2010 MACRO Favorites | liewwk

not really give a lot of effort on MACRO this year .... (>50% had use for travel and landscape)

but then think I still got few favorite shots myself

1. ... there is something on my body...Apple , egg ??? ..., 2. ... I want to fly ..., 3. ... a Killer !!! -1 ..., 4. it's always good to look close 33 - Ant-Mimic Crab spider, 5. ... ... it's always good to look close 46 - bee face ..., 6. Hello, this way please ..., 7. long-horned beetle in love - 1, 8. ... mama love ..., 9. ... hello , my name is lacewing ...

New Found - Owl Fly Family Ascalaphidae

a new discover near my In-law garden ... I thought I lost them after the incident
http://liewwk-macro.blogspot.com/2010/06/news-another-sad-news.html


http://liewwk-macro.blogspot.com/2010/12/they-are-back.html
but then I found most of the bugs back with new discover Owl Flyand this real rare to me .. 1st time saw it and not much ppl saw it wild in MALAYSIA too

Panasonic DMC LX5 MACRO picture

managed to try out 1cm MACRO today



it is fun to use PnS to do MACRO .... Liveview focus so easy ... AF ...... no need flash :D
non edit, non crop(shoot in Square), non curve, no change saturation .... noise reduce and resize only .....

this was shooting with my new gear family
http://liewwk-macro.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-gear-pns-camera-panasonic-lx5.html

New Found - a Mayfly in Hotel room !!!

was surprise last trip to Terengganu, where we found 3 types of mayflies, soldierfly, beetle, ... in the hotel room itself ..........................



this is like other mayfly, not really move a lot and quite small ~5-7mm long .....

more flies pictures

How I shoot MACRO - Patient to wait

love to do night macro but some of the insect may not active or sleeping in the night and it is good to shoot them while sleeping as in daylight you may not possible to shoot it .. e.g. bee, the bee use to flying around non-stop and not easy to have a capture of it in the day light but at night it will sleeping as


- it seldom move, or we can move it any location/direction to capture a beautiful sleeping style

but I getting bore after a while looking at this beautiful bee sleeping .. so I decide to mark the location and go back in the early morning (just before the bee wake up) , what I going todo
- wake up early (~6-630am)
- go back to the mark location
- use tripod to aiming or pre-focus to the bee
- wait ................................. it may wake up 1-1.5hr later :D so patient is important here
- the moment it wake up, it will stay still for ~5-30s depend on luck
- do not touch it to make it wake up this will make it flew off within 2-5s after we touch it

then with all the efforts above ...





or recently

News - Basic MACRO Workshop (Jan 2011)

As special requested for Jan 2011, I have additional workshop happen on 16- 17 Jan near Genting, Pahang area.





it going to be 2days 1 night sharing, which include

1. travel from/return PJ/KL to Genting area
2. max 5 participants but 3 are fill so 2 left
3. accommodation include
4. 1 breakfast, 2 lunch, 1 dinner included
5. theory sharing for basic requirements for Nature - MACRO photography
    - gears basic
    - setting basic
    - lighting advices and DIY diffuser base on participant current setup 
6. Basic Post Processing with Photoshop
    - WB correction
    - color cast remove
    - sensor dusts handling
    - basic curve and saturation
    - cloning
    - noise reduction
7. practical shooting with recommended method
    - basic MACRO shooting skill
    - flash shooting and natural light

Who should attend
- those have basic knowledge of photography and would like to know more on MACRO

What should bring
- Camera (DSLR will be recommended)
- MACRO len, if no MACRO len let me know more what do you have and we will arrange loan equipments
- flash (external prefer)
- tripod and monopod
- clothes for change
- notebook is recommended




for more details, contact me here

They are back !!!

Cuckoo Bee  - Thyreus sp

found back those bee use to stay near my In-law garden ... and most of them back !!! for what happen previously for this "small jungle" pls refer
http://liewwk-macro.blogspot.com/2010/06/news-another-sad-news.html


but too bad for Wee & Tan who missed this as we only found them 2nd day ....

I also found Owl-fly which is 1st time for me to see it in wild and it is so near to me ....

New Found - A Ant ? Katydid ? Hopper ? Cricket ?

