Fungus-eating Ladybird - Sydney, Australia

Fungus-eating Ladybird -  Sydney, Australia

Over the weekend I found a tiny ladybird on one of the plants on our balcony. Since I hadn't photographed the species before I grabbed the macro lens, extension tubes and a flash and started shooting. I came up with a number of decent images.

More photographs inside.

Fungus-eating Ladybird -  Sydney, Australia

The fungus-eating Ladybird, identified by the yellow and black markings on its body, is about 4mm in length. There are a number of yellow and black Ladybirds and I spent some time online trying to identify the correct species. Fortunately each species has a distinct black and yellow pattern on its back which simplified the task.

Fungus-eating Ladybird -  Sydney, Australia

As the name suggests, this species feeds on fungus and black mold on plants. It is fast moving and is known to take flight or drop when it is threatened. It is not a welcome garden pest as it is said to spread mould spores form plant to plant as it moves through the garden.

Fungus-eating Ladybird -  Sydney, Australia

I used the 7D and the 100mm Macro lens for all these photographs. For lighting I used a Canon 430 EX II fired from various positions off camera. I tried a couple of shots with the flash on the camera and found them to be a bit flat and boring. The off camera flash created a bit more depth and, in my opinion, produced better results.

Macro Daisy

Daisy

I hadn't used the macro lens for a while so decided to pull it out earlier this afternoon. As usual, I didn't have any particular subject in mind and decided to photograph whatever I found. These small Daisies seem to be all over the place at the moment so I photographed a few of them.

More photographs inside.

Daisy

As usual with macro photography, the biggest challenge for me was composing the photograph while  holding the Canon 430EX II with one hand and the camera in the other. I probably should have gone into the house brought a light stand or a tripod to make life a bit easier.

Daisy

These photographs were taken with the Canon 7D and the 100mm macro lens. For lighting I used a handheld 430 EXII. The photographs were taken at an aperture of around f14-16. The flash was firing at 1/8 or 1/16th. I didn't use ETTL for this shot. I set the power of the flash manually and moved the flash around until I was happy with the level of light. The photographs were taken at 1/250.

Three-spot Grass Yellow - Sri Lanka

Three-spot Grass Yellow (Eurema blanda) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

The Three-spot Grass Yellow is a common butterfly belonging to the Pieridae family. It's range covers both the wet and dry zones of Sri Lanka. I've photographed this species in Thalangama, Yala and Anuradhapura on a number of occasions.

More photographs after the jump.

Three-spot Grass Yellow (Eurema blanda) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

Its wingspan is about 40-50mm and the three spots, after which it is named, are visible on the underside of the fore wing. The spots can be clearly seen when the butterfly settles on a perch as it closes its wings. Both sexes are alike and this species is similar in appearance to the common grass yellow.

Three-spot Grass Yellow (Eurema blanda) - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

All these photographs were taken with the Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. The images on this post have been slightly cropped. I probably could have got a bit closer to the butterfly to photograph it but I didn't want to risk scaring it off.

Oriental White-eye - Sri Lanka

Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosa) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

The Oriental White-eye is a common bird found in the lowlands in both the dry and wet zones of Sri Lanka. It can be found in the mid hills as well but is rarely seen at higher elevations. On my last trip to Sri Lanka I was able to photograph these birds in Thalangama, Yala and Kandy.

More photographs inside.

 Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosa) - Yala, Sri Lanka

It is similar in appearance to the endemic Sri Lankan White-eye but is lighter in colour and slightly smaller. Both species can be seen in mixed flocks. Their presence is often given away by their constant calling while they move through the undergrowth. Their diet consists of nectar as well as small insects and other invertebrates.

Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosa) - Yala, Sri Lanka

The White-eye's range stretches east from the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia as far as Malaysia and Indonesia. A number of subspecies have been recognised throughout this range. Their habitat varies form scrub to moist forests.

Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosa) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka 

White-eyes are social birds and form flocks which separate only during the breeding season which stretches from February to September, with April considered a peak. Their nests are shaped like cups and are built out of cobwebs, lichen and plant fiber. Two eggs are laid and they hatch in about 10 days.

 

Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosa) - Yala, Sri Lanka

The hardest part of photographing these birds was getting them on an open perch for a clear shot. The fact that they are constantly on the move and quick, didn't help matters. These photographs were taken with the Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens.




   

32/52 - The Rose

The Rose

This weeks entry for the project was fairly quick and pain free. I used a single strobe and the macro lens to produce the shot above. I did move the flash around a bit to add a bit more depth to the image by creating shadows of the layers of petals. I converted the shot into a black and white image and I'm quite happy with the result.

Lighting setup shots and a black and white version after the jump.

Lighting Setup - The Rose

I used a Canon 580 EX II fired at 1/16th to light the flower. Looking down at the end result, the strobe was positioned at about 2 o'clock. The flower used for the shot is highlighted in the setup above.

Here's the black and white version.

The Rose in Black and White

Yellow Admiral

Yellow Admiral - Vanessa itea

While we were up at Barrington Tops I managed to photograph a number of species of butterfly. The Yellow Admiral, also known as the Australia Admiral, was probably one of the more colourful butterflies I saw on this particular trip (I'll upload the other species over the next few weeks).  They are native to Australia, New Zealand and the Norfolk Islands.

More photographs inside.

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Yellow Admiral - Vanessa itea

Yellow Admirals are quite common throughout their range as long as their food plants are available. Unfortunately for me, their food plants include stinging nettles which were in abundance near where we stayed. These butterflies are strong fliers and, according to some web sites, have survived wind blown travel from Australia to New Zealand across the Tasman sea.

