Warm day in the bay area today, so I took the vivitar 105 out for a hunt. It has been a horrible year for aphids this year, they are sucking the life out of every bloom...

But I found that the natural enemy of the aphid is on the scene and in large forces... the lady bug Larvae... Love these things, cause the eat so many aphids...

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[thomasjmpark]

Great shots Gus Love the 1st 2 and the fly is really good, that lens seems like a cracker

[mwcfire]

The fly is simply amazing! Smithsonian like!

The funny thing is that I never knew lady bugs were larvae first!!!

[Buddha Jones]

Great captures, the ladybugs that infested my tree last spring havent even been seen here yet. I hope they show up soon.

[hinckc]

Wow!

The fly looks like it's the size of a Volkswagon Beetle! They're all great, but the fly stands out for me!

Anyone know if these ladybug larvae be purchased? The aphids really had their way with my rosebush last year, and I'd love to get back at them....

-Chris

[daacon]

Great shots Gus ! You have the makings of a Grade-B Sci-Fi horror film there. Really like all of them !

[roentarre]

Wow, the colour is stunning. The details are so fine!

I was having an argument with Voe regarding vivitar macro poor bokeh. Now I think I will be quiet for a while.

The fly is simply amazing! Smithsonian like!

The funny thing is that I never knew lady bugs were larvae first!!!

I just learned what these bugs were a few years back. We bought a bunch of lady bugs one year when the aphids were killing the garden... ( But lady bug have wings and fly away... HAHA) but enough must have laid their eggs on some of our trees, because every year now we have way more lady bug larvae than we did before.
And thanks for the Smithsonian comment... made me smile.

Great captures, the ladybugs that infested my tree last spring havent even been seen here yet. I hope they show up soon.

Hey Buddha, I just talked to my Lady Bugs and they said to tell you that they reinforcments are on the way... Look for the larvae beetles first...

Wow!

The fly looks like it's the size of a Volkswagon Beetle! They're all great, but the fly stands out for me!

Anyone know if these ladybug larvae be purchased? The aphids really had their way with my rosebush last year, and I'd love to get back at them....-Chris

Hi Chris, I dont know if the larvae can be purchased, but Garden centers usually have live lady bugs that you can by and release... a lot of them fly away but the ones that stay eat a lot of aphids and lay eggs for the next wave... the also have the Praying Mantis egg sacks, which result in a couple of hundred baby mantis, and they are aphid eaters when they are small too...

Great shots Gus ! You have the makings of a Grade-B Sci-Fi horror film there. Really like all of them !

Thank you daacon, do you think if I picked up a Voigtlander 125, I could have the making of a Grade-A film? haha

Wow, the colour is stunning. The details are so fine!

I was having an argument with Voe regarding vivitar macro poor bokeh. Now I think I will be quiet for a while.

Thanks for the kind words James... The Vivitar definately has it bokeh moments, but like many mid/low level lenses it also has its moments of "what is that?"

Thanks again everyone...

some finally other vivitar 105 shots
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[Peter Zack]

The whole series is great Gus. very nicely captured and these just pop off the screen. Love the fly image. The colours are great in these as well.

[Duh_Vinci]

Terrific colors and detail, thank you for sharing! The fly is simply incredible!

Regards,
D

[TomInJax]

I like the lady bug larvae and the fly picture. I didn't know how lady bugs came about either. Excellent series.

As to the Voigtlander 125, it is the photographer - not the lens! You are doing great with the 105. I don't think that you would see any improvement. Ok, maybe a tiny, tiny bit!