Silvereye Zosterops lateralis

Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis) is a small (10-12grams) bird found in most states of Australia including Tasmania. The Silvereye have also been sighted in New Zealand and even have a Maori name, Tauhou which means “new arrival”.  These photos were taken a few years ago near Magic Point,  Maroubra NSW.

Silvereye in spring

The photo above was one of the photos exhibited in my solo photo exhibition Swapping the Stethoscope for a 400mm Lens. This photo was sold for $188 with the proceedings donated to Sydney Children Hospital Foundation. I consider this as one of the best Australian bird photos I have taken so far.

Opps... dropping it.

This post also celebrate my blogging milestone. 200 posts since moving over to WordPress. Next milestone, 100 000 views. Currently sitting at 92 600, do visit again.

Celebrating 200 posts

You can never take the same photograph twice;

Neither can you have the same feeling by viewing the same photograph twice.*

*A photograph may seem the same, but our mental state fluctuates every moment. Our appreciation and interpretation of the photos is very much influenced by our state of mind. Therefore it is unlikely that we would have the same feelings while looking at the same photo at different times. Inspired by the teaching of Impermanence.

My Australian Birds List

Photography Equipments

Canon EOS 350D

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens

Garden Jumping Spider (Opisthoncus parcedentatus)

Garden Jumping Spider

Garden Jumping Spider (Opisthoncus parcedentatus) is a common spider found in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. Some people believe that this species is found all over Australia. The spider is roughly 12mm in size. Garden Jumping Spider is usually found on foliage and leaf.

Garden Jumping Spider (Opisthoncus parcedentatus)

The  colourful markings on Opisthoncus parcedentatus apparently can be different in each individual of the same species. Looking through some photos of the species, this spider has similar markings compared to the others, hopefully I got the identification (ID) right. Please let me know if you think otherwise.

8 eyes...

8 Eyes, quite a few with catchlight. Catchlight is the little bright spots you see in the eyes. In portrait photography, catchligh is supposed to  add a glint or spark to a subject’s eyes bringing the subject to life. I supposed in Macro photography the idea is still applicable.

Ready to jump

Since I do not owned a purposed build macro-flash, I had to modify my Canon Speedlite 580EX II for these photos. To overcome the problem of not being able to direct the flash light very efficiently, I bummed up the output of the flash. Using ETTL +2 setting for the shots above. What do you think about the lighting technique?

Garden Jumping Spider With dinner...This photo has been rotated 180 degree.

Caught this Garden Jumping Spider feasting under a leaf. This created a little problem as I was unable to bounce my flash  accurately through the thick foliage. With some tweeting, the lighting turn out to be quite interesting.

The modification to the Speedlite is simple, idea borrowed from from Bluemonkey’s set up. Initially used to overcome the high ceiling during Unibuds Bodhi Nite 2011. A white cardboard was use to reflect light onto the subject. 2 rubber band from Transplant Australia hold it in place.

 

Useful links for Spider identification

1. Spiders of Australia

2. http://www.brisbaneinsects.com

3. http://arachne.org.au

4. http://www.findaspider.org.au

 

My other spider post

http://chenghiang.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/sidymella-longipes/

 

Photographic equipments

1. Canon 350D

2. Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS Macro lens

3. Canon 580EX II speedlight

Olive-backed Oriole

Caught a big hairy caterpillar

Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) one of the 3 species of Orioles found in Australia. This Australian bird is widely distributed across Northern and Eastern Australia. The Olive-backed Oriole’s habitats includes woodland and rain forest.

Tenderlising the catch before dinner.

This set of photos was taken a few days ago near Parramatta Lake, NSW Australia. The Oriole was found in a dense woodland, therefore photography is as challenging as usual. Firstly, to get a clear view of the oriole was difficult. As you can see from the photo, branches are always in the way. I must say that I am pretty happy that in these photos, I was able to get the eyes in focus. Other challenges includes, low lights settings.

Having caught a hairy juicy caterpillar, the Olive-backed Oriole was distracted a little, enough for me to moved in to get my shots. According to some sources, the main diet of   Olive-backed Oriole is wild fruits and berries. However, this particular bird seems to enjoy caterpillar more than anything else.

Check out the dark streak on the breast

This is how you should not photograph a bird. Shooting from below on a bird that is perching on a branch. The photograph is not flattering for the bird. However this shot was taken, and publicised here, as it helps with I identification of the bird. I often do take photos like these in the field, to help with ID at home.

My Australian Birds List

Photography Equipments

Canon EOS 350D

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens

Grey Striped Fly Sarcophaga aurifrons

Click on picture for a full detail of the fly

Grey Striped Fly

Grey Striped Fly (Sarcophaga aurifrons) found in Australia. This fly was photographed near Parramatta NSW. Very tolerant to human beings. I was able to get within 15cm from it. Photo taken in the field. No bug was harm.

