macro hijinks

[joshman]

ok, in the same vein (vain? vane?...?) as my other thread (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=28000), here's some photos i took while at my parents place, though these are almost expressly macro. i found an old pair of 7x50 tasco binoculars and stole one of the front elements. by holding this reversed (outside towards the lens) upto the front of the camera lens, it gave some super awesome magnification as well as allowing me to get amazingly closer to my subjects (a major plus for using the 70-300mm lens!) here's the setup for each photo:

1.) Bee on basil plant
canon 400D, with 28-90mm @ 90mm

2.)bull ant on tile
canon 400D, 28-90mm @ 86mm with binocular lens, subject 5-10mm

3.) yellow spider on leaf
canon 400D, 70-300mm @ 190mm with binocular lens, subject about 5mm long

4.) bee on weird red flower thing
canon 400D, reverse mounted 50mm prime

5.) spider in web
canon 400D, 28-90mm @ 90mm with binocular lens, subject about 5mm long

[Sharnbrook]

No 5 is interesting, as there is a maggot/grub/caterpillar BEHIND the mouthparts of the spider, and one has to wonder what it's doing there. It's almost as if the spider has had a few sucks on it, and put the rest behind its ear, as if it was a fag-end, which s/he is going to finish later. Generally, the insect is either eaten there and then, or wrapped up in a silken parcel for consumption later. Do you know what happened to it?

[Jarrod]

AWESOME!!!! :eyepop:

that grub is actually a parasite sucking at the spider like a leech. eventually the spider will die and the grub will finish it off and then spin a cocoon to change into an adult wasp.

one i saw on a David Attenborough documentry ('life in the undergrowth', even if you dont like creepy crawlies, its an awesome documentry and worth getting) injects a chemical into the spider when its ready to eat it. the chemical eventually kills the spider, but before the spider dies the chemical effects its brain and makes the spider build a big tangly bundle of web. then after the grub has sucked all the juice from the dead spider, it wraps its self in the the tangly web to use as its cocoon!!!

all the pictures are awesome, but that one is particually special. :thumbsup:

Jarrod

[joshman]

that is awesome, i'll be especially keeping an eye on that spider!

[ving]

hey that last spider with the parasite!!! what a capture! :)

[MrB]

Nice Josh!
Macrophotography is fun isn't it?, I've only got a cheap Canon 2megapixel point-and-shoot, tho here's a couple of mine:

1 = beer
2 = condensation on a water bottle left in the sun
3 = same
4 = 5c coin

[joshman]

i just took delivery of all my proper macro adapters today, so my kit now includes:

a set of extension tubes,
an EOS to 58mm adapter,
a 58-58mm male-male adapter,
and a 52-58mm thread adapter

so i should be able to kick out some sweet macro this weekend, keep an eye round here for some results!

[MrB]

Nice!
Those of mine were done with a 55mm Pentax SMC Takumar SLR lens held by hand in front of the digitals lens, Objective to objective.
There are adaptor rings made to mate two 50's face to face, is that what your 58-58 is for?
Been wanting to buy a Pentax OEM extension set for my SLR(film) for years, but they're now fetching 'collectors' prices :( (M42 mount)

[joshman]

yeah, the 58-58mm male to male adapter mates two lens' with a 58mm filter thread together, it's a whole lot of fun, as soon as i'm back on my computer and had time to process the images, i'll show you what my 50mm prime lens reversed onto my 300mm zoom can do.

you might be amazed. :D