A bit of abstracted Darter fun, just thought it was a bit different, I do so love their curious faces, I will miss these very much when they go, so I guess I should make the most of their company whilst I can, still got a month or two left. I still wonder what their visual perception of the world is like and how other senses come into play, I reckon it would be an interesting experience. I'm sure someone will suggest the 2 bottles of whisky Dragonfly simulator LOL :o)

Hope everyone has a great week :o)

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Today I successfully trialed my mobile Damselfly studio and I'm pleased to say it worked a treat, it enabled me to keep my hands free and concentrate more on my subject, this guy was certainly excited by the whole affair LOL :)

Two image stack

Well what a weird day, started off really nice this morning and by the afternoon cold, grey and windy, but that doesn't matter,because I found Pseudoscorpions. guaranteed to brighten the day of any macro photographer, the best thing was this guy was very well behaved and I was able to observe the stealthy hunting tactics that these employ. They actually move very slowly whilst hunting and use those claws to explore their environment, I think this one had discovered a potential meal.

What's amazing is that I have waited 30+ years to find these and now I have found 3 in a matter of weeks, just like waiting for a bus LOL :o)

I would like to bid a fond farewell to an old friend called "Picnik", it was a great bit of free software, I used mainly for signing my images and framing, they have replaced it with "Aviary", I had a go with "Aviary" and my opinion it is PANTS LOL :o)

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My first LRD of 2014 was a most pleasing subject, I think he enjoyed posing on a nearby Daisy, all I can think off now is getting out and about with my camera again. I think I may have to take a late afternoon trip to my local nature reserve after work at some point this week. I've got loads of shots of this guy, this was another handheld focus stack, this time of 16 images at F/8.

Hope everyone has a fabulous week :o)

That Grey Heron making another appearance, just a break before I upload more Springtails. I went to Wollaton Park after work today, what a murky afternoon it was, I hope there is going to be better weather over the next two days.

Hope everyone has a great weekend :o)

An early morning chat with a Damselfly, we discussed politics, the Olympics, oh and of course the weather LOL :o)

Really is a jungle out there, everything has gone into overdrive, struggled to access areas of the Country Park, reckon I'll need a machete. Really does make finding these guys difficult, I only really found this one, no idea where all the others are. I guarantee that if I go back later, they will be there in better numbers.

May try an early rise tomorrow and see what I can find, good thing is I have to get up at 5am and not 3:30am, it's almost a lie in LOL :o)

Hope everyone has a great weekend, only 3 days left of the Olympics, didn't we do well :o)

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Sorry for the terrible photo, BUT I was thrilled to find some really colourful, but TINY, globular springtails on my compost bin this morning. Looking at Eddie the Bugman's fantastic stream (www.flickr.com/photos/odonataman/), I'm thinking this might be a male Katiannidae, an exotic import---is it? Would it be unusual to find these in my very cold garden here in Scotland.

I took a few images with my 100mm macro plus raynox, with flash, and also managed to light some with a small torch, but it was very difficult as they wouldn't stay still, and these springtails were about 1mm in length. I'd love to get better magnification on these, and to know what I'm doing a bit better with flash! Still waiting for my lottery win to get the mp-e 65mm lens :D

I have more, not very good, images to follow :D, including an image of what I think must be a spermatophore. What a fascinating world :D

The Cream-spot Ladybird, I found this little beauty on a leaf of a sapling, a rather attractive little Ladybird and quite a small one :)

A previously unused focus stack of a Curculio sp. Weevil, this was another example I found at Wollaton Park, they seem to like hanging around on the metal fences that surround a conservation area. I think this might be a female with the long rostrum, they use this to bore into nuts and they then lay an egg inside. Also seems to have picked up some spider webs :o)

I'm really looking forward to finding these agai this year, there is so much cool stuff waiting to be found, just need things to start warming up again :o)

I used the camera in aperture priority with diffused flash, a focus stack of 13 images, aperture F/7.1, 1/60 shutter speed and ISO 500.

