Tagged: Laona 100mm f2.8 2x macro

 

CF7891 240824 114022

CF7759 240824 223431

I felt very bad for this little spider; it was just blowing in the wind on this tiny flower and twitching its legs every time that another insect came by. There was just 1 problem, this little spider was about the size of a grain of rice, and the bugs that were coming by? They were several times its size.

CF7531 240818 133348

When you’re growing up, you learn “facts” that stick with you and you later learn are more “general rules”. Two that come to mind are “humans have five senses” and “moths have antenna that are fuzzy or comb-like”. Well, this is a Ailanthus Webworm Moth, and not only does it not have fuzzy antenna, but Wikipedia says that until it’s in flight, it resembles a beetle. Second grade science class was just full of lies!
(The senses of motion and balance are great examples of “other” senses.)

CF7395 240818 132426

 

CF7834 240824 113806

CF7451 240818 132550

Back in 2010, I photographed this type of insect with my iPhone. We were on a trip to see a friend on the south side of Chicago, and I remember the photograph because it was one of the first “good enough quality” photos with an iPhone that I’d taken.

Two weeks ago, when I took the above photograph of the same type of insect, I thought to myself “that’s odd that I haven’t see an insect like that in a very long time.” I photograph insects every year, and I wondered why I hadn’t seen such a unique insect in over ten years. According to Wikipedia, they only travel this far north some summers and are more of a southern insect.

 

CF6588 240721 084350

CF6573 240721 084211

 

CF2603 240519 094008

 

 

Last year, we began completely recreating our south-facing yard as a prairie with native plants. I have always loved the look of these and their gorgeous stringy mop of a hairdo!

CF2543 240519 093713

 

Watching the ants crawl across the peonies is a special kinda of therapy; my goal when attempting to capture this photo was to get an ant in the photo. The ants, however, we’re very cooperative, so instead I captured a bit more abstract of an image.

 

CF3338 240609 131040

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

CF3044 240609 124551

When I purchased my Sony camera, I knew that I would want a macro lens (since my old one was for Nikon). I settled on the Laona 100mm f2.8 with manual focus – mostly because it was the least expensive 2x macro (by far). It can be exhausting to get the focus correct, but when it’s right, it’s absolutely lovely!

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

CF3498 240609 132335

 

 

There’s a certain delight in seeing the shag carpet look of this moth in the daylight. This beautiful insect just hung there for the entire hour that we were inside the butterfly house at Peggy Notebaert.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

CF3004 240609 124454

For the past few years, Sarah and I have visited Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in downtown Chicago; they have a wonderful year-round butterfly sanctuary/exhibit. In the winter, it’s a wonderful break from the cold and grey.
This winter it was way too busy, but we finally made it down there for our anniversary last weekend.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

 

BX9737 230605 084405

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

“A Little Hopper”

September 22nd, 2023

…view older images with the thumbnails below…  

BX9370 230530 184333

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BY5073 230807 174917

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BY4843 230806 125609

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BY8644 230528 103125

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

“Tiny Pollinator”

September 18th, 2023

…view older images with the thumbnails below…  

BX7926 230520 120918

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BX7814 230520 104840

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

 

BY0712 230625 082720

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

“Creeping Around”

September 15th, 2023

…view older images with the thumbnails below…  

BX9842 230606 181254

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BX8978 230528 113144

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BY0288 230619 135139

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BY0057 230610 155645

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

   

BY0303 230619 140010

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BY0351 230619 140155

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BY0367 230616 140411

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BY0382 230619 141002

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BX9637 230605 083352

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BX9530 230605 082645

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

 

BX9184 230529 165625

…view older images with the thumbnails below…