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Friday, April 23, 2010

My First Springtail!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we interrupt our usual postings of jumping spiders for this special capture - my first springtail.

If you would like to find out more about springtail, check it out here on Wikipedia.

I've shot springtail before but only when they came into the frame when i was shooting something else, like when shooting an ant. :D

This one was 2mm long excluding the antennae. To be honest, I lost it when attempting the high mag shots. I had to zoom out to 1:1 again on my MP-E65 to re-position my lens and zoom in again slowly from there.

My first springtail!!!

My first springtail!!!

this is how it looked like at 1:1 :D. I wouldn't have seen it if it wasn't moving at that time. But it did settle down for me to shoot.
My first springtail!!!

It's been IDed as Collembola: Paronellinae by Frans.

Watch a short clip from Life in the Undergrowth  DVD here.

All images were shot with a Canon 40D, Canon MPE65 1X-5X Macro Lens and Canon MT24EX Twin Flash.


Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Getting to know your macro subjects!

Macro is a bit like portraiture, except instead of working with a human models, you work with insects.

In portraiture, you want to get to know your models, help them relax, pose them and bring out the best in them. Same for insects. Okay, you can't really make insects pose if they don't want to, but knowing as much as you can about them help you in finding them, approaching them (without spooking them) and increasing one's appreciation for these amazing insects.

One way of getting to know your insect models is by watching this incredible DVD by BBC, narrated by the great Sir David Attenborough.

Life in the Undergrowth

This is just one of the clips i found on youtube. You can find a few more from the same "Life In The Undergrowth" DVD.


Of course, knowing them well is one thing. Putting them in good light is another thing altogether. Make sure you read up on:

1. Tips on shooting with natural light.
2. Tips on full flash macro photography
3. Flash exposure compensation (FEC) in macro
4. Macro Light diffusion (mainly for the MT24EX but can be adapted to suit the working distance of your lens)

Highly recommended:

Monday, April 19, 2010

Wonderful jumping spiders of Malaysia :)

Jumping spiders must the be cutest spiders of all. Period. :D

All taken with a Canon 40D, Canon MPE65 , Canon MT24EX Twin Flash.

A female Epeus sp? Guarding her precious eggs...awww....<3
A beautiful mom and her babies......IMG_4231 copy

A beautiful mom and her babies......IMG_4234b copy

The same loving mother with her lovely bunch of spiderlings <3333
A beautiful mom and her babies......IMG_4499 copy

Epeus sp. mom with spiderlings
Epeus sp. mom with spiderlings IMG_1573 copy

Viciria sp. jumping spider life cycle: eggs to spiderlings. Complete series here.
Viciria sp. jumping spider life cycle

A male Epeus sp.
A male Epeus sp. IMG_6459b copy

A male <i>Epeus </i>sp. IMG_6430 stk copy

Viciria sp. mommy with her spiderlings.
Viciria sp. with spiderlings IMG_6216 copy

A female Viciria sp. with spider prey
A female Viciria sp. with spider prey IMG_9460 copy

Male Viciria sp.
male Viciria sp. IMG_9610 copy

A female Telamonia sp?
IMG_3020 copy

A male Telamonia sp.
male telamonia sp jumping spider IMG_8305 copy

Unidentified jumping spider.
Jumping spider...IMG_5283 copy

Cute jumping spider...IMG_3042 copy

Jumping spider with lynx spider prey
Jumping spider with lynx spider prey IMG_9828 stacked copy

Jumping spider with lynx spider prey IMG_9817 (2) copy

A jumping spider with molting trouble.
Jumping spider molting....IMG_5903 copy

The same jumping spider with molting trouble
Jumping spider with molting trouble....IMG_5901 copy

Jumping spider with tiger mosquito prey
Jumping spider with tiger mosquito prey IMG_8780 copy

Jumping spider with tiger mosquito prey IMG_8777 copy

Jumping spider with leafhopper nymph prey
jumping spider with leafhopper nymph prey IMG_1676 copy

Jumping spider with leafhopper nymph prey
jumping spider with leafhopper nymph prey IMG_1693 copy

A female Siler sp.?
IMG_6240 copy

A Hyllus sp. (?) with Pisaurid as prey
Salticid with Pisaurid prey IMG_4318 copy

Salticid with Pisaurid prey IMG_4323 copy

A different Hyllus sp.(?) with caterpillar prey
Jumping spider with caterpillar prey IMG_9709 copy

A cute Hyllus sp. jumping spider. Sabah, Borneo.
Hyllus giganteus IMG_2034 copy

The same Hyllus sp. Big and cute with lovely marking on her abdomen.
Hyllus giganteus IMG_2032 copy

Unidentified jumping spider. Selangor, Malaysia.
Jumping Spider IMG_8936 copy

Jumping Spider IMG_8937 copy

A male Viciria sp.
Male Viricia sp. jumping spider...IMG_2243 copy

Portia sp.
IMG_8145 copy

Ant Mimic Jumping spider, Myrmarachne sp. Check out more amazing ant-mimic jumping spiders here.
My hair looks nice? (IMG_2394 copy)