Xanthogramma species (thanks to Eddie the Bugman for ID)

I found this beauty on an after work walk on Friday at Wollaton Park, I noticed it on the railings that border the woodland by the lake. I had to take some shots as it was a species I have not as yet found at Wollaton, I'm fairly sure it's a Heliophanus species, but not sure which one.

I used one of my plastic clamps to secure some greenery behind this guy. I needed some colour as flash fall off with such a dark Spider would not work too well. I would have loved to have managed a focus stack, but this guy was too fidgety, basically moved after each shot oOOo

ID possibly Heliophanus flavipes thanks to Serkiz Oleg oOOo

This was a new find from the other week, this is a female Euophrys frontalis I found at my new Salticidae hunting ground.

"Euophrys frontalis is a small Salticidae, The species is sexually dimorphic. The females are brown with darker rather zig-zag lines running along the length of the abdomen. These stripes are not as pronounced in the male which has red rimmed eyes and enlarged front legs used in courtship which have a blaze of white on them." Taken from NatureSpot

So far in the UK I have seen 5 different species of Salticidae and have actually photographed 4. This was a focus stack of 9 images using an F/7.1 aperture, ISO 320 and a 1/160 shutter speed. She does seem to be missing a leg, but it might be hidden behind another.

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Finally got round to tracking down a few Zebra Spiders, great to see them out and about, although still not in great numbers. This was one of 3 I spotted on the pink walls by the Nottingham Canal the other day.

This was a 10 image focus stack using an F/6.3 aperture, ISO 320 and a 1/160 shutter speed. A diffused flash was used for this stack, there was some slight movement of the pedipalps, but I managed to edit around the problem areas.

Finally got near to an Andrena sp Mining Bee with my MP-E, this little one was really checking out my camera and was having a real nosey, I found an area of fences where these kept landing frequently, after a lot of failed attempts at creeping up on these with my camera, this one decided to stay put, they are very attractive little Bee's these, I think this might be a male Andrena fulva, as the females were also landing on the fence as well. However, I may be proven wrong as I am hopeless putting an ID to these Andrena species Bee's.

Hope everyone is having a great week, hoping for good weather this weekend and a possible early wake up :o)

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A portrait of a teneral Ischnura elegans, teneral refers to a Damselfly that has not yet reached its mature coloration, an immature individual, I had forgotten how small these guys are.

Anyway, a 10 image handheld focus stack from yesterdays evening trip to a local reserve, I used an f/7.1 aperture, shutter speed 1/125, ISO 200, this was at about x2 magnification, the image is cropped. I hope I can get a portrait of a more mature individual as they do have some lovely colours.

Trying to work out what to do this weekend, the weather looks to be a mixed bag, hopefully I will get some macro work done :o)

Hope you all have a great weekend :o)

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I tried a bit of an experimental background the other day, I had purchased some coloured holofoil cards recently and had wondered what sort of bokeh I could get from them. This was taken using a gold holofoil and I found the effect could vary depending on the angle of the foil in the background, I really liked the dreamy effect in this shot, works really well with the pinks and the blues. I hope you like it too.

I think this guy had been in the wars, possibly why he was so amiable :o)

Apparently on the weather forecast they are saying the jet stream is moving back north to where it should be and vague promises of nice weather next week, fingers crossed LOL :o) Seems the weather has gone mad worldwide this year.

A MUST TO VIEW ON BLACK

This was another pleasant surprise from the Sheffield Botanical Gardens on Monday, This is Katiannidae Genus nov.1 sp. nov. another exotic import, these are especially colourful Collembola. This species also shows sexual dimorphism, the males shown in the images above are black and orange, the females are mainly black and white. These are about 1mm long and I found these on fallen leaves around the Rock and Water Gardens, they really are one of the prettiest species. I have also found these at the Sensory Garden at Wollaton Hall.

It turns out that my previous upload is possibly an American import Sminthurinus minutus and it is the first record of this species in Europe. See link below

www.flickr.com/photos/odonataman/15683089438/

I am hoping to return to Sheffield in the next few weeks, it really does hold a few macro surprises and I wonder what will be found next time :o)

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Another group of images from last Mondays visit to the Sheffield Botanical Gardens. This is Katianna nr schotti, this is also thought to be an imported species. They can be found in the same habitat as the Katianna 3 species, at the gardens they are very common on fallen leaves around the Ericaceae beds that surround the Rock and Water Garden. They are about the same size as Katianna 3 at up to 1mm long. They are generally orange and yellow in colour, but as they mature you do sometimes see other colours. There is also a very similar species called Katianna australis that has reddish pigmentation, but I have yet to find this.