I found a Ant head but hopper/hopper look alike leg .... still need to verify it's ID ...

anyone can help ?








about ~10-12mm in size

New Found - A cute weevil

An old picture or capture while I was at Kota Kinabalu Park (KK) , this beetle is ~5-8mm in size and look real cute ...

not really move alot may be due to cool weather ... but still floew off after ~3 shots, may be my diffuser is too close to it



more beetle/weevil collection
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liewwk/sets/72157605373755899/with/5245543500/

New Found - Mantis [Metallyticus splendidus]

new found and confirm the mantis
Metallyticus sp

http://tolweb.org/Metallyticus/12500

it had been long, I stop macro and found a new bug from my collection list ...

saw this funny bug (look like mantis, cricket ....)on a tree trunk (found 2 of them), they move real fast but not really fly and jump ... so still checking what's the ID of it




a mantis look for sure




the tail ...

New Found - a scary looking wasp

a big wasp ~2-2.5inch with the long and scary tail... it look like Ichneumon but need confirmation



even found it summer time, it move slow ...manage to capture few angle of this scary looking wasp ...






and for full view .. no chance to change len .. so use stitch method again




more wasp

New Found - beautiful Caterpillar

finally another wish list clear .. one of the most beautiful caterpillar (even not the picture, and this found at night and it stand at real ugly leaf :D )



and thanks Jason Loo (who found it) and Andy Paul for the ID ... thanks .. and I really enjoy to shoot with you all .. learn a lot and happy ..............

ID still on progress of verify .. but is between T. iapis or T. pelea

New Found - Harvestmen

 

Harvestmen look like a spider but there are different order (spider belong to order Araneae rather than the order Opiliones - Harvestmen). they use to have long leg move real fast while see something get close and not a easy macro model for me so far... but I finally found a friendly one (even got one having it's breakfast) ....

in chinese
############################################

盲蛛目─在生物分類的階級屬於《動物界→節肢動物門→蛛形綱→盲蛛目》，雖然也有八 隻腳但不是蜘蛛，蜘蛛身體構造分頭胸、腹兩部分，盲蛛則頭胸部和腹部間無明顯分隔，大部分的盲蛛步腳細長，不吐絲。盲蛛依食性可分為植食性與肉食性兩種， 植食性種類步腳細長，上顎及觸鬚無明顯特化，肉食性盲蛛步腳粗短，上顎及觸鬚特化成鋏狀之捕食構造。台灣已知有28種盲蛛。

############################################ from http://gaga.jes.mlc.edu.tw/new23/9411/166.htm






another one previously found @ Malaysia




more Harvestmen click here

Other - time to do more ...

got many DIY materials and hiking equipment, lighting ... many many more and after time adjusted back to GMT+8 (from EST which is 12 hours different)... time to move on DIY more MACRO diffuser (even I have some new try @US which really good for me , and I will slowly share it here)

but I might slow down on MACRO as I miss lovely sun and stars .. so wil spend few weeks to get back some beautiful sunrise, sunset... star view before I have a real DIY..

1. gaffer tape (black and white)
2. aluminum foil sticker
3. few types of vellum papers

....

New Found - A Orange + Black Sawfly

this is a Sawfly (Tanyphatnidea sp.) | 三節葉蜂.
Sawfly is not a easy model so far , and not much chance for me to get close to this insect. But I was surprise while hundred of them on a single tree while my trip @ Massachusetts, US.

there are not really move a lot especially before 7am (and day get bright ~5am) ... so this is a very easy model for macro ...

I missed out the mating picture, even I saw it on the 1st day but it was without my camera ...




and it is easy to shoot >3:1




some additional info from http://gaga.jes.mlc.edu.tw

(三節葉蜂科)體長11mm，觸角黑色3節，末節最長，端部棍棒狀，頭部黑色，前胸背板橙黃色，翅膀藍黑色，前胸腹面藍黑色，腹面橙黃色，各腳背面藍色具褐色分布，內側褐色。外觀近似中華尖鞘三節葉蜂 Tanyphatnidea sinensis 但本種各腳黑色，分布於低海拔山區，常見於葉面活動，雌蟲產卵管器扁鋸狀，能像鋸子般鋸開葉片組織後產卵於內，又稱鋸蜂，幼蟲食植性，外觀像蛾類但腹足不具鉤盤，腹足多達6-8對。

Other - .. let guess who am I (previous post) .. the head

ok .. I am thinking to share more after I back .. but think it is too long (only arrive MAL coming Mon) . so let share more of the "Tail" shot

here is another close up .. and with it's face , you should know what is the bug ....




