Up Close with Nature

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to you and your family! Now a muack from the fly :D (front a couple of years ago :D) Hover fly Santa and giraffe weevils reindeer :D..recycled from last year, or maybe 2 years ago:D. Remind me to do a new one next year! Oh I couldn't resist adding the red nosed lanternfly in :D...that was last year :D If you want to see more lanternflies, click

2011 is almost over and as usual, I spent some time going through the images I have taken this year to come out with this mosaic. Created using BigHugeLabs' Mosaic Maker. It's been a good year. I only realized I found 5 new species (to me) of lantern bugs this year after going through the whole year's images. I had also managed to cross off a few insects/arthropods from my wish list, such as

This is an alternative to the FMMB and it is also wireless! No ETTL cord (CANON OC-E3 OFF CAMERA SHOE CORD ) needed! If you really like the FMMB (Front Mounted Macro Bracket) but don't know how to DIY one for yourself, fret not. There's an easy way out, and it won't really cost you a lot! Items like extension tubes and Canon Speedlite 270EX II Flash  are items that will come in really handy in

Lacewing and mantidfly are insects in the order Neuroptea (net winged insects). Both are quite rare, at least here in Malaysia. I have only seen like 7 lacewings in four years of macro photography, and even fewer mantidflies! Other Neuropterans like antlions and owlflies will be included here as well. My first mantidfly. What a gorgeous creature! Another shot of this beauty. Another one with

This is a collection of all the sleeping wasps and bees I have encountered during night macro. You won't find them sleeping like this during daylight. Sleeping blue cuckoo bee, Thyreus sp. profile shot I don't like to sleep alone :D (Halictidae: Nomiinae) Blue banded bee Hover wasp (Vespidae: Stenogastrinae) Another sleeping bee (Halictidae: Nomiinae)

Gonocephalus grandis is a diurnal species that is native to primary rainforests and good secondary forests They occur mainly along streams of all sizes.  More tropical reptiles and herps here. A male adult Gonocephalus grandis,  Great angle head lizard in all his glory. A full body shot showing how long its tail is! A female, adult. She wasn't shy and let me got really close!

Sharing another full flash macro rig. This time it's from Matt (MVers on Flickr). He uses Sigma 150mm and 48mm of tubes plus 1.4X TC. More macro rigs here. Sigma 150, 48mm of extension tubes, 1.4x teleconverter, 580EX II and big DIY Diffuser. There is an adjustable panel for you to control the amount of light diffusion to suit different subject. Great idea, right? You can control the