Katianna nr schotti for some reason seem a more active species and they always seem to be on the go. Whereas, the Katianna 3 species does seem to be more cooperative and will stay still for a while :o)

A female Sitticus pubescens I found on my fave Spider wall, she stayed beautifully still for a 6 image focus stack using the Canon 1000D using an aperture of F/6.3, ISO 200 and a 1/160 shutter speed. So far I have found 5 different species on this stretch of wall which is not bad going for Nottingham, only got another 31 species to find in the UK LOL.

I find this species more approachable than any others I have found to date. Other species rarely stay put for more than a second, I think this species adopts a sit and wait hunting strategy.

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A rather curious male Common Darter on the decking at Wilford Claypit last year, I always find this species very approachable with regards to macro photography, you can get surprisingly close to them. This was taken at about 2.5x mag with the MP-E 65mm. They will often strike a curious pose, almost as if they are seeing what you are up to.

This was a focus stack of 9 images at F/10, ISO 400 and a 1/160 shutter speed, a diffused flash was used :o)

Lots of these about at the moment, this is Bourletiella hortensis which is also known commonly as the Garden Springtail and it can be found in large numbers, they are considered a pest by many gardeners as they like to munch on emerging seedlings. This one was meandering its way across a bed of dry moss, thought it made an interesting setting.

Please bare with me over the next few days, I'm trying hard to get used to this new mess of a website, some bits are nice, but on the whole I'm not too enthused.

CAN'T SAY VIEW ON BLACK ANYMORE AS YOU ALREADY ARE!!!!!!!!!

Well I know of at least one group of animals that will be loving this dire weather, I think it has pretty much rained 90% of the day.

This is Sminthurides aquaticus and is another of the aquatic Springtails, these are quite strange ghostly looking Collembola, but interesting nonetheless. I have yet to witness the premating ritual, the male is considerably smaller than the female(Pictured here) and has specially adapted antennae, they lock onto the females antennae and the males are actually raised into the air, really hoping I can get a shot of this someday soon. The female grows to about 1mm in length and the male about 0.5mm.

Hopefully, this bad weather will clear by the weekend and I can get out, hopefully I can start photographing some bigger bugs, but at the moment Springtails are fair game :o)

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I found a Common Froghopper and just out of interest I wondered if it would let me photograph it with my MP-E and 112mm of extension tubes, so it did lead me a merry old dance at first, but it eventually gave up and stayed put, I used live view to get focus on the eye, this was the best use of the tiny DOF that I could get on this guy, this is why focus stacking was invented. So anyway, thought I'd share the results of my little experiment with you all. I also did the same experiment with a Harlequin Ladybird, will post that later. I had my aperture set at F/6.3 for this single exposure shot, as this is the aperture I use for my Collembola at this magnification.

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A fine Common Darter resting on the pontoon at Wilford Claypit today. Really nice to see these back again, they have such friendly faces :o)

Anyway, decided to attempt some natural light focus stacking with these. The biggest problem is they have a habit of moving their heads every so often. I managed 26 images on this one before he moved his head, just enough to do one side of his head. I used an F/5.6 aperture, ISO 500 and a 1/100 shutter speed.

Well I've not uploaded one of these in ages. This was a most obliging female Common Darter from last year that adopted my finger as a perch. I managed an 18 image focus stack of this one using one hand, bearing in mind I was also resting on a fence which made things a bit easier. This was a Natural Light image, so I didn't have the extra weight of brackets and flashes. You might remember the other shot I got of this one (See first of comments).

