Club Outing toTrumpington Meadows

Trumpington Meadows was invaded by a group of around 20 photographers (plus 3 dogs) yesterday for a socially distanced explore of the area. The river and Byron's Pool itself attracted several Members (including the dogs). I concentrated on landscapes and the remaining wild flowers trying some of the techniques that we covered in last week's workshop on the softer side of photography. There was still some wildlife to photograph including a wasp spider and Southern Hawker. 

 

Wasp Spiders - Focus Stacking Exercise

I must admit to being somewhat addicted to finding these impressive spiders and then trying to photograph them accurately. So when after 2 hours in the field rain stopped play, I found I had 25 or so photostacks (20 or 30 images per stack) occupying a lot of disk space. Of these 9 stacked OK in Zerene Stacker and here are six different views of three different individuals. It was quite breezy and the spider does tend to vibrate in the web if it senses an intruder so not surprised at low hit rate

Autumn Macro at Lark Rise Farm

Lark Rise Farm (Cambridgeshire) is definitely looking quite autumnal now with soft brown seed heads and grasses. So beautiful how the Common Darter female blended into its thistle perch, and the pattern created in the seed heads of the Sow Thistle, Carrot and Knapweed. Otherwise plenty of different flies around and a couple of Wasp Spiders now more than 5 cm across including the legs.

 

Using Fuji X100V for Nature Images 2.

On today's visit to Royston Heath, I spent more time with the X100V looking at its potential for environmental nature shots. I am pleased with the results on the Chalkhill Blues and Wasp Spider. These are taken at F8 with auto firing of the flash just adding a bit of 'sparkle' to the images. Used at closest focus point, the backgrounds are quite diffuse but pulling back gives a pleasing amount of separation but still detail of the habitat.  

 

Spiders, Kestrel and 100s Chalkhill Blue

While looking for that never-to-be-achieved perfect butterfly shot, we stumbled on a Wasp Spider site. This female at one time had 4 males in attendance but only 2 stayed by the time I set up for focus stacking (first and third image). There were plenty of other spiders around including one under a Knapweed flowerhead. I was entertained by a close Kestrel  male.

Lark Rise Farm Barton

Spent a very enjoyable morning, under glowering skies, 'bug' hunting around the hedgerows at Lark rise Farm (Countryside Restoration Trust). Delighted to find a couple of very young Wasp Spiders as well as a plethora of Flies, Shieldbugs and Frog hoppers. More insects to follow.