography (especially insects) with dSLR cameras since taking it up in November 2007. This post will just be some quick tips and common settings and techniques I use. I intend to do some more in-depth and specialised posts later and will link them from here.

If you have anything to add, disagree with me, or have questions/answers that you don't think I've covered, please let me know so I can improve this post.