I'm really looking forward to the new Odonata season now :o)

Well I got to the Memorial Gardens for just after nine this morning and there were already a good half dozen Common Darters in the final stages of emergence, but I did find this pretty little lady that was mid emergence, so I got a load of shots of her hanging out of her exuviae, I even got a couple of shots of her pulling herself out of her exuviae. It was quite tricky as she was on the wrong side of the wall of the fountain and just above the water line, I must have looked a right nutter leaning over the wall of the fountain, camera in hand and arm in water LOL :o)

Then I thought, hey lets try a handheld focus stack, so here it is a 34 image natural light focus stack using F/9 and ISO 500 in bright natural light, I was averaging a shutter speed of !/800. This took ages to edit though, the main reason was she was starting to pulsate, if you watch a Dragonfly pumping up its wings and abdomen you can see it pulsating or if you will pumping to inflate those wings. So this caused quite a few movement problems, she was also nodding that head quite a bit as well :o)

The white strands you can see were used to connect the developing Dragonflies spiracles to the gills in the tail end of the exuviae/nymph, Dragonfly nymphs breath through these tail end gills under water and when they emerge the tubes that connect the gills to the spiracles stretch and eventually break off allowing the Dragonfly to be able to start breathing directly through its spiracles. (I think that's right)

Anyway, quite pleased with the results, this is a female by the way starting her new life :o)

My last video is here :o)

www.flickr.com/photos/odonataman/9472398924/in/photostream/

actual emergence video here :-

www.flickr.com/photos/odonataman/9509318393/in/photostream/

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Now this is something you don't see everyday, I was honoured to witness this fabulous egg laying behaviour in Sminthurides aquaticus. I have numbered each image in order of events as follows :-

Numbers 1-4:- This is the excavation phase, the female starts eating into a Duckweed leaf, she will bore in deep enough and wide enough to fit her egg.

Number 5:- She then aligns her abdomen with the hole she has created, lowering her posterior into the hole.

Number 6:- She then produces a single egg.

Number 7:- She then lowers the egg into the hole, she will then cover the egg with secretions, detritus and faeces, this is then stamped down to form a cover over the egg.

Number 8:- She has now changed orientation and her newly laid egg is by her side.

Number 9 :- Each of the raised pale lumps in the Duckweed is an egg, these will eventually hatch out and new Sminthurides aquaticus are born.

I will make all the images viewable, but I have to say this was a real thrill to record, I don't think many have seen this behaviour before :o)

For these I used my MP-E on a 36mm extension tube and a 1.4x teleconverter, these Collembola are about 1mm or so long :o)

All images in first of comments :o)

A rather far out looking Large Red Damselfly, I think I managed to get my camera at a lower angle. I also managed to turn this into a 3 image focus stack taken at f/8. It shows some nice details of lower head structure of a Damselfly.

Another lovely day today and I got loads of Large Red Damselfly shots, but they were all full body shots, again these were far too active for portrait work, I will post a full body shot in the next day or two. It did start getting too windy today and I gave up in the mid afternoon, still had a good old walk and topped the tan up :o)

Still not seeing many Damsels, admittedly there were lots of these LRD's about at Wilford Claypit today, but no other species about, I have seen one or two Blue Tailed Damselflies, but still have not seen any Azures or Common Blues?

Another image in first of comments :o)

Also got an image on the BBC Nature website :o)

www.bbc.co.uk/nature/22115362

This is that scary 10-Spot I found the other day, he is now definitely getting aggressive, I think it's all going to kick off in a minute :)

OK this is rather an unusual post, this is a Protaphorura armata I found in local woodland that had struck this pose and was hardly moving, I kind of thought it might be getting ready to shed its skin, it was definitely alive as in some stacking sequences its legs moved. Anyway, I decided to attempt a focus stack, I had my MP-E on 72mm of tubes and then whacked on my 1.4x teleconverter, I had my aperture set at F/4 and took 12 images in this handheld focus stack. Still need to work out what magnification this was at :o)

Protaphorura armata are a blind Collembola and feed on fungi, they can often be found in large colonies under fallen branches in woodland, they are usually about 2mm in length. They are also very easy to keep in culture and have been used in scientific studies on invertebrate/fungi feeding interactions.

