I've looked for this fish in my identification book dozens of times. As it turns out, there appear to be local variants, and the one in the ID book just doesn't look much like this.

These little fish are called Indian or Cloudy Dascyllus (Dascyllus carneus). They are a small damselfish up to about 2.5 inches, but often as you can see a group of them range from every size. In Wakatobi, they were on pretty much every table coral like this, and would dart back into the coral as you approached. I managed to get this shot by slowly approaching the coral from below and coming up so I was eye level with the fish.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/40th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Auto-smartfix in Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (mouseover for original).

Have I mentioned that I really want to get back in the water sometime soon?

- Bill

Just a quick post today, showing a less playful side to the mantis that played peek-a-boo...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

- Bill

I really need to get back in the water... soon.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/25th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Auto-smartfix, Brightness -15, Contrast +10 in Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (mouseover for original).

Why This Photo: I like porcelain crabs - they are cool little crabs... We only saw a few on the trip, and even though this isn't a perfect shot, I still like it.

What Works: While the original was a bit off with the crab up in the upper right corner facing out of the frame, the crop brings the face of the crab down to the bottom left corner and has it facing into the frame. The original exposure is a tiny bit bright, so I toned things down a little in PP.

What Doesn't Work: The focus is pretty good, but the shutter speed of 1/25th of a second produced a bit of blur because of the movement of the crab's feeding "claws". Also, unfortunately, the crab was resting on a drab anemone - which worked great for camouflage, but is kind of boring as a photo.

Like I said, I like porcelain crabs. This species - Neopetrolisthes maculatus - is a small crab (about 1.25" max) that lives in anemones. They feed with modified claws that they fan out to catch small particles out of the water. They do have larger claws that they mainly use for defending themselves and their host anemone.

I'd really like to reacquaint myself with one sometime soon... if I do, I'll bring you more photos, and hopefully improve on my mistakes made in this one.

- Bill

Ok - sorry, just doing another very quick post today...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

This is a green sweat bee (Agapostemon texanus) - for obvious reasons... well, at least the green part. I was quite happy that the shot captured the metallic qualities of this bee, and I was just drawn to the shot because of all that pollen covering its legs.

Thanks for stopping by.

- Bill

Ok - been too long since I've done a spider post, so here's a nice orb weaver spider I shot a few weeks ago. I set this one up on my (old) tripod and was hand holding the flash for different angles (after having the dramatic lightning from a side position). However, it ended up being a straight on lighting was the best - especially to pickup the highlights on that beautiful web.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/22. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

I think this is an Araneus species, but identification being what it is, I am not certain of which species. I really hope that some day I can find a really nice identification guide... that or I'm going to start making my own.

- Bill

Silver-Spotted Skippers (Epargyreus clarus) are skittish butterflies, so getting this close to one was a bit of a challenge.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

I am especially happy with the crisp focus on this butterfly's eyes and on its feeding proboscis - even with some pollen. At full size, you can very clearly see the facets of its eyes, and the individual grains of pollen.

These are the kinds of macro shots that I lreally like - giving a view of something that normally would be overlooked.

- Bill

Ok - while we're on the subject of weird bug trivia... did you know that bees and some flies have five eyes? I knew spiders had eight, but I always thought bees only had two. Until this weekend, when I managed to get a super-macro shot of a bee and a fly and I could see the additional eyes.

Here you can see the bee digging in to get to the nectar of this flower. To the left of the large eye you're used to seeing, you can see the reflection of my flash on one of the other eyes. I was trying for a shot of more of the bee's face, but she was so intent on getting to the nectar that she only ever picked her head up for fractions of a second and was moving quickly whenever she did - the only time she would hold still for any amount of time was while she was feeding.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM with Kenko Teleplus PRO 300 "DG" AF 2x Teleconverter, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

In this next shot, a fly was feeding the same way, and I was able to get a shot of it. I know it isn't the best of subjects, but I am fascinated by the compound eyes on insects like this, and feel getting the focus right to show the multiple facets of those eyes as a challenge. In this resized version, it isn't the easiest to see, but in the fullsize version, they are plainly visible. Also visible are the three simple eyes in a triangular pattern between the two large compound eyes.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM with Kenko Teleplus PRO 300 "DG" AF 2x Teleconverter, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

I guess we're two-for-two for that whole "learn something new every day" thing...

- Bill

Ok - here's a new one for me. High Key Photography is a style of photography that is generally bright and eliminates any shadows. When I saw this Blue Globe Thistle (Echinops_sphaerocephalus) with this nice back lightning, I decided to crank up the bokeh with a wide aperture and see what I could get.

Due to the proximity of the other thistles, it was really tough to frame it, so I took a couple shots. The first version ended up with an incoming bee in the background that was distracting. The second version was better with the bee having landed on the flowers, but I wasn't as thrilled with the framing. So I took one more shot which ended up with just an edge of the next flower in the frame. I used Photoshop's content aware fill to eliminate the out of focus bee and the other flower as well as to convert each to black and white....

Version 1 SOOC		Version 2 B&W
Version 1 Fixed		Version 3 SOOC
Version 1 Fixed B&W		Version 3 Fixed
Version 2 SOOC		Version 3 Fixed B&W

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.

So I know this is tough with this many choices, but take a look through the different versions and vote to pick which one you like best. Then leave a comment to let me know what made you choose the one you did.

- Bill

Alright - I had a whole post typed up and scheduled for today, but by special request, I've swapped it out for a later date in favor of this post.

Saturday morning, I was sitting at the computer reading my comics while Anya was out in the yard refilling the birdfeeders. Then she tapped on the window and told me to grab my camera and come outside.

As it turns out, there was a Praying Mantis (Mantis religiosa) in her Uncle's garden which is just a couple doors down.

When I got there, it was tucked pretty far down in amongst some tall plants, and after a couple attempts to get a good angle, I saw this opportunity....

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/30th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. RAW conversion in Adobe Camera Raw.

Why This Photo: Since the mantis was doing such a good job of keeping track of me as I moved around the garden to find a shot, but the talk plants were in the way, I saw this opportunity to frame the shot through the plants. The almost playful, peek-a-boo expression on the mantis was just a happy coincidence.

What Works: The playful look to the shot brings a kind of easy light-heartedness to what otherwise would just be another macro shot of an "ugly" (at least according to most people, but not me) bug. Creative framing using the thick leaves of the plants takes advantage of what was otherwise a problem situation. The bonus of the drop of water on his antenna is icing on the cake.

What Doesn't Work: The focus may be just a tad off or there could be a slight amount of camera shake (that even the IS wasn't able to eliminate), but it is incredibly minor as the fullsize version still shows some of the facets in the mantis' compound eyes. Also, the bright leaves in the front (right and middle) are somewhat distracting.

Tune in tomorrow as I have a rather different set of photos to share, but stuff I really think will be cool.

Thanks for viewing.

- Bill

Have you ever seen a Pink Spotted Ladybug (Coleomegilla maculata)? Before last Sunday, neither had I.

Ladybugs are good insects to have in your garden. They eat aphids, and thus keep your plants safe. Most people are used to the orange variety, so when we found these pink ones, it was worth a few shots.

I'm not sure if that last one was really that color or if I messed something up during the RAW conversion. I don't remember it being that dark, but as you can see they seemed to be different shades based on what color flower they were on. I don't know if that is because they can shift their colors or if it is an optical illusion.

- Bill