Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

Covid lockdowns have resulted in the macro lens being brought out more often than usual. This shot of a jumping spider was taken at home when I found it perched on a branch at eye level. Lighting was form high camera right using a speed light defused with a small soft box. 

House Fly - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I came across this house fly in the garden over the weekend. It was relatively easy to photograph as it stayed still on the leaf while I lit it from different angles and fired off a number of frames. The hardest part of this shoot was waiting for the breeze to die down and the leaf to be still. Got there in the end.

Snail - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I came across this little snail in the courtyard at home. Fortunately they are a lot easier to photograph than jumping spiders! I fired off a few frames and then took him out to the garden. I'm not sure what species of snail this is but it might belong to the macrochlamys family. If you know what species this is, please let me know via the comments?

Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

This is the third jumping spider I came across at home. I hadn't realised there were so many until I pulled out the macro lens during the covid lock down and started  photographing them. Identification is not easy as there are over 75 species of jumping spider in Sri Lanka. Facebook spider interest group to the rescue!

Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I came across another Jumping Spider at home yesterday. Ended up photographing him for about 20 minutes and got some decent shots. There are more of them on my instagram profile. The setup was similar to last time with a flash in a small softbox positioned to the left of the camera. The lens was a 100mm macro.

Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I found this Jumping Spider in the garden this morning. I'd been keeping an eye out for one of them to photograph and ran for the macro lens as soon as I saw it. I was able to fire off a few frames before it decided to hop away and disappear into the foliage. Overall I'm happy with this image but would have liked to have had a bit more time to photograph the spider.

Green Tree Ant - Colombo Sri Lanka

 

I found this Green Tree Ant on an indoor plant at home. This resulted in  the macro lens, a flash and a small diffuser being pulled out and the poor ant being photographed for about half an hour. I'd never refuse a bit of entertainment during the lockdown!

Brown-headed Barbet - Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Brown-headed Barbet (Megalaima zeylanica) is a common resident that frequents our garden almost daily.  I wanted to try and get a shot of it at eye level which was easier said than done. To take this shot, I setup a hide on the roof near a fruiting tree and waited for what seemed like a life time. Although the birds were feeding, it was difficult to get a clear shot because of the branches and leaves that kept getting in the way. Pretty happy with the end result.

Red-vented Bulbul - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Red-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus cafer) are quite common in Colombo and they are often seen feeding on fruit trees in people's gardens. I was setting up a hide to photograph a Brown-headed Barbet when one of them perched on a branch close to me. It was feeding on some fruit which I thought was a bit too big for it to swallow whole. The bird didn't seem too bothered and it made for a slightly different shot.

Brown-breasted Flycatcher - Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Brown-breasted Flycatcher is another migrant that visits our garden in Colombo. It was perched on a dead branch quite close to the ground and I was able to shoot it eye level. Due to the fact that I was quite close to it, the out of focus background turned out pretty well. 

Black-rumped Flameback - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I was fortunate to be able to photograph this Black-rumped Flameback at home, in Colombo. The bird was working its way up a tree in the garden and I photographed it from an upstair window. Although Colombo is a bustling city,  it is relatively green and there are a number of birds frequenting gardens throughout the city and its suburbs.

Black-hooded Oriole - Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Black-hooded Oriole (Oriolus xanthornus) is another frequent visitor to our garden in Colombo. I shot this photograph a few years ago when this individual payed us a visit one afternoon. I was able to shoot from an upstair window as it perched on a branch slightly below eye level. The foliage in the background was a few meters away and that allowed me to isolate the subject at f5.6.

Common Mormon - Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Common Mormon (Papilio polytes) is a swallow tailed butterfly found in Southern and South-Eastern Asia. This photograph was taken in our garden in Colombo. A number of butterflies frequent the garden as we have planted a number of natives. I observed and photographed this butterfly mating a day or two after this shot was taken. Hopefully this indicates that the garden is a healthy eco-system!

Kerengga Ant-like Jumper - Colombo, Sri Lanka

This is actually a spider that mimics the weaver ant in terms of both morphology as well as behaviour. It's not the easiest to sport amongst a number of weaver ants. This one is actually a female and its front legs resemble the feelers of a weaver ant. The males are about 3 mm larger than the females and resemble a larger and carrying a smaller ant.  They mimic the ant in order to remain close to the colony and gain protection from predators. 

White-throated Kingfisher - Colombo, Sri Lanka

The White-throated Kingfisher is a frequent visitor to our garden in Colombo. It is probably the most common Kingfisher found on the island. This one was particularly cooperative as it sat on an exposed branch and let me photograph it from the balcony. The background was also a suitable distance away from the subject. 

Greater Coucal - Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Greater Coucal is a regular visitor to our garden in the middle of Colombo. As the bird is somewhat used to being around people, given it lives in a city, it's not the hardest species to photograph.

Black-rumped Flameback - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

Black-rumped Flamebacks (Dinopium benghalense) are relatively common in Colombo and its suburbs. I've been able to photograph them at home on numerous occasions. Although I photographed this bird from below, I thought the head position made the composition a bit more interesting.

Malayan Night Heron - Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Malayan Night Heron (Gorsachius melanolophus) is a scarce migrant to Sri Lanka. A juvenile bird stopped by our garden in Colombo early on during the migrant season a couple of years ago and I was able to photograph it. The bird was not bothered by my presence and continued to feed whilst I photographed it.

Orange-headed Thrush - Colombo Sri Lanka

I got lucky with photographing this bird as it arrived at home, in the heart of Colombo, during the migration season a couple of years ago. It was seen around the garden for a few of days and I spent a bit of time photographing it as it fed in the flower beds. 

Weaver Ant - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I came across this weaver ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) in the garden and photographed it with a macro lens. The hardest part of the whole process was to lock focus on the ant as it moved around a fair bit. Fortunately my macro lens supports auto-focus. If not, pre-focusing and waiting would have made this shot so much harder. For lighting I used a hand held Canon 430EX speed light.