The fly was identified with help of the websites below.

http://www.ozanimals.com/wildlife/Insect/Flies.html

http://bugshots.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/grey-striped-fly-sarcophaga-aurifrons/

Photographic equipments

1. Canon 350D

2. Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS Macro lens

3. Canon 580EX II speedlight

Dead links

Nothing is permanent. Blogs and webpages come and go. This is a fact of life. Having a little free time lately, I take this chance to clean up the links on my page. If your page/blog is still alive in another form, please let me know:)

Alive and well blogs/Pages

1. Dharma Forest by Ven. Heng Sure (http://paramita.typepad.com/dharma_forest/)

2. IMU Buddhist Society

3. Tina Ng’s Blog http://tinlala.wordpress.com/

4. Meiling’s Blog http://meilin9.blogspot.com/

5. The Catty life http://cats-thoughts.blogspot.com/ moved to http://www.thecattylife.com/

6. Uncle Ding’s blog http://cityding.blogspot.com/  Highly recommended blog of a thinking man.

7. Dennis Kee’s Blog  http://denniskee.blogspot.com

8. MayChing’s Blog http://www.mchyl.net

9. PeiJen’s Taming the Monkey Mind http://hopeijen.blogspot.com/

10. Pilocarpine http://lowkahpin.blogspot.com/

11. Yee Pei’s blog http://www.yeepei.com/

Inactive blogs

1. Cheng Tuck

2. Rossie’s Blog http://roujinlim.wordpress.com/

3. ShiYing’s Blog http://iooginyihs.wordpress.com/

4. Kelly’s Blog http://warriorkelly.xanga.com/

5. KaLing’s Blog http://katz-seabreeze.xanga.com/

6. 扬扬依依的小日子

7. ~Serenity~

8. Jocelyn’s Blog http://www.missj-fragile7.blogspot.com/

9. Dodo’s Blog  http://swallowyen.wordpress.com/

10. TowShung’s blog http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/towshungtan TowShung passed away in May 2011. RIP.

Dead blogs, page not found

1. Aunearthed: Aun’s life journey

2. 祥缘的部落

3. Julian’s blog run4thehills

4. Khai Yi’s blog

5. PeiWen’s New Blog

6. Yee Herng’s blog

Juvenile Noisy Miner

Juvenile Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala)

Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) .

This flightless Juvenile Noisy Miner was found on the ground in a parkland somewhere near Brisbane, Australia. It must have fallen off the tree. The other noisy miners around it was raising alarm and creating a commotion, obviously they were upset that they had no way to bring this young one back into the safety of the nest.

I do not have a particular liking for this species, especially after witnessing how a gang of Noisy miners nearly killed a dove. However, I felt obligated to bring this young one to safety. I knew that if it is left alone, a dog or cat would have taken it as dinner in no time.

While standing over it, I took a few photos using my phone camera. Birding with a phone camera… this was the first for me, and the picture turn out pretty good.

A boy came over with his grandpa, he offered to take this bird home and care for it. This was a lucky bird…

My Australian Birds List

Photography Equipments-

Nokia E72

Sidymella longipes

?Sidymella longipes

I think this is Sidymella longipes, a spider belonging to the Crab spider family. It could well be a Sidymella trapezia, but according to my reading, the Sidymella trapezia is smaller and have a more proportional leg length. If any arachnologist out there could give me a pointer, I am very happy to edit this post and get the ID right.

Venturing into macro photography. It is a different ball game compared to bird photography and event photography that I am more used to.  I still have the Canon 350D body, still waiting for the 5D mk3 to be released. The macro-lens used in this shot is the Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS, beautiful lens that give you 1:1 magnification. Would be nice to have 5x magnification, but this would mean I need to learn how to use the extension tubes (or get a new lens).

It would be nice to have the Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX, but that would set me back another 1000AUD. Modified my 580 EX II a little, I thought the effect is not bad. Could not have done this without a flash.

Depth-of-field is challenging. Could hardly get one of the eyes in focus, and this spider got about eight eyes!

 

Inspired by the peacock spider dance. Maybe one day I will find one in my backyard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GgAbyYDFeg

 

Common Bluetail

Male Common Bluetail

Common Bluetail, Ischnura heterosticta, is a common Damselfly in Australia. Male are blue in colour, while female are green or light brown.

Common Bluetail

These photos were taken with an old entry level dSLR, Canon 350D with the 100mm F2.8L macro lens. Handheld, no flash. In order to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the movement, I have to shoot wide open (F2.8). Therefore, i struggled to get enough depth of field even just to get the eyes in focus.

To overcome this problem, probably need to invest on the twin head flash unit. Also a full frame body with good ISO performance would be really useful. Canon 5Dmk3 for Xmas?

 

Gastro Xmas Party 2011

Gastro Xmas party 2011 marked another end of the year. Some photos taken during the party.

The rest of the photos here.

Last years photos here.

The crowd

The master creation

The ladies

The Slaves

The favourites

The indulgence

The kids

The Salute!

White-browed Scrubwren

White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis)

White-browed Scrubwren, Parramatta Lake, NSW Australia.

2 hours of trekking, hundreds of shots, 1 good photo. Very much worth it. It has been a while since I last gone for a bush walk. Even longer since I have last got a proper bird photo. But once that little scrubwren (average size 12 gram) landed in front of me, instinctively the triggers went off, and luckily I got a good photo to show.

In life, only your skills and knowledge would not desert you… the rest comes and goes.

*

Addendum 29/12/2011

In life, it is difficult to live in isolation, no man is an island. Even though we are interdependent,   there will always be time where you need to fend for yourself.   During difficult times, it is usually the time that you are most isolated. And this is the time, you know who are your true friends. And this is the time, you have to fall back to your skills and knowledge to dig yourself out of the hole.

My friend, I know you standby me. But some battle I have to win it myself!

千千為敵　　一夫勝之　　未若自勝
為戰中上　　自勝最賢　　故曰人雄

 

My Australian Birds List

Photography Equipments

Canon EOS 350D

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens