Photo Adventures with Curiosity and Learning

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March 24, 2007: New Nephila and Insect acrobats

Today I wanted to continue to work on better focus. Seems that for me, this is a huge struggle. My fellow macro-photographers have mastered this but my images are most of the time just off focus. So - more data collection, analysis and hopefully improvement.

A morning from our flat. What a pleasant way to start the day.

mar 24 5564 morning

Early on I saw this unknown something - but only had the time to catch one shot. I shall continue to look

mar 24 5613 unknown

Morning dew

mar 24 5628 drops

Then there was this orange insect, a leafhopper - but there he / she was - sort of showing off different positions. This first shot was with morning dew

mar 24 5600 orange dew

Another

mar 24 5621 orange

From the back

mar 24 5648 orange back

From the side, a smile and both hind legs up

mar 24 5702 orange

Hind legs moving down

mar 24 5703 orange 2legs up

Wings up

mar 24 5708 wings up

Legs up and wings down

mar 24 5722 legs up

Legs back up - long exposure so blurred

mar 24 5734 legs wings up

and a smile with leg fully vertical

mar 24 5749 orange smile

Wings up

mar 24 5763 wings up

A morning glory

mar 24 5842 morning glory

A slightly blurred fly

mar 24 5844 fly drops

From the front

mar 24 5855 fly drops

and from behind

mar 24 5864 fly back

Then I found a large Nephila maculata and the best example of glue on the circumferential strands and no glue on the radial strands

mar 24 5893 nephila web

With a couple of infants (I think - 2013: Wrong think, these are Argyrodes flavescens) - the small small red spiders

mar 24 5910 nephila

Another view of the relative sizes

mar 24 5911 nephila males

This is the best shot I have made of the silk, extruded from her spinneret and used to attach herself to her web

mar 24 5918 nephila connected

From the side

mar 24 5920 nephila side

Well I thought this was a male - but the black legs don't fit so I think these must be infant females. Wrong again - these are invaders - Argyrodes

mar 24 5925 nephila male female

slightly unfocused

mar 24 5930 male

improved

mar 24 5936 male

a bit better focus

mar 24 5943 male

From the side

mar 24 5974 nephia side

and with the sky as the background

mar 24 5987 nephila dorsal

An interesting view with the Argyrodes to the right

mar 24 6002 nephila sky

An unknown

mar 24 6016 unknown

a different view

mar 24 6044 unknown

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C. Frank Starmer