Spotted Litter Frog

a new collection for me, the night frogging trip was fun … we spent 2-3 hours to have few interesting found ….

[thanks Andy Paul for the invite and ID]
[thanks Hurnain, Khatijah from MNS for the guide]
[thanks Maureen for always a good eye to find something for us]

this frog is interesting … it try very hard to leave us one of the do) by crawling instead jumping 😀 it is so funny … and it is simply beautiful

Spotted Litter Frog
Spotted Litter Frog
Spotted Litter Frog

the orange/reddish eye attract me most beside the

 

 

how spotted Litter Frgo crawling

 

 

 

Ant-Mimic Spider fight for a “girl”

I witness a ant-mimic male guide or seem protect the female .. I was observe it (~10-15min) hope for something interesting happen among the male A (with tag) and female

but suddenly another male (Male B) turn up and try to fight with the male (it happen so fast (<1-2s) and they end up at this position …

after the Male A got kill, male B look at the female for a while outside the web … but the female just run away …. (even before I can try to give her a close up shot)

Ant-mimic spider fight for female

some of my Ant-mimic spider collection

http://liewwkphoto.com/blog/?p=326

 

and was with my update lighting setup

http://liewwkphoto.com/blog/?p=102

New Collection – the Ant-mimic Jumping spider

I was there (drive ~20km) for a robberfly which I met one day before (and I don;t have my macro gears with me)…

but accidentally found this Ant-mimic for me .. never see this type … and not only new found but I witness an amazing moment … the both male fight for something !!!!!… (will share the other picture to show what it fight for later … need to little stack work on that)

... Ant-mimic jumping spider ...

and the moment they fight …

... fight for ? | Ant-mimic jumping spider ...

not a most beautiful ant-mimic that I saw before but this is a beautiful one too …

few types of Ant-mimic collection

1. An ant mimic spider of the genus myrmarachne that mimic Tetraponera rufonigra ant

Ant-mimic - Male myrmarachne

2. … Ant-mimic crab | Amyciaea lineatipes having prey …

Amyciaea lineatipes

3. Ant-mimic jumping spider | 蟻蛛 (male)

Ant-mimic jumping spider | 蟻蛛 (male)

4. very common black myrmarachne

myrmarachne

Spider collection by liewwk

Spiders COllection

 

 

How I shoot Macro – Extension Tubes Magnification

I am not sure how could I missed out this topic in my old and new blog …let me add this back to my share…

#### from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extension_tube

An extension tube is an accessory for cameras with interchangeable lenses, used primarily for macro photography. The tube contains no optical elements; its sole purpose is to move the lens farther from the image plane. The farther away the lens is, the closer the focus, the greater the magnification, and also the greater the loss of light (requiring a longer exposure time). Lenses classically focus closer than infinity by moving all optical elements farther from the film or sensor; an extension tube simply imposes this movement.

##############################

other word, it allow us to shoot object closer (so it is bigger) but it do lost infinity focus (mean cannot shoot far) and some light lost ….

the magnification again simple can get by shooting the ruler to see what magnification you have e.g.

if you have crop body 40d, which mean yours sensor size should be 35mm/1.6=21.8mm

at 1:1 your wide of single frame short should occupy by 21.8mm object ……. so add on with ET if your shot is 10.9mm mean u get

21.8/10.9 = 2x magnification 😀

or we can use formula

X/focal length = magnification

Y = X + ET (in mm added)

e.g.

100mm L

X/100 = 1

so X=100

if we add on 12mm + 20mm Kenko ET s0 we will get Y=X + ET = 100+32=132mm

so new magnification should be 132/100 = 1.32x

… there is another thing we may concern is the MFD (minimum focus distance)

1) M = b/a
2) 1/a + 1/b = 1/f
3) MFD = a + b

where
M: Magnification
a: lens-to-subject distance
b: lens-to-film/sensor distance
f: focal length

 

a Beautiful forest gecko | Marbled Forest Gecko

I am happy that invited by Andy, Paul , Hurnain, Khatijah for this night outing for reptiles … we were happy with 1 snake, 3 frogs, 1 tortise few macro model for ~2 hours walk in the jungle …

among all find, I am impress with this beautiful forest Gecko (Marbled Slender-toed Gecko or cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus) .. it is so beautiful but too bad it leave us after few captures by me and Andy … sorry Hurnain 😀

... forest gecko | Marbled Slender-toed Gecko ...

not really have many reptiles and Gecko in my collection .. but I would love to do more in future …

Gecko series

 

Stars and Bug chasing Outing on 24-25 March 2011…

weather look good now (most of the night are clear) .. so I would like to go for quick stars chase & macro

Genting Highland – Bukit Tinggi
24 March
~1130pm – should be meet up in the mid night ~11pm

25 March
~ 2am – start look for star
~ 6am – change location for sunrise
~ 8-9am – breakfast near Gohtong Jaya
~ 10am-3pm – MACRO @Bukit Tinggi

so if you want to learn shoot star and MACRO, I am there to sharing some of my experiences to you all

1. stars

2. sunrise

... the gap is just too small ...

3. MACRO

have been long never meet a "Rhino"

 

 

 

The Blue Bee – Cukcoo Bee (Thyreus sp)

while I first see this bee .. I was amaze how fast it flying around, it is like impossible see what’s the fly or bee flying so fast with blue “thing” so I use few hours sit there and wait .. and trying to observe what’s the “object” flying around

Finally, I managed to “pause” and capture my very 1st “blue bee”

and few weeks later while I do my usual night MACRO, I found the Blue bee sleeping !!!!!!

since then, I love to see this bee sleep … and start love to find it as … it never move after sleep … it use it tooth clamp on the any stick, no matter how u shake, move it around. It will never woke us easily

This Bee , it is almost impossible to shoot day time where it fly real fast … you need a lot of patient to shoot it …. and it is good to capture while it sleep , it never move even we move it around, flash it …

and I even able to shoot 10x

10x

since then I never stop shooting it … even I have >100 pictures how this bee sleeping … even I brought some of my close friend to this spots to find it and shoot it for many times …

blue cuckoo bee

I have some video show how this bee woke up and flew off just within seconds ….