Yellow Admiral - Vanessa itea

The best time to photograph butterflies is probably early morning as butterflies take a while to "warm up" and get active. I was surprised at how close I was able to get to them to take these photographs. I was actually limited by the minimum focusing distance on the 100-400mm lens which I had on at the time.

Yellow Admiral - Vanessa itea

These photographs were captured with a Canon 7D and the Canon 100-400mm lens.

Pink Gazania

A Pink Gazania

I played around with the macro lens and the extension tubes over the weekend to get used to using them. I found this Pink Gazania in the garden and decided to use it as a subject. It's actually quite a small flower and I was relatively happy with the results of my first macro shoot. However, I must admit, it took me a lot longer to find the name of the flower than to photograph it!

More photographs inside.

A Pink Gazania

I used a tripod for these shots but didn't have a light stand for the flash and had to hold it with my right hand while releasing the shutter with my left. It wasn't the best position to hold the camera steady but a shutter speed of 1/250th helped. These were taken at an aperture of f/11 and the flash was fired form very close to the lens.

A Pink Gazania

I'm not sure if I actually needed the extension tubes for these shots but I wanted to use them anyway. In the coming weeks I want to use the macro a fair bit and really familiarise myself with apertures, lighting and when to use extension tubes! In other words, watch out for a whole bunch of macro shots on this blog. 

Black-hooded Oriole

The Black-hooded Oriole is a common, widespread garden and forest bird. It is a resident breeder in southern Asia ranging from India and Sri Lanka, east to Indonesia. Read on for more images and info.

The female Black-hooded Oriole is more drab with greenish underparts. However, it still has the characteristic black hood. Immature birds are similar to the female but have dark streaking on the underparts and their hood is not completely black, specially on the throat. The black head of this species is an obvious distinction from the Golden Oriole. 

   

The bird nests in trees and clutches comprise of two eggs. They are not the easiest birds to see as they spend most of their time in the canopy feeding on insects and fruits.

These images were taken in our garden in Colombo and in Anuradhapura. I used the Canon 7D with the 100-400mm lens for all these shots.  The bird was nice enough to perch on a branch which gave me an unobstructed view. Fortunately I was upstairs and was able to shoot from a similar height to the perch. This enabled me to capture these images from a slightly different point of view. The fact that the bird was only about 20 meters away from me also helped. I wasn't as fortunate in Anuradhapura and had to shoot from the ground below the bird.

Yellow-fronted Barbet

The Yellow-fronted Barbet is an endemic bird found in the well wooded area in the wet lowlands and mid hills of Sri Lanka. More info and images after the jump.

This is the second largest Barbet found on the Island (the Brown-headed Barbet is the largest). It is unmistakeable with its yellow forehead and blue face. It frequents tall trees but descends to lower branches, especially when these are in fruit. It mainly feeds on fruit but is known to occasionally eat insects as well.

The breeding season is during February and May with a secondary season form August to September. The nest hole is similar to that of the Brown-headed Barbet but is slightly smaller in size. The cavity is oval in shape and, if new, is 8 inches in depth. The Yellow-fronted barbet uses its nest for several years running, digging it deeper each year.

I came across this bird at our place in Kandy where it was seen feeding on these flowers at around 7.00 am every morning. Getting the shots above wasn't hard. All I had to do was make sure I was around at the correct time. To capture these images I increased the ISO to 640 with the hope of getting a faster shutter speed. In hind sight, I should have used an ISO of 400 and a bit of fill flash. This would have reduced the noise. Something to keep in mind for next time....

Other images / info on Barbets

• Brown Headed Barbet
• Yellow Fronted Barbet
• Crimson Fronted Barbet

Red-rumped Parrot

The Red-rumped Parrot is a medium sized slender parrot found in the south-east of Australia. More images and info inside.

The adult male, shown above, is bright green with a blue green head, a red rump and yellow shoulders and belly. The female is a duller olive green with a green rump and faint yellow or light green scales on the belly. Young birds of both sexes are duller in colour. It is similar to the Mulga Parrot.

 

The Red-rumped Parrot is found in open grassland or lightly timbered plains, as well as along watercourses and in mallee farmlands with access to water. These Parrots feed in pairs or small flocks on the ground preferring to feed on seeds and leaves of grasses. They will also feed on fruits and flowers in trees. They can be seen feeding with other Parrots, including Eastern Rosellas and Galahs.

These birds mate for life. The female chooses and prepares the nesting site, usually a hollow in a eucalypt tree or, as shown above, in hollows found in wooden beams of buildings. Eggs are laid on a decayed wood bed and the female incubates the eggs while the male regularly feeds her. The young can be fed for a while after they fledge.
Source- http://birdsinbackyards.net/bird/104

The images in this post were taken at one of our friends farms in the Northern Hunter region of New South Wales. The birds are not easy to approach and I had to use a car as a hide to capture the images above. I was pretty lucky with the light as it was an overcast day. The female was perched in the shade under a roof and, as a result, the highlights in the background were blown.

Phalaenopsis

I finally got around to using my home made soft box when we bought a Phalaenopsis Orchid over the weekend. More details after the jump.

In order to make the soft box, I cut out three sides and the top of a cardboard box and covered two of the sides and the top with white tracing paper. The remaining side was left open to allow me to photograph through it. I then cut out the bottom of the box to allow me to place it over a subject, if necessary. To create a background I used a piece of black bristle board pasted on the remaining side of the box.

A single Canon 430EX speedlight was used to light the flowers from camera right. I'm not sure what the settings on the speedlight were but I think it was shot at 1/4 of a second and zoomed to 35mm. The left hand side of the flower was lit with the light reflecting off the white tracing paper on the left hand side of the box. The image was taken at 1/200th of a second at f\10.