A female, Thiana sp.
IMG_0489 copy

A male Thiana sp. jumping spider?
Male Thiana sp. jumping spider?...IMG_3091 copy

IMG_3967 copy

IMG_3929 copy

Jumping spider...IMG_5178 copy

Jumping spider...IMG_5183 copy

A male Bavia sp. ?
IMG_4549 copy

A female Bavia sp.?
IMG_0040 copy

Looks quite similar in shape to the previous one.
A Gorgeous jumping spider...IMG_7401 copy

Jumping spider with hopper prey
jumping spider with hopper prey IMG_9954b copy

No ID yet:
Another gorgeous jumper - with prey

Yellow and translucent, probably similar to the previous one but recently molted?
Yellow translucent jumping spider...IMG_2317 copy

IMG_2240 copy

IMG_2249 copy

IMG_2220 copy

Male and female jumping spiders.
male and female jumping spiders IMG_6665b copy

A female Pystira sp.
female pystira sp jumper IMG_9626 copy

A female Bathippus sp. Single 270EX for lighting. Find out more here.
female Bathippus sp jumping spider IMG_2978 copy

A female Orsima ichneumon
female orsima ichneumon IMG_0001 copy

A male Orsima ichneumon jumping spider
Orsima ichneumon male jumping spider IMG_9873 copy

Male Viciria sp. jumping spider
Male Viciria sp. jumping spider IMG_2249 copy

Jumping spider with caterpillar prey
Jumping spider with caterpillar prey...IMG_1300 copy

Jumping spider with caterpillar prey
Jumping spider with caterpillar prey IMG_1399-2 copy

A big female jumping spider with winged termite prey
jumping spider with winged termite prey IMG_3955 merged copy

jumping spider with winged termite prey IMG_3952 copy

Portrait of a Phaeacius sp. jumping spider
Jumping spider, Phaeacius sp.  IMG_6866 copy

A well camouflaged Phaeacius sp. jumping spider on a tree trunk
Phaeacius malayensis IMG_7315 copy

Phaeacius sp. with prey
Phaeacius sp. with prey IMG_6850 copy

Jumping spider with prey
Jumping Spider with prey IMG_4689 copy

A cute female jumping spider. Unidentified. Selangor, Malaysia.
Jumping Spider IMG_0551 copy

Jumping Spider IMG_0564 copy

Jumping spider with roach prey
jumping spider with roach prey IMG_0390 copy

Jumping spider with nursery web spider prey
A jumping spider with prey - a nursery web spider. IMG_9793 copy

Yellow jumping spider
yellow jumping spider Hot Cross Bun...anyone??:D IMG_9388 copy

Jumping spider, Rhene sp. ?
Jumping spider Rhene sp.? IMG_3817 copy

Rhene sp.? IMG_3840 copy

Female Ligurra sp.?
Ligurra sp.? IMG_8859 copy

IMG_8874 copy

Male Ligurra sp.?
Male Ligurra sp.? IMG_8888b copy

Jumping spider with arms like Hercules, Harmochirus brachiatus.
jumping spider Hercules IMG_7765 copy

Cute little jumping spider, no ID yet.
Cute little jumping spider.........IMG_2268 copy

Lovely electric green on this one.
jumping spider IMG_0702 copy

cute jumping spider...IMG_0501 copy

Myrmarachne elongata ant-mimic jumping spider, male. More amazing ant mimics here.
Another ant-mimic jumping spider! <i>Myrmarachne elongata </i>:D ........IMG_3188 copy

Male ant-mimic jumping spider, Myrmarachne sp.
Male ant-mimic jumping spider, Myrmarachne sp. IMG_3982 copy

Another male Myrmarachne sp. ant-mimic jumping spider
A male Myrmarachne sp. ant-mimic jumping spider IMG_7728 copy

Male Myrmarachne plataleoides
Another male <i>Myrmarachne </i>sp. ant-mimic jumping spider IMG_0056 copy

Male Myrmarachne plataleoides
Ant mimic jumping spider Myrmarachne plataleoides male IMG_8850 copy

Female Myrmarachne plataleoides
IMG_3163 (2) copy Myrmarachne plataleoides

A male Bathippus sp. jumping spider
Male Bathippus sp. jumping spider..IMG_9819b copy

Jumping spider with cricket prey, Sabah, Borneo.
jumping spider with cricket prey IMG_7990 copy

Jumping spider with prey
Jumping spider with cricket prey...IMG_6904 copy

A tiny jumping spider with winged ant prey
A tiny jumping spider with winged ant prey IMG_7573 copy

IMG_7578 copy

Tiny jumper with big prey
Tiny jumper with big prey IMG_8280 copy

Tiny jumper with big prey
Tiny jumper with big prey IMG_8333 copy

More jumping spiders here.

More spiders related posts:

1. Ant-mimic crab spider eating weaver ant
2. More ant-mimic spiders
3. Wonderful jumping spiders
4. Ant-mimic crab spider - mating!
5. Male red ant-mimic jumping spider
6. Tropical spiders
7. Jumping spider life cycle
8. Lichen huntsman life cycle

   
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