I missed out, he trying lick his finger due to my magnification is over .. else will be another good action shot ..

and ok .. this is a Scorpionfly which I recently post my New Found ...(it is a female) and this is a male where the tail will tell ..

for the full body shot , I only share after I back to my workstation (as I need to stack ~5 to 1, where my
current nb is really slow on that)...

New Found - Robberfly ?

Robberfly definite not a new to me, but this one look different where the tail is curve .. and found 2 of them look a like ... it is always good model for macro photographer (it easy to shoot, compound of eye, details of the body .., always get prey ......)


#########################
nsects in the Diptera family Asilidae are commonly called robber flies. The family Asilidae contains about 7,100 described species worldwide.
All robber flies have stout, spiny legs, a dense moustache of bristles on the face (mystax), and 3 simple eyes (ocelli) in a characteristic depression between their two large compound eyes. The mystax helps protect the head and face when the fly encounters prey bent on defense. The antennae are short, 3-segmented, sometimes with a bristle-like structure called an arista.
 ######################### from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asilidae

#########################
robber fly - 食虫虻

亦作assassin fly。

双翅目(Diptera)食虫虻科(Asilidae)食肉昆虫的统称，约6,750种，分布全球。长度不等，大者几乎有8公分(3吋)，是所有的蝇中最大的。体多褐色而粗壮，通常多毛，形似大黄蜂。眼面大，两眼之间有一刚毛。足长，能在飞行中捕食，在进食时用足握住食物。

######################### from http://baike.baidu.com/view/266932.htm


 sample while it get something we don't like as prey

New Found - Scorpion Fly

Common Name: Scorpionfly
Scientific Name: Panorpa nuptialis Gerst
Order: Mecoptera 

Description: These unusual insects have four similar long, narrow, membranous yellow wings with dark brown marking banded patterns. The head bears long, thread-like antennae and the mouthparts are at the end of an elongated "snout." The body is up to 1 inch long. Males have abdomens with an elongated end that resembles that of a scorpion.

##############################
ok , I found it again and surprise she is not found mountain (which previously I found them >500m from sea level ...and this is just a garden outside my hotel ... and saw them few times (all female ...) and only able to get close once.

this is one of my favorite insect which look awesome and I always look for it and so far I found it Malaysia (highland), Indonesia (highland), Taiwan (highland) & US (garden outside ...) Ohhhh .. why I call it New Found.. :D as this is an insect I feel I would like to share more to you and this is my 1st female scorpion fly.

this fly is very shy and not easy to get close , for those 1st time see it , prefer to shoot from far get a ID shot before trying to get close ... and it is harmless to human even the tail to scary ....

previously saw

Malaysia (a real record shot as not way to get close)


Indonesia


- this look little different may be it from >2500m from sea level

more 2010 US pictures click here
more fly collection click here

Other - something on my body

after years shooting macro, I had saw many mites on insect body and first time I saw a "apple" or "ball" like mites on damselfly (ohh , I have no ID on the damselfly and it should belong to my new found)

again, while I first saw it I thought it carry the egg (I could be right) and eventually think this should be mites on the insect body .. and ohhh the mites is cute :D




and for before this, few shots still in my mind (which I feel pain from the picture) ...

a long-horned beetle


a beetle .. a terrible one


a not too bad one


even a wasp have it


look close to it



sometime , i feel pain while seeing it but again this is nature survive rule ... it happen .......

Other - Do You need a "Good Eye" to shoot Macro ?

there are some bugs really good in Camouflage... you will never notice them if you not really spend some effort to look for it ... but not all of them are difficult to spot and below are some my found which I feel ...we need good patience and "eye" to look for it ....
1. always stick on tree body


2. leaf look alike ...


3. very small insect always hide on tree body which same color


4. always on the rock .. same color :D


5. this is one real tough one . small and 95% same color with the tree ...and seldom move


6. not really toght but not easy too


7. so far .. this is most difficult to spot spider .. I keep look for it within the same tree ...


8. this mantis love to go into plant with color with white .. and patient need to spot it ..


9. if this guy drop into the leaf area .. don;t think we can easy to find it