I finally got to take a close-up of a dragonfly. A bunch of them were swarming in the garden all evening, and one obliged to sit on a flower for a while so I could take pictures. I used the 50mm with one +4 close-up filter (magnification filter) and one +2 filter. I was extremely pleased by the outcome. This picture is actually true macro, meaning the dragonfly depicted is greater than 1:1.

From my Maskwa trip: the 11-year-old daughter of the guy that owned the cabin we rented found this snapping turtle on the riverbank. She’s the one holding it, so keep that in mind when you try to judge how small it is.

I used my Nikon 50mm with a +4 close-up filter. Depending on what definition you use, it qualifies as macro-photography. On a regular sized print (15×10cm, 6×4in), it would be very close to 1:1.

Helios is surprisingly comfortable outside on the lawn.

Here’s one more buttefly from this summer! I came across it, I must have missed it earlier. Looking closer at the picture, I found that it was decent enough to post.

…and I don’t know what they’re called. But they’re pretty.

Umm, not much more to say about this picture. Perhaps not the best framed picture of all times, but it’s so vibrant!

Ay carambo, this butterfly (the Blue Morpho, or Morpho granadensis in Latin) was not selling itself short. Always on the move, never sitting down, and when on rare occasion it did sit down it would fold its wings up — and the underside was not as pretty. Took a lot of patience waiting to find one sitting down and spreading its wings out. But what a reward.

Also called Heliconius hecale in Latin. I shot this butterfly in the Niagara Butterfly Conservatory. I took lots other pictures, but this is definetively one of the better ones. There were so many amazing butterflies there. I’ll go back one day when there are fewer people there. One of my favourite tricks was getting the butterflies to sit on my finger, I got quite good at it.

Yes, here’s another post-rain flower, a peony. This one is especially pretty (IMHO).

• Nikon D70, Nikkor 50 mm lens, 1/1000 sec at f/1.8, ISO 200, skylight filter.

Hehe, I like taking pictures of flowers, and the rain and the flat, dull light make the colours come out much better. Wish I had an extension tube or a true macro lens so I could go closer. But there is still a lot of detail, especially since the picture is cropped.

• Nikon D70, Nikkor 50mm, 1/100th sec at f/7.1, ISO 640
• Had to crank up the ISO in order to get keep it steady at the desired depth of field.