 

My 1st Milky Way …

it is not a dream, we able to shoot the Milky way at not really too dark area … it was my dream to chase it 2010 but some how I failed to make it … but 2011 me and my few close friends (shunfa, Lio, Jason … SP …. Mingkai) have start our crazy chasing project where we travel  ~400km (return) 3 times in a week …. even we try to make it coming weekend but due to the some security issue at the location so we decided to cancel our trip there ….

one of the failure Milky chase

My friend – Shunfa was so happy while he 1st got it with him 30mm F1.4 … and too bad what I have much obvious compare to what he has, not matter what setting I use (high ISO, long exposure, ISO NR, LE NR … ) but my F2.8 lenses still cannot get any clearer Milky as compare that 30mm F1.4 got … hmmmm so the conclusion is under not so dark place. it is always good to use bigger aperture lenses to have more stars, brighter stars (so thicker star trail) and more objects (Milky way) …

the Milky way

let’s me share my setting and some PP done on this

Canon 5dm2 + Canon 15mm F2.8 + tripod for sure
# Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 43/1 second ===> 43 second
# Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 28/10 ===> ƒ/2.8
# ISO Speed Ratings = 500
– no Manipulation  done ..
– crop both site to make square look (no crop on top and bottom)
– some dodge and burn on the sky

and previous share How I shoot Stars..

New Collection – … Mayfly 蜉蝣 | Order Ephemeroptera 蜉蝣目

a surprise found while my last year trip to Terenggnu for Monsoon season shooting (a beautiful place for landscape)

Terengganu series

In the hotel room, we found some interesting Mayflies (very tiny ~2-4mm), beetle and soldierflies …but I was too tired to capture all but can’t stop to try my best to capture these Mayflies ….

and found nearby another good looking type … and not sure are both related

and also found the very interesting view in the Mayfly stomach ..

better view @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/liewwk/5490665262/

more Mayflies pictures

How do I shoot Panorama 360×180

it is not easy to make this without the right tool but I think with handhold + some basic tripod we still able to shoot this … I am using Panaroma head , previously I was using Manfrotto 303SPH but very soon I make decision to change to Nodal Ninja due to the flexibility(dissemble to smaller part) & the weight (it is ~4 times lighter)

Compare the competition and avoid falling into the red.
Below are some full spherical panoramic tripod heads that achieve very similar functions.
(below prices may not reflect current pricing)
Model Approx.
Weight
Approx.
Size Closed
Approx.
Retail Price
Nodal Ninja 3 MKII 1lb 1oz. 7″x2″x2″ $209.95
Nodal Ninja 5Lx 1lb 14oz. 8″x3″x2″ $294.95
Manfrotto 303SPH 4lbs 4oz 11x7x6 $517.95
MK Panohead-II 2lbs 4oz 10″x4″ $780.00
Really Right Stuff (no click stops) 2lbs 9oz 12″x6″x4″ $800.00
Kaidan QuickPan Pro
(OUT OF BUSINESS)
4lbs 12oz 12″x5.5″x3″ $849.95
360Precision Adjuste 2lbs 4oz 8.2″x4″x2.2″ $1,175.00

source from http://www.nodalninja.com/

My original plan for this head is to shoot Panorama shot using UWA wide so I can get higher resolution and wider view of my Landscape shots e.g.

http://www.liewwkphoto.com/gallery4.htm

But I know it can create spherical pano and 360×180 pano still so I had tried few times to make some shots …as below

and it also can create still rotational view @

http://www.liewwkphoto.com/still/PD/whereweshoot/PD2011Feb.htm

But then, how do I shoot this ?

1. we need the tool , and for me Nodal Ninja, DSLR and lenses

2. then the only difficult part is to find the entrance pupil/nodal point , a point where it should maintain the center no matter how we rotate our camera

if you are lucky then yours’ setup should listed @ http://www.nodalninja.com/support/camerasettings.html.. else you need to find one

2i. the bottom axis is fix by camera (refer as A on link above)

the other should depend lenses and focal length (refer as B on link above)

Entrance Pupil

2ii. use a close value base on the web site above put 2 stick together

How to find Entrance Pupil
Where to shoot while find Entrance Pupil

2iii. rotate yours pano head

how I rotate my pano head to get Entrance Pupil

2iv. no matter how we rotate, the 2 stick should maintain at same position

at center

left from center

left from center

right from center

right from center

try to adjust as much as possible to get better result so we can can accurate entrance pupil so all the frame of the picture can stack without any distortion

3. with the correct reading and shoot the series (make sure every pictures have overlap area)

3i. with the software Photoshop or PTGui (pano software) all pictures can be stack together as below

here is the result …

#######################################################

with the reading above then we have the specify len Entrance Pupil which can use to create panorama or 360×180 pano with the setting just shoot with both A & B reading set on the pano head ….

I will keep this update, which mean I will do more pano using this head in near further .. so stay tune ………

and if you use Canon 5dm2

i. SIGMA24mmF1.8
ii. Canon 24105F4L
iii. Canon 1635L m2
iv. Canon 15mm F2.8

and need the entrance pupils … then drop me a message so I can share my reading to you