Dollarbird (Eurostomus orientalis)

by | Mar 4, 2016 | Birds, Phuket, Wildlife

dollarbird4

This dollarbird (Eurostomus orientalis) was perched on a dead tree – a favourite spot for them – near our apartment in Kamala, Phuket. A type of roller, this species is so-called because of the shape of the white wing patches seen in flight.

Canon G3X. Left shot ISO500 1/2000 at f/9; right shot ISO125 1/1250 at f/5.6. Both shots cropped and tweaked in LR

Fireflies

by | Jul 17, 2015 | Insects & Spiders, Italy, Wildlife

fireflies2

 

July is the season for fireflies around our garden in the hills of Tuscany. Having shown them to entranced six-year-old granddaughter Mali, I decided it would be fun to photograph them. As ever, the Internet was a font of ideas and this is the result of my efforts.

Six shots taken with my Canon 40D with EFS 10-22mm lens at 22mm, mounted on a tripod with ISO set at 1600, each exposure 15 seconds at f4.5. All files pulled into PS and overlaid as layers. Block all layers (copy the background one first so it’s included) and set the blending mode to ‘lighter colour’. This has the effect of letting the bright spots through the layer pile while ignoring the rest of the images, which then effectively adds all the lights from the fireflies in each shot to the top layer Pretty cool – and Mali now has a lasting record of her magical experience.

Phuket Praying Mantis

by | Dec 17, 2014 | All, Insects & Spiders, Phuket, Uncategorized, Wildlife

Phuket Praying mantis
These fellows seem to follow me around. They are always in the garden or on the terrace at Gupole and yesterday, this guy was on the balcony sliding doors of our apartment in Phuket. He clearly knew that he made a good silhouette as he checked out the apartment, and he obligingly waved his front legs for me.
Canon 40D with a Canon 60mm EFS 2.8 macro lens at ISO 400, 1/1600 at f8
Cropped very slightly in Lightroom.

Praying Mantis

by | Oct 25, 2014 | All, Insects & Spiders, Italy, Wildlife

Praying mantis

A few minutes before I took this shot, this male praying mantis had been floating face down, legs sprawled, in the swimming pool. Whatever stroke he was trying, it wasn’t proving successful, so it was fortunate for him that I wandered past and fished him out. He stood in the sun for some considerable time drying out – you can see a droplet of water on his head behind the antennae – and he was only too happy to repay my service by posing for a few pictures. Just in case he thought it was all too much fun, I then moved him into greenery far from the pool.
Location: Tuscany, Italy

Canon 40D with Canon EF-S 60mm macro lens. ISO 160 f6.3 1/320. Tweaked in LR.