Macro shoot Lower Peirce Reservoir Park 21 July 2012

Was alone for a midnight macro shoot at Lower Peirce Reservoir Park.
The forest was pitch dark when I was under the foliage of the secondary forest of the park (see map below).

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Somehow I was fearless and had only my mind on getting good shots that night and nothing else..

----- See the rest of the photos here -----

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Jumping Spider Lazing on Curry Leaf Plant 25 April 2012

As an avid insect macro photographer, I also try my best to be a botanist at home.

I have accumulated more than 10 potted plants outside my house, along the common corridor and it proved to be quite useful when trying to look for insect subjects to shoot without having to travel into any forest.

Before I left the house for dinner last night, I was watering the plants. I noticed a relatively big jumping spider hopping away as it sensed the drizzle from my watering can onto the curry leaf plant that it was perching on. I was hoping that when I return after dinner, it would still be there.

When I did reach home, it was waiting for me on one of the outermost leaf of the curry leaf plant.

Without much delay, I set up my flash brackets and gave it several portraiture shots.

----- See the rest of the photos here -----

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Lower Peirce Reservoir Macro Night Shoot

Long Horn Beetle

Caterpillar with face of a baboon

Moth

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Compound Eyes 24 Feb 2011

I caught it resting on the leaf of one of my potted plants outside my house at 2am in the morning.

This common housefly was quite docile and allowed me to take many shots with flash.

That was until it realized of the intruder to its peaceful rest and turned around to face me.

That momentary confrontation allowed me to take a final portrait shot of its compound eyes before it dismissed me as a nuisance and flew into the night.

Turn around and confronted the intruder before it flew away

Some sharpening was applied via GIMP and using the "unsharp mask" filter to enhance the details of the compound eyes.

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More Macro on Insects outside my House

New insects spotted on my potted orchid plant outside my house.
Sadly, they left after camping there for a few days.

Should I have little bubble thoughts added into the picture?

It looks like it is in deep thought

I simple adore compound eyes!

After taking the pictures of the fly, I couldn't stop thinking about how can something so small be so detailed and how did it evolve to become the tiny fly it is now. I wonder in awe of how each and every micro-detail of the fly is there for a specific purpose.

Though I am not a believer, I find myself saying that I appreciate "His" creations.

We, humans, can create nanotechnology, produce silicon chips with micron precision... but look at the intricacy of the details of the smallest insects, we know we can never climb the Tower of Babel and be His equal.



Tip :

My preferred aperture for sharper macro shots is at f16. I was using f11 previously as recommended by many experienced macro photographers but the Depth-Of-Field (DOF) was too shallow for me to appreciate.


To prevent underexposure and shutter shadows, I now use a shutter of 1/125 or 1/160 instead of 1/200 and 1/250.

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More campers outside my house 31 Oct 2010

Was leaving the house when I saw this critter taking a rest on a large leaf of my potted plant aka "铁树".

It didn't take me long to set up my camera and flash with my DIY diffuser and started snapping.

The results of my DIY diffuser was very satisfactory!

This could arguably be one of the better macro shoots I had taken (with the lighting that I am happy with).

Click each picture to enlarge and scrutinize the shot!

This one was slightly out of focus as I was starting to warm up

Better focus in this shot

Another shot taken parallel to the focal plane of the insect's body

A failed top view shot with focusing off [ focus was on wings instead of eyes ]

A first satisfactory shot

This shot showed off the compound eye a little bit
as the compound eyes reflected the light from the flash

Another shot I was happy with

Last shot of the night

If you like the effect of my DIY diffuser, do send me an email to find out more!

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Bedok Reservoir View Canal 15 Sept 2010

It was a hot late afternoon on 15th Sept 2010.
I was on leave that day so I can spend some time on the hobby.

I walked along the canal on the side that is nearer to the condominium and crossed over to the other side of the canal by using Bedok Reservoir Road which forms a land-canal bridge junction.

As seen in the picture below, I was on the left side of the canal and I walked toward the bridge ahead ( which was Bedok Reservoir Road ) to cross to the right side of the canal, where there are more trees and shrubs.

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This has to be the 4th or 5th time that I brought the tripod out without using it.

I wore my army boots and brought only my camera with the Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens attached and my Nissin Di866 flash unit with a DIY diffuser.

I climbed up the grassy slope on the right side of the canal and arrived at a muddy plateau. There were many dragonflies at this location, probably due to the many tire tracks left by heavy trucks that are operating in this area. These tire tracks become puddles of water after a heavy rain and they attract dragonflies.

Managed to find a nice perch that allowed this single dragonfly to return again and again and again. I didn't leave any mercy in depressing my shutter button.


Here are the better pictures of the lot.
My portraiture of this single dragonfly.
BTW, my daughter, Isabel, thought this was a bee due to its black & yellow body colour.

Click on each picture to see it in finer details..such as the compound eyes..

It's worthy to note that for this single dragonfly, I exhausted 2 sets of batteries and on the 2nd set of batteries that are non-rechargeable, I fired so many flashes that the Di866 eventually gave an "Overheat" warning!

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Botanical Gardens Macro 6 Sept 2010

It was a late afternoon and it was an overcast sky.

I did not expect any rain but within an hour of reaching there, the thunder forced me to stop to look for shelter.


Luckily, there were some good catch and though the impending rain stopped me short, I ended my trip with a satisfactory bounty.

This looked like some form of jungle cockroach

A grasshopper that looked like its feelers got chopped

Shallow Depth of Field allowing only eyes to be in focus

Body in focus

This winged insect spent so much time grooming a single leg...

I was able to take multiple shots and it had not finished grooming

Still going at it, sniffing and cleaning.

It must have stepped on poo....

This beetle was golden in colour when viewed with naked eyes.

The flash did its colours injustice.

This cluster of ants makes one wonder... "Where's the sugar?"

You can see the hair of the dragonfly!

Compound eyes!!!

Wings designed by nature

Massive compound eyes!! I like!

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Bedok North Park 3 Sept 2010

Taken on a late afternoon with the Sigma 70-300mm DG APO with Raynox DCR-250 Macro adapter.

This time round, I went hunting in my army Goretex boots and gutters wrapping my jeans bottom to prevent ants from crawling into my pants..

Are these eyes or sensors?

Mushroom

Ixora flower

Red Ant protecting its interests

Very small crab-like spider [ camera-shy, it turned its head away just before I fired ]

A fly [ Focusing was off due to shakiness ]

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