Bird Series 15 - Tiger Shrike

migratory bird during the months of October till April it is not shy in Bukit Tinggi and Kuala Selangor ..



from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Shrike
The Tiger Shrike or Thick-billed Shrike (Lanius tigrinus) is a small passerine bird which belongs to the genus Lanius in the shrike family, Laniidae. It is found in wooded habitats across eastern Asia. It is a shy, often solitary bird which is less conspicuous than most other shrikes. Like other shrikes it is predatory, feeding on small animals. Its nest is built in a tree and three to six eggs are laid.

It derives its name from the tiger-like pattern of its upperparts which are reddish-brown with dark bars. Adult males have white underparts and a grey head with a black mask. Females and young birds are duller and browner and young birds lack the grey and black on the head.


common pose


this is one well train by birders ... it will pose for you and long :D


like this view as show why it call Tiger Shrike


a movie of it

New Found - Flower Mantis (update)

it was a mistake ... I thought of I found a Orchid Mantis but it is not after verification with mantidboy From Flickr (he know alot about mantis) .. this is a

family Hymenopidae
Creobotra sp

even ... not a Orchid Mantis .. but I am still happy with this new found too

a old picture shoot Jul 2008 (


how it look close ... (PP to make it little mystery feel)



and it was camera shy ....


and after few shot .. it start willing to look at my camera and I am getting closer and closer



(for larger view please visit www.liewwkphoto.com for the macro session or http://www.liewwkphoto.com/gallery2.htm )

How I shoot MACRO - MT24 with Difuser 2010plan01

was planning this and test with few similar option before but never got any good result. but then decide to share this even I feel this still having problem with my setup

why am I building a bigger diffuser
1. larger light size
2. softer light
3. my long MACRO len (SIGMA150) need better and larger diffuser (I need something work for both of my MP-E65 & SIGMA150)

so my testing make up of

1. pop up flash diffuser




2. styro foam bowl& Kitchen towel paper


3. final setup





sample output .. (sorry trying to get back the original setup but the beetle flew off)





(minimum PP done on above pictures)

based on last picture show above (my large diffuser is from right from my len and the small one is on left) overall the light diffuser better than my previous one (I personal feel)
but it create bad shadow after 3:1 which mean I lost 4-5:1 while using my MPE , think this could be over size of my big diffuser ... will try to make it smaller next round

How I shoot MACRO - angle is important

I had share this to most of my MACRO gang, "angle" to shoot the bugs is very important. Angle need to be choose to control
1. better DOF
2. better BG
3. show beauty of the object

and in general I had discuss @previous post How I shoot MACRO - Composition, angle ...

I can't provide too many samples but will keep on to post relevant sample as I got relevant sample pictures ...

as for last week , I got a chance to see a pair of weevil mating on the tree trunk and I know this will be good for this so I decide to make few shots to show the different effect on BG while using different angle

below is a picture show the situation


and as for the sample of common 90 degree to the object and we are easier to get max DOF but the BG will look like


a dark/black BG will be produce as full flash use, so we could try to make leave behind the object as sample (different object but still a beetle on tree but with brown leaf behind as BG - hand make :D )


but then while we shift out angle a bit higher to make the tree body as BG


- this will be better in term of overall picture but then it is not easy to get both Weevil in focus due to the DOF limit. so even we move to upper but we still need to control the angle where both weevil eye can be in focus


some add-on on the weevil, this weevil is small one and I shoot it with coin as comparison before as below



and again we really should thanks MACRO photography to allow us to see something where we normally can't view through human eye

a big magnification of same type of Weevil

one of my favor MACRO Model - Tiger Beetle

think this was one of the beautiful/cute creature attract me into MACRO photography while I was still using my Pns (~2 years ago)

let me make a count how many types I managed to capture so far , and let talk about it's behavior

1. common in hill/lowland forest
- quite sensitive but still allow get close if we move slowly
- while we use flash, 50% it will move or flew off
- normally on leaf




2. common in forest could be far from stream
- super sensitive not easy to get close (even with 150mm + 1.4tc)




3. common near low land forest close to stream with sand
- sensitive, not easy to get close need to move really slow
- depend season, sometime a lot but sometime .. just disappear
- while mating season, you will see them keep mating non stop but most of them only for ~5-10sec




4.can found on few beach
- when found normally gang of them
- love to mating, and look like they don't know how to different male or female until make it
- sensitive but easy to get close especially mating time .. not easy to shoot single




5. only found @one beach near Sepang
- many of them
- love to mating
- super sensitive, even mating. almost impossible to get close as type 2 but this normally found group of them so easy t get shots





6. common in forest
- less sensitive , can easily get close
- but didn't see it mating so far

How I shoot Macro - how do we shoot damselfly ...

I plan to write this long ago and should just wait for picture with mug but let me share this as am in bad mood recently...
Most of the damselfly stay near pond , water .... so we expected to be wet, and here were some pictures to show how we shoot damselfly

My gear while shooting damselflies below



wee shooting a Heliocypha perforata


my own action



Damselfly - Neurobasis chinensis (male)


Damselfly - Neurobasis chinensis (Female)


and my gang Wee was shooting a Heliocypha perforata

special write for my gang .... Philip Wee

a gang of mine, asking for poison (wny am I using mt24) ... so while our last week outing in a reserve jungle we tried to shoot the same beetle (normally I stop shooting the long horned beetle... I just have too many of them) with same gears (canon 5dm2, mpe65...) except the light different.. I am using mt24 setup as below


and he is using my old setup as below


I am sharing this to him with minimum of PP and waiting for his post too to have compare ...

a portrait mode


a landscape mode


just hope he will post his ASAP .. and I will update his picture here



but let share my capture

he is replying this fast with picture

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4321311593_883c642c1a_o.jpg