What we see here is a rather unique view of the underside of a Protaphorura armata with mouthparts visible. Something just a little bit unusual I thought you might enjoy seeing :o)

VIEW ON BLACK AND REALLY WORTH VIEWING ORIGINAL SIZE :o)

One from a few weekends ago, this fine Red Deer Stag was having a siesta in the Autumn sun, I think he was recovering after a fight.

I just loved the light and Autumnal colours in this one, the image was taken at ground level with my 400mm F/5.6 on my mini tripod. I just hope we get some sunshine soon, I've not been out with the camera at all for the past two days and back at work tomorrow :o)

500px.com/edwardnurcombe

This was another from Friday afternoon, this is a male Calopteryx splendens, this guy was a bit more fidgety and promptly flew off after a short while. The males are a beautiful metallic blue/green with deep dark eyes, the depth of the colour seems to be dependant on lighting sometimes they appear to be a deeper blue and on other occasions there is more of a blue/green colour.

This was just a 5 image stack at F/11, I used the smaller aperture mainly because he kept moving and only having 5 images made the editing a lot easier :o)

Anyway, lets hope tomorrow is better weather wise than today was LOL :o)

Really chuffed to bits to find another of these fascinating Pseudoscorpions, this could be the last one of these I find this year. This one was very sedate and hardly moved and this allowed me to do an 8 image handheld focus stack, really pleased that it worked reasonably well, I was lucky that it didn't move at all for this one.

These guys are predatory and feed on Collembola, Mites, Psocoptera and anything else they can tackle. I'm not sure which species this is, so if anyone has any idea I will be most appreciative. This one was about 3mm long at a guess, I liked this POV as you can see its chelicerae, apparently they have venom glands in their pincers and use these to paralyse their prey as well as grip the prey. Some species hitch a lift with other larger insects by gripping on to the insects leg, this is known as phoresy :o)

ID could be Chthonius ischnocheles, this makes 3 different species found to date :o)

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A head on view of the Large Skipper I found recently, This one I'm quite happy with as it was taken on a blustery afternoon and it is a 15 image head on handheld focus stack. I was surprised by how little the antennae moved during the stack, but saying that it still took ages to edit in Zerene. I could have gone deeper into the stack, but after 15 images it was getting a bit much LOL :o)

Anyway, as I said a 15 image handheld focus stack, using an f/8 aperture, shutter speed 1/200 and ISO 160. I didn't venture out with the camera today, far too blustery and some of those showers were a bit on the heavy side, but looking a lot better for tomorrow, so I reckon get up early and see what I can do :o)

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Always like it when you can get a different view of a Dragon, this guy was on a fence and allowed me to take some shots from a lower angle, I'm quite happy with the diffused flash, the specular highlight on the eyes is from something called a sun and unfortunately I cannot control this, unless shooting on a cloudy day, but then Dragons tend to hide when it's cloudy, no win situation I guess LOL

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It's raining again

Oh no, my love's at an end.

Oh no, it's raining again

and you know it's hard to pretend.

Oh no, it's raining again

Too bad I'm losing a friend.

Oh no, it's raining again

Oh will my heart ever mend.

Oh no, it's raining again

You're old enough some people say

To read the signs and walk away

It's only time that heals the pain

And makes the sun come out again

It's raining again

Oh no, my love's at an end.

Oh no, it's raining again

Too bad I'm losing a friend.

Song by "Supertramp", back in the day (1982) LOL :o)

Another wash out of a week, hardly stopped raining today, as well as being cold and breezy, anyway, this guy didn't mind the weather last week, it had just started raining when I took this one.

Just looking back to this time last year, I had seen my first Dragonfly and a few days prior to that my first Damselflies and there were swarms of Bibio marci everywhere. I'm just hoping this means a really long warm spell at some point, please :o)

Will try and get some motivation back soon, hoping for a dry spell at some point this weekend, what do you reckon are the odds on that?

Have a great weekend :o)

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Found the largest Salticidae I have yet seen in Valkenburg and she was eating a Pardosa sp. Wolf Spider, I got a few shots, but I just wanted to do a crop of her eyes, so beautiful :)

I think the great appeal of macro photography is seeing details that the human eye cannot normally see. For example the structure of a compound eyes, the ocelli arrangement on the head or just the fact that many insects are a lot hairier than you'd imagine.

I found these Spangle Galls on an Oak today and thought that they would look nice with some back lighting from the sun.

Oak spangle galls caused by larvae of the Neuroterus quercusbaccarum gall wasp, on underside of an oak (Quercus sp.) leaf. The wasp larvae overwinter in the galls, and emerge in the Spring.

Out of stock, shock horror, no more Spangles left :(

www.aquarterof.co.uk/spangles-p-151263.html

A male Erythromma najas or the Red-eyed Damselfly, this was a big tick on my hit list this morning, I have wanted to do a portrait of one of these for ages, so could not believe my luck when I found this beauty. Thought I'd beat the rain this morning so went out at 5am, amazingly it started raining on my way home at 7am, but I'm not too bothered now that I've found this one :o)

Wiki says :-

The species is a small damselfly, 35 millimetres (1.4 in) long, predominantly black with iridescent blue markings. The male resembles blue-tailed damselflies (Ischnura species) but is distinguished by its large, spaced eyes that are a deep red. It is very similar to the Small Red-eyed Damselfly.

I think this one is still fairly young, I'm sure that the eyes get redder than this, also it wasn't the only one with red eyes this morning LOL :o)

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Well after the glorious day that was yesterday the rain has set in again, so here's one from the archives. A Common Blue Damselfly covered in dew from one of my early morning macro shoots in June (Seems so far away now), I'm hoping that next year I will go full throttle at these dudes. I have been getting back into shape and have lost a load of weight, mainly down to diet and exercise, but feel so much better, also nice to get into some of my old clothes again LOL :o)

This was a 2 image stack in Zerene, I think I will try to perfect this next year and try using a smaller aperture for sharper results, but still I like this cheeky little lady, the diffusion issues don't seem to be as much of an issue early morning.

Hoping everyone has an excellent week :o)

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See how long you can look into my eyes for :o)

Sorry another Common Darter, this was a head on shot, I did try this as a stack but this one wouldn't stop chewing, maybe when I eventually get Zerene I will be able to do the stack and make the required edits, so for know this is a single frame image, but I like the mesmerising look of this female Sympetrum striolatum, it was either this or more Springtails LOL :o)

This was another fill in flash experiment with an ISO of 800 and 1/60 exposure, flash in TTL mode. I'm thinking of experimenting with cross polarised flash, I just need to get some polarised film to put infront of my flash, I already have a Circular Polariser for my MP-E, apparently you can cut out a lot of the reflections on the surface of your subject, any hints or tips appreciated :o)

Found this link on Cross Polarisation :-

www.naturescapes.net/042004/wh0404.htm

A MUST VIEW ON BLACK

Another gusty, windy and breezy day, so decided to take refuge in local woodland, found loads more of these Allacma fusca, they have amazing textural features on their faces and make interesting subjects. I decided to experiment with extension tubes and this was taken again at x5 magnification and a full 68mm of extension tubes, focusing becomes a very fine line at this magnification and this is a single image shot at 1/200 shutter speed, ISO 100 and F/8 aperture.

Hoping to do an early rise tomorrow, will see how it goes. Also, who told Mosquitoes they could bite through jeans, I got bit on my left knee, I had repellant on my arms, hands and head, but the little gits decided to play dirty, no fair :o(

VIEW ON BLACK ;O)

A very chilled out Dicyrtomina saundersi, I went out to see if I could find any after last nights heavy frost, well it proved very difficult, but after an hour of searching I found this little lady on the underside of a very frosty bit of wood, also she was not frozen and she was moving about slowly, this was almost the shot I wanted, really was hoping to find a frozen individual :o)

Have a great weekend all and wrap up warm :o)

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So I thought I'd go back and try some unused stacks in Zerene, this was a 12 image focus stack from back in May and now I really really want it to be next year and Spring, far too wet and cold here LOL.

Next time I try one of these I will definitely use a larger aperture, I think this was at x2 on my MP-E with an F/9 aperture, I think it would have been much better at f/5.6 or something. I used both PMax and DMap for this and edited between the two, still so much to learn with stacking :o)

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Well one of the great things about my new job is that I work Tuesday to Saturday, so today was a day off. So I decided to take a trip to Newstead to hunt Tigers (Of the Beetle variety). Unfortunately there were none about and I didn't get much else in the macro department.

Anyway, on my way home I met this obliging Comma that allowed me to take a few close portraits. This was an 11 image stack taken at F/10, ISO 320 and a 1/160 shutter speed. I was at about x2.5 mag for this image. They really are very handsome Butterflies when you get up close to them. This one kept settling on the ground and for this one it settled on a rock on a rockery, funnily enough this one was settling in the same place yesterday and was easy to approach :o)

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I was really pleased to find these fine looking Springtails yesterday, these are Podura aquatica and are a truly aquatic Springtail, they live on the surface tension of still bodies of water like pools, ponds and lake shores. These were found at a new site I discovered and they were plentiful at the edge of this small pond at the Skylarks Nature Reserve, it's a great out of the way reserve, very quiet and peaceful.

Anyway, when I took this shot I hadn't realised that there were 2 in shot as I was using live view and was zoomed in at x5, so was only trying to focus on the main central individual. I really like these, they have a certain appealing quality to them. I got really wet and muddy trying to photograph these, note to self, take waterproof groundsheet next time LOL, I looked like a real tramp walking home covered in mud LOL :o)

What Wiki has to say :-

The water springtail (Podura aquatica) is a species of springtail, one of only four described species in the family Poduridae. It is an abundant species with a Holarctic distribution.

As its common and scientific names suggest, this is an exclusively aquatic species, living its whole life as a scavenger on the surface of all kinds of still water. It is a squat species up to 1.5 mm in length, usually bluish grey but sometimes almost black. The furcula is large and flattened, allowing the animal to jump without breaking the surface tension of the water.

DEFINITELY VIEW ON BLACK

I dedicate this shot to Eddie The Bugman (a.k.a. Edward Nurcombe), a master of this type of portrait, whose photographs are an inspiration to me. Eddie hasn't posted since 2015, and appears to have fallen off the Internet. I hope he's OK - any news would be welcomed.

Pentax D-FA 100mm F/2.8 WR Macro, with HD DA 1.4X tele-converter, Raynox DCR-250, and off-camera diffused Godox AD180 flash. Five-frame handheld focus stack. 17MP crop to 4:3 aspect ratio.

IMPORTANT:

If you would like to use this photo in a way that is appropriate under its Creative Commons license, you are welcome to do so, but please make sure to credit me by my real name and Flickr handle, and please also include a link to the Flickr page of the photo, as well as a link to the relevant Creative Commons license text. I have put examples of proper attribution on my profile page. Optionally, you may also send me a little note about your use... :)

For any other type of use, please contact me to properly license this image.

Thank you!

(IMGP9976-80_ZSDMap80R_Cr4b3_EtcShrp5)

It's a rainy day today and no macro photography fun for me. So here is one from the oh so recent archives.

A rather lovely Salticus scenicus on the wall patrol, these are great fun to watch as they crawl around on the side of a brick wall looking for a meal and I don't mind the strange looks I get when standing there looking at brick walsl. Even better the looks you get when you are trying to take photo's of these when leaning against brick walls, great fun LOL :o)

Anyone having problems with their contact view in Justified mode, it doesn't always seem to work ????

VIEW ON BLACK

I could not have passed up such an opportunity, two Allacma fusca's for the price of one. These two were almost side by side and completely motionless. So I set about doing a handheld stack of 21 images, I placed a dead leaf in the background and that gave the nice background colour. I used my MP-E at x5 on my 1.4x teleconverter and a 12mm extension tube, I used ISO 200, 1/160 shutter speed and an aperture of F/5. These guys were about 2-2.5mm in length, quite large for Globular Springtails :o)

I did try a second stack, but they had other ideas and had started moving about, so I'm really pleased the first stack worked out. I love these Springtails, they make superb macro subjects and are fascinating Collembola :o)

Please note this was shot in the great outdoors, these guys were on a fallen stick in a woodland environment :o)

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