On Saturday afternoon, I spent some time in the back yard with my macro lens and home-made flash reflector, and captured these photos of industrious bees in the flowers.

busy bee

back yard, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 100mm f/2.8 macro @100mm, 1/160 sec, f/16, ISO200

Strobist recently did a post on How to Photograph Water Drops with One Speedlight, with some great info, including a few videos.
It's something I've been intending to do for a while, so yesterday I pulled out my camera, tripod, flash and remote flash trigger, and gave it a try.

First I tried using water, dropping into a dish of water. I experimented with different coloured reflectors behind the water, with varying results.

water coronet

Canon EOS 50D, 100mm f/2.8 macro

Here are a couple of photos from the back yard last month, taken with one of my favourite lenses, the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens.

Rough Woodlouse

(Porcellio scaber)

back yard at home, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 100mm f/2.8 macro @100mm, 1/125 sec, f/13, ISO250

Rough Woodlouse

(Porcellio scaber)

back yard at home, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 100mm f/2.8 macro @100mm, 1/125 sec, f/13, ISO250

This little creature is officially known as a "woodlouse", and the plural term is "woodlice". In Australia, these creatures are commonly referred to as "slaters", and elsewhere, they are known as "pill bug", "roly-poly", or by various other names.

Woodlice are actually crustaceans, breathing through gills, and have fourteen jointed limbs, with many different species existing around the world.

The scientific name of the one shown below is actually "Porcellio scaber", but it is more commonly known as the "common rough woodlouse" or simply the "rough woodlouse".

Another insect, photographed in my back yard with one of my favourite lenses, the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens.

I believe this is a Robberfly (Neoitamus cyanurus).

Robberfly

back yard, Western Australia
Canon EOS 350D, 100mm f/2.8 macro @100mm, 1/125 sec, f/11, ISO400

I found this spider spinning a web on the washing line in the back yard.

All photos were taken with the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens, along with a Canon 430EX flash with a homemade reflector attached to it.

spider keeping watch

back yard at home, Western Australia
Canon EOS 350D, 100mm f/2.8 macro @100mm, 1/100 sec, f/9, ISO200