The back yard is full of spiders. I have not seen so many until I starting taking macro

[starjedi]

Eric is cleaning it. HE is taking a little longer than anticipated with the shipment. Oh, well, no need to rush him - I'm sure it will arrive soon with little fan fare

I do look forward to using it though.

Meanwhile, DCShooter is playing with my Vivitar 100mm f2.8 - a refinish job. We are about to start anodising .... we will be sharing photos of this makeover

Vivitar 100mm F2.8 is indeed a very beautiful lens. I fully understand why you asked DCShooter to anodize it Looking forward for the post!

[Wild Mark]

I have now seen eight species in the garden. I wonder how many there are:

This one has an interesting strategy. It coats the leaf it lives on with a fine network of silk, then waits. As soon as the fly lands it pounces.

[old4570]

Fantastic spiders !

[Wild Mark]

Thanks! How are your macros going?

I found in a pile of odd bits and pieces a SunPak ringflash (now working) and a third party 'grip' (old slr grip from the eighties). The grip looks interesting as it has a ball head for a flash shoe making it useful for directing the flash. I'll have to give your setup a try with this grip and share.

[starjedi]

Thanks! How are your macros going?

I found in a pile of odd bits and pieces a SunPak ringflash (now working) and a third party 'grip' (old slr grip from the eighties). The grip looks interesting as it has a ball head for a flash shoe making it useful for directing the flash. I'll have to give your setup a try with this grip and share.

Looking forward to See your setup.

[old4570]

Thanks! How are your macros going?

I found in a pile of odd bits and pieces a SunPak ringflash (now working) and a third party 'grip' (old slr grip from the eighties). The grip looks interesting as it has a ball head for a flash shoe making it useful for directing the flash. I'll have to give your setup a try with this grip and share.

Fine , the weather has blown some ! ( Windy ) , so not much picture taking ..
Im still playing with the Kx , Censor needs a good clean for micro particles , I should be outside now ( first relatively calm day in a while ) taking pictures ...
After lunch I will be out there camera in hand ..


I backed off posting pictures a little , hopefully see more pictures from other people

[Wild Mark]

Fine , the weather has blown some ! ( Windy ) , so not much picture taking ..
Im still playing with the Kx , Censor needs a good clean for micro particles , I should be outside now ( first relatively calm day in a while ) taking pictures ...
After lunch I will be out there camera in hand ..


I backed off posting pictures a little , hopefully see more pictures from other people

I for one look forward to seeing your pictures again. But I understand your weather related constraint. You do live in Melbourne

I had a maniacal thought today. As a scientist I thought that we (PF members) could collectively work together to write a scientific paper. We can all get out into our back yards and photograph as many spider species as we can find. The idea is to accumulate a species richness quota per 'back yard' across the globe (many back yards). At the same time we can do some really sensible easy measurement of habitat complexity. With all the data we could assemble a species richness - habitat complexity data matrix, which could be used to indirectly predict invertebrate community structure. We can test our ideas by then requesting all PF to photograph as many bugs, flies and moths as possible (i.e. food source) ...... just a thought at the moment but could be an interesting 'social group' theme to contemplate.

And everyone can be immortalized in a scientific paper for publication in a journal.

[starjedi]

I for one look forward to seeing your pictures again. But I understand your weather related constraint. You do live in Melbourne

I had a maniacal thought today. As a scientist I thought that we (PF members) could collectively work together to write a scientific paper. We can all get out into our back yards and photograph as many spider species as we can find. The idea is to accumulate a species richness quota per 'back yard' across the globe (many back yards). At the same time we can do some really sensible easy measurement of habitat complexity. With all the data we could assemble a species richness - habitat complexity data matrix, which could be used to indirectly predict invertebrate community structure. We can test our ideas by then requesting all PF to photograph as many bugs, flies and moths as possible (i.e. food source) ...... just a thought at the moment but could be an interesting 'social group' theme to contemplate.

And everyone can be immortalized in a scientific paper for publication in a journal.

What a great proposal!

[Wild Mark]

I work with research scientist so getting the science right won't be too hard. I am sure there are some research minded PF members too. Those who are not scientisits or researchers can still participate as data collectors. We can all have an important role.

I have a really super duper wacky idea that will excite some (but not all) and can be really fun to do as a family. I'll share later, but it relates to the proposal and the latter 'predictive' element of the research. I'll give you a taste - it is a sampling method using a tarpaulin, plastic sheet and a cockroach bomb