Macro Photography tips for Point and Shoot Cameras II

This post is a continuation of the last post.

So, we were discussing the various possible subjects in macro photography. Today I will give a few more examples and then will move ahead with lighting.

The other subjects can be Insects which make for interesting subjects only when the focus is at the right point.

Wasp clicked by my husband using Nikon L820
Look at the clarity, even the fur on the wasp is clearly visible

For more of the interesting Insect pictures please visit the following link INSECTA

2. LIGHTING

Lighting plays a very important role in macro photography, in any photography as a matter of fact though.

The best light would be the sunlight, especially early in the mornings and in the evenings when the glow of the sun is soft and is at an angle and sun casts a beautiful glow on the subjects.

Please avoid shooting when the sun is at its peak and the skies are clear because the intensity of the sunlight is very harsh at noon which makes the highlights of the picture to be "blown out". And the natural hues or color of the subject changes.

So, while shooting outdoors white balance should be taken into consideration to capture the real colors and to retain the freshness of the subject. Choose the sunlight option under white balance for shooting outdoors.

Shooting in very harsh light and without setting the white balance resulted in "blown up" image and false colors 

The same flower shot at a different time of the day when it was cloudy and with white balance set to Sunlight

The above two photos were shot using a 5mp Samsung duos phone camera.

But when the subject is being shot indoors, then the flash plays an important role, make sure that the camera is not very close to the subject as the flash can cause a shadow. Select the Fill flash option which is more desirable while using flash.

Flash plays an important role even outside when the subject is constantly moving due to wind, the usage of flash enables us to freeze the motion in other words it eliminates blur.

The following examples illustrate this.

Buds of the wild neem (Melia azarderach), the flash has cast a shadow

By properly distancing the subject the fill flash option can be used to create stunning images

Though these flowers were captured during day light the shadow of the tree, and it was quite windy which made me use the flash. 

This ends the topic of lighting, the post will continue with the remaining topics.

Red whiskered Bul-bul (Pycnonotus jocosus)

Hello people!
How are you all?
Today I'm going to post about the most commonly found bird in our locality after the house crows and the Rock pigeons.

These birds perch in the shrubbery below our apartment and are frequent visitors to us. they have the characteristic call which is very pleasant to the ear I love waking up to their calls in the morning, their call is translated as Kick-pettigrew and it is also translated as Pleased to meet you. Isn't it intersting folks?

These birds as the name suggests belongs to the bul-bul family, they are small passerine birds, and are predominantly furgivorous which means they primarily feed on fruits. But they do eat insects also.

TIP FOR IDENTIFICATION:
1. The thick tuft of fine red feathers near the mouth refereed to as whiskers. (Picture 1)
2. The elevated or heightened crest.(Picture 2)
3. The red vent.(Picture 3)

These birds have their characteristic red whiskers on their cheek it is rather a tuft of soft feathers.

The characteristic tuft of red feathers.
This image was captured by my husband.

The distinctive crest on it's head is used as an easy identification mark.

Like its cousin The Red vented bul-bul even this has a red vent
 very soon I will post about the red-vented Bul-bul

An interesting point of note for biology geeks like me out there, This species of bul bul was first described by Sir Carl Linnaeus in his Systema nature.

For people who heard about them for the first time can check out the attached wiki links.

PS: Please click on the images for a larger view.

Keep smiling and keep Clicking.

Cheers,
Deepthi Nannam

Indian Golden Oriole (Oriolus kundoo)

These yellow beauties are a feast to the eyes.

What do you think?

Female Indian Golden  Oriole

Another profile

This bird was perched very far so could not capture the stunning details of it, but happy enough to have captured it as soon as I saw it for the very first time.

Greater Flameback (Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus )

Hello!
These days I'm so engrossed in Bird photography, that when ever I get some free time i.e. when my 6 month old son sleeps or when my husband has a holiday or during weekends I go out hunting to shoot new birds and to keep them caged in my computer :)

I now present to you all a new debutante in my collection of bird photographs. THE GREATER FLAME BACKED WOODPECKER( Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus)

I saw this bird perched high on a rain tree outside my window a very long time ago and tried capturing it but couldnt capture it clearly due to the thick foilage of the rain tree and very recently the neighboring apartment people had half of the tree overlooking my window chopped down which brought tears in my eyes and the thought of not having any more birds come made me very sad, but neverthless I never lost heart as that is a way in which I tend to spend my little free time, and have been eagerly waiting for it to show up again and I'm pleased to tell you all that it was back and though it was very high like the last time the lack of obstructing branches made my job easy. Though the bird seemed to be in a hurry, I managed to grab some beautiful shots of the magnificent creature.
Hope you like them.

