a red insect

Nymph of stink bug, Pycanum rubens. Had to ask around for the insect's ID. I suck a lot at my insect A to Z.

brown hopper

For some reason, I tend to have trouble getting good shots of grasshoppers. Not because they're skittish or anything; just that my chances of getting the focus right on the eyes seem lower compared to other insects. The above shot is one of the few where I did get the focus right, barely.

yet more spider

spider in black & white

Just trying out how macro looks without color.

compound

The same one from the previous post.

arachnid

My first ever arachnid shot.

entering the world of insect macro

This is something I've wanted to do for a while now, and with my Raynox I'm finally able to give insect macro a go. For sure there will be more to come in the near future.

bird in silhouette

My first sort of actual attempt at capturing bird pics which also happened to be hampered by poor light.

whatcha lookin' at?

The same cat from a couple of posts ago. Still hanging around and causing no small amount of grief to my cats.

By the way, I have an announcement to make. I will be gone for about two weeks as I go for the Umrah in Saudi Arabia starting from the 19th of this month and coming back on the 2nd of July. InsyaAllah. So there may or may not be updates in the meantime and probably a few days more after I come back. We'll see how things turn out.

at rest

This is technically a chance encounter. I was in my backyard yet again and trying to shoot birds this time (with a camera of course). Didn't get much luck with them, but then this little flyer came along.

I don't have a macro lens nor a close-up filter so I just had to make do with my 70-300mm VR. Not too shabby for a lens not designed to capture close-ups.

who are you?

One of my cats (the white one) inspects a male newcomer.

I was bored the day I shot this so I decided to take out my uncle's old lens, the Nikkor AF-D 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 from the film days, fixed it on my D80, and just walked around the house looking for things to shoot.

As it is, a couple of male cats from who-knows-where have been hanging around my home lately (and getting into frequent fights with my cats.. territorial dispute I'd guess), and the grey cat in the photo above is the less shy and less aggressive of the two (unwanted) visitors.

Needless to say, I'm pretty impressed by what this old lens can do, granted the lighting was really good at the time and I did sharpen the picture a bit; but only a bit mind you, even less than what I usually apply.

Well the bokeh isn't exactly creamy, I know. It's not exactly a wide aperture lens and this was shot at f/6.3 anyhow. But for such an old lens -and a cheap-o one at that- it sure offers a pretty good performance.

Hm, this has turned into a mini lens review hasn't it?

a toad's journey

I came across this toad in my backyard one day. Correct me if I'm wrong, but after some googling I believe this is the bufo melanostictus or, as it is more commonly known, the asiatic toad.

I decided to follow it around as it tried to get out of the drain (with some help on my part) and get away from my cats which seem a tad too interested in it.

contemplation

Just a random cat I found at Serasa beach. Quite cooperative too.

three kings

Another pic from my Serasa outing. I don't really know what species of bird they are. They're a common sight at Serasa beach.

the competition

As I said in my previous post, one of my cats is in heat and this is another would-be mate competing with the yellow striped cat. I gotta say I like this one because of the fine long whiskers, but the other one would produce a nice litter of striped kittens.

There's actually another cat lurking around, almost all white. I haven't managed to come across him on a good day or appropriate time to take some shots of him yet, however. Maybe one of these days...

mini tiger

One of my female cats is apparently in heat and this male cat from one of my neighbors is looking to mate with her.

Anyway, apparently I can't keep away from my camera for too long once I don't have anything to occupy myself with. I just took this photo this morning. Heh.

yet another cat portrait

Okay, so I like taking pictures of my cats. I'd take pictures of other cats too but I don't come across them as often as I do my own cats.

trapped

Once in a while, you will find yourself feeling like this little baby mouse, weak and defenseless. What will you do then?

behind bars

I came across this cat while I was walking about the Sengkurong commercial area. It seemed to like that spot for some reason because it was still there when I returned to its general area.

primate in perspective