To test out the tweaked DIY diffuser, I decided to go to Venus Drive as I will have a greater chance of finding beetles there.
The first beetle that I encountered was this Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea). This photograph was taken will one hand holding the leaf and the other hand snapping the photograph.
It was strange that I didn't encounter any Leaf Beetle at the grass patch near to the entrance of the Venus Loop. I usually would find at least three types of Leaf Beetle around this grass patch. Nevertheless, I proceeded into the Venus Loop entrance, and just a stone's throw from the entrance was this Net-winged Beetle (Taphes brevicollis) hidding under a leaf. I don't particularly like photographing beetles under leaves because of the sometimes odd-ward angle required to photograph the critter.
I was rather disappointed that between the entrance to the "clearing", I only found the above Net-winged Beetle. Shortly I came to the "clearing" area that I mentioned several times in my blog. I was surprised to find the place looked different. Recall that I commented that the place was a misnomer then since the clearing area was overgrown by creepers. Interestingly, a large portion of the ground creepers were dead, thus revealing the "clearing" that I am familiar before.
The first beetle that I encountered at the "clearing" was a Fungus Beetle (Stenotarsus pardalis). I am still getting used to the shallower depth-of-focus because of the larger aperture setting (F5.0) as compared to my previous aperture setting of F11.
On one of the (now) exposed tree logs, a lone Darkling Beetle was happily munching on its breakfast of fungus growing on the log.
Moving deeper into the "clearing", a wasp-like insect lands on a low bush right in front of me. Initially I thought that it was a wasp but later I realised that it was a Tumbling Flower Beetle (Mordella fasciata).
Near to the Tumbling Flower Beetle was this lovely Ladybird Beetle (Henosepilachna implicata).
Just directly above the Ladybird Beetle was a metallic blue color Leaf Beetle.
Just while I photographing the Leaf Beetle, I saw at the corner of my eyes something landed on my DIY diffuser. (Photo taken with my Samsung Galaxy S5)
Here's a close-up of the Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana) that landed on the foam of my DIY diffuser.
After the above, I found another Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana) near by.
Moving deeper into the "clearing", I found a Click Beetle that looked very much like a seed pod.
Still in the "clearing", I came across a patch of white fungus growing on a fallen tree. On the white fungus were several Fungus Beetles.
Also on the same white fungus was a tiny (~1 mm) first-time-encountered beetle. Not too sure what family it belongs to, but it looked like a Fungus Weevil.
After having spent a while at the "clearing", I decided to move on. Not too far down the trail was a place with several large chopped tree. I was so glad to find a Jewel Beetle (Belionota prasina) on it.
Here's a photograph of the place, with the Belionota prasina Jewel Beetle circled.
A closer shot using my Samsung Galaxy S5. Comparing this "zoomed" photograph with the close up shot of the Jewel Beetle above, the advantage of using a DSLR zoom-lens was so obvious.
Moving further down the path, a Soldier Beetle was seen flying around another chopped tree.
It was almost time for me to go and so I picked up my paces. Just as I hurried through the rest of the Venus Loop trail, I came across this small 2 mm Leaf Beetle.
As I passed by the "Snow Tree 2", I was surprised to find another Belionota prasina Jewel Beetle, but this time round it was just about 1 meter from me. It is wonderful to be so close to this beetle.
The last beetle for this short trip was a hairy beetle that was clinging to the tip of a blade of grass that sway violently in the wind.
Although this was a short trip, the result was very good as I get to test out the tweaked DIY diffuser and at the same time, encounter a few first-time-encountered beetles. I have been avoiding using manual focus due to my hyperopia or farsightedness. But from the test results of this trip (which uses manual focus), I would probably need to redesign the DIY diffuser to allow me to make use of the auto-focus feature of my camera in order for sharper photographs to be taken.
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