A selection of bug macros taken this spring in my garden.
Spring life in the garden
5
Tag Archives: macro photography
Fairy lanterns
Now that I have noticed these moss spore capsules, I can’t seem to stop snapping them. Once again, getting really close courtesy of my 100mm macro lens with Raynox 250 attached.
Bee fly returns
I love this time for year for many things, including the crab apple blossom that attracts a rather nice little seasonal character, bombylius major, the bee-fly. I am perhaps slightly ridiculously fond of this little furry fly. I did a post about it this time last year and you can see more images of it there. These are three new ones, snapped in my garden this afternoon.
There’s just something about its little round, furry body, and the way it hovers… well, I am a ‘bug lady’ after all.
Come on admit it, it is cute.
More mossy explorations
Moss spore capsules
Last month I celebrated a brief sunny interlude by exploring the abundant crop of moss growing where my lawn used to be. Well, we have had some more sun this week so here are some more mossy explorations.
A bug’s eye view
I was particularly taken with these colourful spore capsules. I was used to seeing the spiky sort before but this was the first time I had noticed these alien-looking alternatives.
All about colour
I used my macro lens with Raynox DCR-250 attached to get very close indeed to these tiny plants. Here, the colourful background is my out of focus recycled garden trug.
Can you spot the explorer?
The above shot isn’t very special but I included it because there is a tiny explorer getting in on the act. Apparently, recent studies have shown that springtails play an important part in moss fertilisation by carrying scent from plant to plant. Who knew?
Misty moss
The difficulty with using such extreme magnifications is that depth of field is wafer thin. I decided to make the most of the difficulty in this last image, for a more minimal, suggestive take.
If you missed my earlier moss extravaganza, see here.
Winter unending
When will this winter end? Clearly no-one has remembered to tell these snowflakes, on the windscreen of my car, that it is supposed to be Spring.
Winter either bites with its teeth or lashes with it tail – Proverb
“The English winter — ending in July, To recommence in August.”
– George Gordon Byron
Thank you to those who have enquired about my recent absence from Focused Moments. I am fine, just flat out with college work and having to be very strict with myself about all things photographic as otherwise they might easily take over. ‘Normal service’ will hopefully resume next month, after we return from a brief visit to one of my very favourite European cities where I will be putting my new travel camera through its paces!
Hardy spider
Hello there!
This tiny spider has been hanging out in my olive tree for weeks now, happily oblivious to freezing temperatures and snow. It is a colourful and rather acrobatic addition to my garden.
And, for my next trick…
“Imperio!”
Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance.
Everyone was laughing — everyone except Moody.
“Think it’s funny, do you?” he growled. “You’d like it, would you, if I did it to you?”
The laughter died away almost instantly.
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
All Hail The Dawn!
A waking fly greets the new day.
“A day is a miniature eternity.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Believe every day that has dawned is your last.” – Horace
Small White
I would dearly love to photograph butterflies in flight but this is no easy task. Their flight path is ridiculously erratic and their wings flap right over their heads making focus on the eyes almost impossible.
It’s teasing me
I tried to capture this one for a long time one day last summer. I can almost imagine it’s looking at me thinking: shall I, shan’t I?
Seriously dodgy, but it’s a start
This is the best shot I got that day. Yes, it’s not terribly good, but at least you can tell it’s a butterfly 😉 I will try again this year. Although I have planted for insects, my garden sees very few butterflies, but a wildflower park has recently been planted not too far away and it will hopefully be open to the public for the first time this spring. Come on Spring, hurry up!
Harlequins
Some shots from September found languishing on my hard drive. I chose to use a high key look for these images, to capture a sense of the delicacy of the ladybird’s acrobatics on dry grass stems in my garden.
This beetle is a harlequin ladybird, or harmonia axyridis. The harlequin was brought from Asia into America and Europe as a form of biological control and it spread quickly, arriving in the UK in 2004. It has since caused a rapid decline in indigenous species of ladybird.
My own observations, for what they’re worth, bear this out; I rarely see anything but harlequins in my garden now. Pesky things. That doesn’t stop me photographing them though…
Handsome fellow
A shot from last month. I couldn’t resist sharing this fine hawthorn shield bug sitting pretty on sedum flowers.
Over on the Shed Gallery blog, my last post as Artist of the Week is about some of the things that inspire my photography.
Focused Moments 