Night Walk At Lower Peirce Reservoir Park (27 Oct 2023)

 It has been a very long time since I last did any night macro photography. Taking the opportunity that I have some in-between time in the night, I decided to go to the Lower Peirce Reservoir Park to test out my simplified macro setup (Morning Walk At Lower Peirce Reservoir (14 Oct 2023)) under night conditions.

After some fumbling (yes, it has been a while), I finally got use to the new setup and managed to take some photographs at the place. Here's a shot of a commonly encountered small butterfly in Singapore (Lesser Grass Blue (Zizina otis lampa)). 

Leaf Beetle ~ 4 mm

Chafer Beetle ~ 10 mm

Darkling Beetle ~ 10 mm

Darkling Beetle (Amarygmus metallicus) ~ 8 mm

Sap Beetle ~ 3 mm

Ground Beetle (Catascopus facialis) ~ 15 mm

Darkling Beetle (Cryphaeus gazella) ~ 10 mm

Darkling Beetle ~ 15 mm

Although this was a short trip (about 1 hour), I am pleasantly surprise to be able to find a good number of beetles.  After looking at the photographs, I will need to tweak my macro set up to add a diffuser to prevent the hotspot caused by the flash. Until the next time...

Morning Walk At Lower Peirce Reservoir (14 Oct 2023)

 It has been a long while I last did any macro photography session, so taking the opportunity that I was running some errands near the Lower Peirce Reservoir, I decided to go there for a quick macro photography session even though the chances of finding beetles there is low.

Here's my simplified macro photography setup - Sony Alpha 6000 camera, Circular diffusor and 7Artisan 60mm F2.8 Mark II macro lens.

Jewel Beetle (Habroloma lepidopterum) ~ 3mm

Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana) ~ 8mm

As expected the number of beetles encountered was pathetically low due to the high people traffic at the park. Nevertheless it was still a good trip as I am able to familiarize myself with the simplified setup after such a long break from my last macro photography session.  

Afternoon Walk At Windsor Nature Park (17 Jun 2023)

 I recently decided to simplify my macro camera setup and decided to go to Windsor Nature Park to test out the setup. As the weather has been hot and dry, I was not expecting to find many beetles on this trip.

Fungus Weevil ~ 6 mm

Leaf Beetle (Hoplosaenidea singaporensis) ~ 5 mm

Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana) ~ 8 mm

Leaf Beetle (Hoplasoma unicolor) ~ 8 mm

As expected only a few beetles were encountered, nevertheless it is still a good trip as I was able to test out my simplified macro photography setup, albeit that my flash died half way during the trip.

Afternoon Walk At Windsor Nature Park (29 Apr 2023)

 Today's weather seemed dry so I decided to go for my long awaited macro photography session at Windsor Nature Park. It's been at least two months that I last went for any macro photography sessions, mainly due to the thunderstorms that coincided with my planned macro photography sessions. By the way, it was thundering during this trip and I have to hasten my pace in order not to be caught in the rain in forest. It rained heavily just when I was on my way home.  

Here's photograph of the place - it was hot and humid, with an overcast and thundering sky.

Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa) ~ 4mm

Leaf Beetle ~ 3mm

Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana) ~ 8 mm

Fungus Weevil (Acorynus frontalis) ~ 15 mm

Although the number of beetles encountered was pathetic, it was still a good trip as I was able to get a feel of the new macro lens (ref - Morning Walk At Lower Pierce Reservoir (03 Feb 2023)). Guessed that I will be doing this more frequently if the weather permits.

Morning Walk At Lower Pierce Reservoir (03 Feb 2023)

 To overcome the camera problem that I faced previously, I decided to change the macro lens and managed to find the cheapest macro lens online (7Artisan 60mm F2.8 Macro Mk II). The lens was delivered a day before so it was opportune time for me to test out the lens as I happened to be on leave. 

The original plan was to go to Windsor Nature Park as it has been raining for the past few days and based on past experience Windsor Nature Park would have a better chance of finding any beetles. As I was enroute to the park, the traffic leading to there was reported to have a massive traffic jam, so I decided to go to Lower Pierce Reservoir instead.

As expected, I was only able to find one beetle (Darkling Beetle) on this trip but the purpose of the trip was to test out my new macro lens, so it doesn't matter if I don't find any beetles. As such, I photographed whatever critters that I came across on the trip. 

Here are some of the photographs of some interesting spiders that I took.

Darkling Beetle ~ 10 mm

Although I only find one beetle on this trip, it is still consider a fruitful trip as I managed to test out my new macro lens. I am pretty happy with the new lens and hopefully I will be able to have more fruitful macro photography trips when the weather turns better. Until then, stay safe!

Afternoon Walk At Windsor Nature Park (07 Jan 2023)

 After last week walk at Windsor Nature Park, I decided to make some changes to my macro camera setup. To test the new setup, I decided to go back to Windsor Nature Park in the afternoon since the number of people walking there will be lesser compared to the morning. Of course, the chances of finding beetles in the afternoon is also significantly lower. 

Here's a shot of an interesting fungus mushroom growing on a rotten tree stump. 

Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana) ~ 8 mm

First-time-encounter Net Winged Beetle ~ 4 mm

Leaf Beetle ~ 8 mm

Weevil (Derimaea bakeri) ~ 3 mm

Ground Beetle ~ 4 mm

Fungus Weevil ~ 4 mm

This trip was considered fruitful even though the number of beetles encountered was relatively small as I was able to test out my new macro setup. From the less than sharp photographs taken, I guessed that there are a lot more adjustments required. Back to the drawing board. ;P