MICROCOSMOS – Macro Photography

The microcosmos

The first quality lens I could afford was a 100mm F2.8 macro photography lens.
A good (and somewhat affordable) choice if you are curious for the hidden world of insects and their interesting looks and behaviour. Which I had been for as long as I can remember. The way a pill-bug rolls up into a flawlessly round ball, really appealed to me as I child. And while other kids would panic at the sight of a hairy spider, I would put it on my hand, to investigate this interesting creature.

The First Cut is the Deepest

So, yeah,  the interest for creepy crawlers was present from the very first beginning.
But as soon as I set eyes on the insect world through a macro lens, a whole new, utterly fascinating world opened up for me. All these huge compound eyes, observing you just as curiously as you do them! The little miracles of creatures being reborn: caterpillars transforming right before your eyes into beautiful butterflies, while alien-like larvae pop out of their skin, to turn into the most wonderful elf like dragonflies…
Dewy cobwebs decorate trees and plants with uncountable shining dew drops, transforming my oh-so-boring everyday environment into the most beautiful early Christmas Scene….

Squirting Spiders

I could go on and on about tasty dragonflies, squirting spiders,creepy caterpillars,pink grasshoppers,hovering flies,bees on a mission, very vain banded demoiselles, mean wasps and hungry hornets and to hiding damselflies…
But as a photo says more than a thousand words, I invite you to take a look at my macro gallery and stare shamelessly at these wonderful models.
I can guarantee you: once you looked through a macro lens, the world will never be the same again. Gotta love ’em little buggers!

Winged Wonders

Blue
Robber fly

U Talkin’ To Me?
Rare Predatory Bush Cricket (Saga Hellenica)

Hummingbird moth (Macroglossum stellatarum)

Natural Jewlery
European garden spider, diadem spider, cross spider, or cross orbweaver (Araneus diadematus)

Wet Feet
Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) laying eggs (oviposition) in the stream

Frozen

Star
Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens)

Like a rainbow – cobweb at sunrise

Wasp on a Mission
Beewolf (Philanthus Sp.)

Out of the Green I

Like a Rainbow
Dew-covered spiderweb at sunrise

I’m Hiding Again
Damselfly hiding behind a blade of grass

Fairy II – Small Copper

Out of the Green II

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Sawfly (Symphyta) larva

Eating or being eaten….that’s the question. Damselfly on the carnivorous sundew plant.

Broad-bordered bee hawk-moth (Hemaris fuciformis)

Green Hawker (female) ovipostion
Green Hawker (Aeshna viridis)

Awakening
Black Darter (Sympetrum danae)

The Great Escape
Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) on Drosera rotundifolia Common or round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia)

Poppy Love II
Mating Variable Damselflies (Coenagrion pulchellum)

Narcissus
Banded Demoiselle reflected in the water surface

Fairy – Small Copper

Escapism
Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) on Drosera rotundifolia Common or round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia)

Out of the Yellow
Bee (Andrena sp.)

Hybrid pink grasshopper – due to erythrism

Golden Silhouette
Banded Demoiselle (calopteryx splendens) at sunset

Two can Keep a Secret

Kiss of death
European beewolf/ bee-eating philanthus (Philanthus triangulum) killing a beeBijenwolf verlamt en doodt een bij

Narcissus
Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) reflected in the water surface

Narcissus
Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) reflected in the water surface

White Snake’s Head and a flying bumblebee
Snake’s Head fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)

Pink grasshopper

Mellow Yellow
European Peacock (Inachis io) on Rapeseed (Brassica napus)

Narcissus II
Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) reflected in the water surface

A Summer Romance

Strike a Pose
Mating Variable Damselflies (Coenagrion pulchellum)

Dangling
Black Darter (Sympetrum danae)

It’s Not Easy Being Pink
Rare Hybrid Pink Grasshopper

The pink grasshopper – a story about erythrism

Lady in Red
Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) on Drosera rotundifolia Common or round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia)

Digger Wasp (Bembix rostrata)

Fading in
Garden Tiger Moth (Arctia caja)

Lady in Red II
The four-spotted chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata) at sunset

Resistance is Futile
Bumblebee (Bombus sp.)

Metamorphosis
Rice Paper Butterfly (Idea leuconoe)

In a field of pink flowers, a pink version would have an advantage. Theoretically this could result in an entire pink population!

Narcissus II
Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) reflected in the water surface

I’m Hiding
Variable Damselfly (Coenagrion pulchellum)

Narcissus III
Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) reflected in the water surface

Strike a Pose
Unknown caterpillar (Geometridae)

The Flow
Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) male on creeper

Mammoth Wasp
Mammoth Wasp (Megascolia maculata flavifrons)

The Hornet & The Octopus
European hornet (Vespa crabro)

United Colours of Autumn – Cob web in autumn colours

It’s not Easy being Pink rare pink grasshopper, due to a phenomenon called erythrism

Purple Haze II
Dewy cobweb in the heather

Hummingbird moth (Macroglossum stellatarum)

Narcissus
Banded Demoiselle reflected in the water surface

Fast Food
Hummingbird hawk-moth | hummingmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum)