A Few Friendly Creatures

[MarkB1]

Mantis by day. Found on a paperbark tree where it was almost invisible.




Onto my hand for a while, and a few shots, before returning to the wood.


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Drone Fly, after watering the garden one day.


Gearing up for a little preening.


And now for my next trick.


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Mud Wasp, maybe. Immobile on a flower in the middle of the day, unusual for a hungry wasp. Still there when I got back with camera.


She flew around the garden a while, but too cold for more than short trips in search of nourishment. But it wasn't food she was after, uninterested in the butterfly bush behind.


Adopted for the warmth I was, and she held on. We are more dangerous than they are.


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What are the odds ...

A flightless wasp, had a habit of falling out of the trees where I was staying a while.


Can’t remember their name, doing what all creatures do, engaging in the process of reproduction. The essence of nature … to live and die and live again.


Move over mate. These beetles have a season or two in the garden, depends on the flowering. They like the native ‘crocus’ and various flowering herbs. Here a straw-flower, with a resident spider.

[Grumpy John]

Absolutely stunning images as usual Mark, you set the bar to a ridiculously high level. Good to see you posting again

[Ozzie_Traveller]

+1 from Phil

[Isac]

I agree with the admin Mark, superb collection. And lovely little stories to go with them. Well done mate.

[HansE]

Particularly like the the pictorial effect of the beetle in the yellow. Much enjoyed all of the images though.

Thanks Mark

[MarkB1]

Absolutely stunning images as usual Mark, you set the bar to a ridiculously high level. Good to see you posting again

Thanks John. Yes, still going strong, enough ...

[MarkB1]

I agree with the admin Mark, superb collection. And lovely little stories to go with them. Well done mate.

Thanks Isac. Appreciated.

[MarkB1]

Particularly like the the pictorial effect of the beetle in the yellow. Much enjoyed all of the images though.

Thanks Mark

Thanks Hans. Yes, the odd ones are often more interesting.

[kevinj]

Absolutely amazing images,makes my efforts look pretty sad in comparison.How do you light these,there are no shadows,no reflections,almost looks like studio lighting,any advice for an ambitious novice greatly appreciated.

[MarkB1]

Absolutely amazing images,makes my efforts look pretty sad in comparison.How do you light these,there are no shadows,no reflections,almost looks like studio lighting,any advice for an ambitious novice greatly appreciated.

Thanks Kevin. This is a reply I made on another forum, so this is a copy and paste effort.

Clarity is most important, isn't it. I spent years getting it as right as I can, for now.

These few pix are from my macro page (sig link) https://beingmark.com/macro-illustrated/ - if you search the word VELCRO you will get to the start of my bit on setups going back a ways, will explain most of it.

Never used a ring flash. On camera flash is snooted and diffused down a bleach bottle cut to fit, lined with crumpled foil inside and with some filler material covering the opening to break the light up further. More diffusion on the lens itself. Got to be careful not to just block the light with heavy material.

This is basically for 2 - 4 inches working distance, using strong achromat on Oly 60 macro lens.


This is for 4 - 9 inches WD, using weaker achromat.


And this is for the rare long shot, using fill flash, no achromat.

[kevinj]

That is crazy good DIY,need to gather some material and see if I can come up with something for my kit,my 600 EX looks a bit bigger than your unit but I`ll have a go,Thanks for sharing.

[Grumpy John]

Thank you so much for sharing your secrets Mark. There are many who would not do that and it is a credit to you for doing so.

[HansE]

Time and effort for great results. I'm impressed. Thanks for sharing Mark

[Isac]

Bunnings has all you need!

[kevinj]

Bunnings has empty bleach bottles?!!!!Wondering what to use as the filler,don`t know what Achromat is.

[Isac]

Maybe not but it would have most of what you need. Achromatic lenses are add on type lenses that are supposed to educe chromatic aberration. (I think)