Ok - deviating slightly from the spiders today... Here's the business end of a stag beetle (I believe Dorcus parallelipipedus) at probably 4x magnification (I forget exactly).

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

- Bill

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/260 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 160.

- Bill

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/8. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100.

- Bill

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/260 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 160.

More to come later...

- Bill

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/20 sec at f/5. Image Stabilization on. ISO 800. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw. Toronto Zoo, Toronto, ON.

- Bill

Ok - still swamped trying to get all the things I need to get done taken care of... So I'm just going to share a quick variety pack from the Allen Garden's Conservatory on the outskirts of downtown Toronto. This small conservatory has a Victorian style greenhouse conservatory and is free to the public (wow!). We just barely got there with enough time to explore the whole place before they closed, but it was worth the walk out to find it.

I wish there were places like that here in downtown Pittsburgh...

- Bill

Just stopping by to share an assortment of that jumping spider I shot on a blue background...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/160 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

- Bill

Another trillium, and again with the glycerine-water. The shape of the flower really lent itself to try for the single large drop hanging from the bottom petal. Unfortunately, I think I missed that and should have been more precise in putting a larger drop right where I needed it.

I honestly debate if I like this shot...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/2.8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw. Trillium Trails, Fox Chapel, PA.

I didn't make it back out the trails, so I'll have to wait another year to try any of these shots again.

- Bill

If you've been following along at home, you might remember a post from about a year ago with another white trillium bud. I have a vague memory of the shot and wanted to try it again this year to see if I could improve upon it.

I ended up not reproducing it as well as I wanted, but with some glycerin-water generously provided by Mike, I was able to capture this 'just after the rain' kind of shot...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/120 sec at f/8. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw. Trillium Trails, Fox Chapel, PA.

I'm not 100% sure on this shot - especially because it looks like I missed spraying the leaves in the background, so they're missing the droplets; however, at the same time, I wonder if the drops were there creating bokeh highlights, it may have been distracting.

I may have to try heading out there one more time this coming weekend, but it might just end up being yet another year before I can try again to get it right...

- Bill

A couple weekends ago, Anya and I went to Powdermill Nature Reserve to see what we could find. We were hoping for some migratory birds and maybe some early spring wild flowers or insects.

Unfortunately, we got there a bit late in the morning, and while there was still some dew on the leaves, the light was very harsh. I remembered something I'd heard a while back that said that harsh light like that sometimes works really well for black & white photos.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/15 sec at f/11. ISO 100. RAW processing and B&W conversion in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop CS5.

- Bill