A little Common Blue

 

 This is a picture of a Common Blue butterfly which I took in my garden this morning. I'd actually been gardening and not planned to take any photographs. We normally just have cabbage white butterflies in the garden so I was a little excited when I saw this little fellow. It crossed my mind if he would still be there once I returned with my camera. Luckily it was still there although on another bush in the garden. So I fired off a couple of shots and chased him around for a few minutes. This is the result, I hope you like it. 

  MHDigital

Butterfly

Butterfly, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

Another shot from our walk at Chest Woods. Still amazed of the amount of butterflies there that day.

I thought that scientists said that there was a big decline in butterflies this year, well I think they need to visit some other area's rather than their labs. OK, I might be being flippant and they are probably suggesting other species of butterfly.

Damselfly

Damselfly, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

Not sure what kind of Damselfly this is, but it was a remarkable blue colour. I am sure it was playing with me too, as I got close it would fly away.

Monster house fly

I think I was lucky with this little fellow, no matter how close I got he just didn't want to move.  Good for me.

Well this is a shot of a common house fly in all it's glory.   It never ceases to amaze me how hairy these things actually are.  The detail in the eyes are quite spectacular too.

Bee Closeup

Managed to get a good close up of a bee today.  He was cleaning the pollen off his eyes, hence the leg.

I actually used "Live View" to set this shot up, as the ground was wet after the rain.

Settings:

ISO: 100

Speed: 1/250th

F stop: F10

Flash fired -1.25 stops

Hawthorn Shield Bug

Another shot from the garden today. This little critter was on the Pear Tree, and I was wondering if to sqaush it or not. Apparently they do not harm the plants......... Well hopefully.

Techie Bit:

Exposure: 1/125

Aperture: f/7.1

Focal Length: 105 mm

ISO Speed: 200

Damselfly

This is a shot of a common blue Damselfly, taken at Fingringhoe Wick wildlife centre.  There we so many flying around it was hard to focus on them.  This one was on his own for a little while.

The only thing I am dissapointed with is that I jut missed the end of the tail, but I am still happy with the sharpness of the shot.

Unknown Caterpillar

Well this is the first shot with my new camera, just recently got a Canon 40D. Very impressive camera, I feel like a pro now.
Not sure what this caterpillar is, but there are lots of them eating our salad crops. It is unbeliveable how fast these little critters eat, so I expect that there will not be much left for us to eat.
If anyone know what this is, please drop me a comment.
Hope you enjoy looking.

Gatekeeper

This butterfly is called a Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus). Wingspan Male: 37 - 43mm Female: 42 - 48mm.

Took a while for this one to settle, but managed to fire off a couple of good shots. Was lucky enough to be able to drop the ISO down to 200, and the light was good.

Hope you like it.

Heavy Bee

This made me laugh watching this Bee trying too land and feed from this flower.  He was just too heavy and kept sitting on his backend.  You can even see his legs sticking out of the side.

Hope you like it.

Photoshop

Yes, you guess it, another shot with my Sigma 105mm EX DG macro lens. I processed this one in Photoshop CS3, but used some other filters to see what results it brought out.

Filters that I used were "Alien Skin, Exposure" and "Nik Software Sharperner Pro". The Exposure filter give you a chance to apply film filters, on this shot I used Velvia film filter, this give the shot a warmer tone and highlights the colours more. The Sharperner pro filter is pretty good, I think it's better than the "Smart Sharpen" in CS3. Anyway I hope you enjoy the shot.

Dragonfly Macro

I have been watching this Dragonfly fly around the garden for a couple of days.  Finally it needed a rest, so grabbed my camera and fired off a few shots.  I really like this one as it shows lots of details.  Incredible creatures.

Pieris rapae

The Small White (Pieris rapae) is a small to mid-sized butterfly species of the Yellows-and-Whites family Pieridae. It is also commonly known as the Small Cabbage White. The names "Cabbage Butterfly" and "Cabbage White" can also refer to the Large White.

Saturday Morning Macro shot

This is a Speckled Bush Cricket - who I think has eaten my Basil plant.  I took a few shots, and moved him on!  Hope you like the shot.