Hidden Creatures in the Garden

Hidden Creatures in the Garden

Mother Nature has her ways to hiding gems in our backyards. Even a potted plant sitting on the window ledge serves as a refuge for tiny creatures such as insects and spiders. Some patience is needed to allow these inhabitants to be photographed. Others are just pure luck when they land right in front of your lens.

Macro photography can be challenging but with the correct equipment, attitude and skills, good quality images can be captured.

Slant Faced Grasshopper

An unusual Golden Grass Cricket with feelers 2 ½ times longer than its own body

A pair of Red Cotton Bugs mating on a wild fruit. A serious pest, they have a long proboscis to bit into plants and fruits, causing serious damages to crops. They have a marking on their wings that looks like the face of a man.

A Common Toad making its way to a cooler place

 Long face Long Horn Beetle; another serious fruit pest

The Brown Cockchafer… a destructive medium sized beetle that usually emerges after dusk. This fella flew landed on a Bougainvillea bush, crawled onto an orchid plant and started chewing on a leaf and with a mere few seconds, it has already damaged the edge of the leaf.

A baby Praying Mantis, estimated to be a few days old (12mm long) had stalked out its turf on a lemon Basil bush. Other bushes also had its resident baby Praying Mantis patrolling their territory. About 12mm long, this one turned around and started to observe a few ants straying into its turf. This is a hand-held exposure with Kenko extender tubes, un-cropped.

I like the way the light reflects off the eyes. A 300% crop in negative showing the eyes of the baby Praying mantis.