TIPS FOR IDENTIFICATION:
1. Un marked golden yellow to dark brown back and wings
2. The red hood is characteristic of males

Adult male greater flame backed woodpecker

characteristic red crown of an adult male

Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis)

Capturing a new bird can be very encouraging to Bird photography newbies like me and if both the male and female are clicked then the joy of the photographer knows no bounds...what do you say people?

You might be wondering as to why all the drama in this post?

Well, hear is the answer..I captured both the male and female Oriental Magpie Robin, both on a different day though after numerous hours of waiting and n number of clicks I could finally get both of them framed.

Here are the beauties.

Female Oriental Magpie Robin

Male Oriental Magpie Robin

Pardon the angle of the male bird but that's the closest I could get to the male bird. But the female bird was friendly enough to let me take a good click may be just for a minute.

An important point to remember in capturing small birds like Robin or much smaller birds like Fly catchers and sparrows is to not use the digital zoom cause they can haze the clarity and any post processing will not give the desired sharp image. 

Another point of note in Bird photography is to point our focus on the eye of the bird, especially when capturing birds of a monotonous shade, otherwise the picture lacks to capture the interest of the observers.

White spotted Fantail (Rhipidura albogularis)

This is also called Spot-breasted-Fantail, this is the only fantail found in Goa out of the 4 fantails found in India.

Captured this at Vasco-Da-Gama municipal park. This bird is always there and as soon as we enter the park it kind of welcomes you with a tail display. 

Captured this with my Nikon L820 as well.

look at the tail..hence the name

Millipede......scary huh!

MILLLLLLLLI-PEDE  which means a million legs...wonder if its true though...lol

this sure did make me shriek at the top of my voice..so captured it for sheer fun.

No matter how insignificant we are......

Photography 365

Day 9

Milk weed bug on a wild fern

I captured this milk weed bug on the way to cortalim, Goa.

This bug reminds me of the various n number of creatures created by the God Almighty...and I wonder...!! How did He draft such variety? such colors, such patterns and what not...just cant imagine how He managed to draft the blue-print of the creation.

Ranging from the microscopic organism to the blue-whale He created everything. But no matter what the size is, what the color is...and irrespective of how the creatures look...God cares for all of them. HOW WONDERFUL IS OUR GOD!

The same thing applies to us humans...it is written in the Bible...Genesis 1:27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (NIV). So no matter How poor we are, how ugly we look or how insignificant we are, or any problem we might be facing...God is with us and he takes care of us, so do not be disheartened or do not worry cause we have the heavenly father.

Caption this....!

Photography...365

Day 7

Caption this....!

Butterflies everywhere...

Photography...365

Day 6

Hello!

Instead of a single photo I decide to upload few today, the reason is that I got a handful of butterfly photos..rather overflowing in number. Lol

I happen to spot many butterflies on a soap nut tree from my neighbors place and did a photo shoot of them for about 2 hours or so in the hot sun.The result is I ended up with beautiful pictures, But photographing butterflies can be a pain...needs lots of patience, which is said to be very little in me by my beloved family...;-).

Hope my hard-work paid off...and you like them. 

Butterflies..butterflies...

Colorful little butterflies...

You fly here and you fly there....

I can follow you everywhere...

Mom is shouting...be back here...

but when I'm with you I don't care...

wish I could be like you...

Going everywhere.... 

Butterflies..butterflies...

Colorful little butterflies...

Author-Deepthi Nannam

Pearly drops on a leaf

Photography...365

DAY 2

Rain water droplets on Colocasia leaf

I took this picture at Selaulim Dam...it was raining hard while we went around but when it stopped raining, it looked as if the surrounding had a very good shower.

It was hot and sultry
suddenly it started to rain...
soaked up everything dry
but the trip wasn't in vain...
cause the world became fresh and clean
and vanished all our heart's pain.

Author-Deepthi Nannam

Don't mind my silly poems :P...Am just writing them as I blog by.