Iskristaller

Suddenly I can't handle the cold any more. Out riding the bike yesterday my hands froze despite the fact that I was wearing my expensive winter gloves. But I did manage to get a few macro photos of ice crystals next to the path close to the old tree.

The King's Torch

Found a bit of color during my visit to the beach. This plant is called Kungsljus. Back in the day people dipped the stalks of this herb in tar or pitch and used it as a torch, hence the name which translates to The King's Torch. You can also make tea from it. If you want to know more about this plant there's lots of fact at Wikipedia.

Monochrome Grass

Took the Steel Horse to the national park. It was a beautiful day filled with great colors that you can't see here!

Tiny Flowers

Three macro photos of tiny white flowers. In the grass near the old tree. On a field in Österhaninge. And on the stone wall at the Medieval church. You would probably have missed them but I have a weird walk these days and spend most of the time looking down!

That Old Tree

It is getting colder now. Luckily for me the sun came out for a few minutes during my visit to the old tree yesterday. Both photos shot with the pancake lens. The tree photo is a panoramic image made from nine photos. Shot the red fruit using the extension tubes.

A closer look

I got a few funny looks from passersby while out shooting a bunch of photos of Geranium and St John's wort during the weekend. I should probably be glad that no one photographed me while I was crawling on all fours to get a few good macro photos near the Gullringskärrets nature reserve. I could use some quality knee-pad inserts and warm finger gloves because it is getting colder now. I am not going to tell you how many photos I deleted while shooting these, but it was a few!

Macrography

Another Thursday Walk with the extension tubes and the pancake lens (40mm). This time I decided to just stop at a given moment and have a closer look around and this is what I found. Well, I found a few more interesting plants, but these were the two first photos that I took during this short walk in Jordbro. A Fibonacci spiral and a blue flower.

An Autumn Promenade

This is what I found in the forest yesterday. I decided to take a Thursday Walk, and picked the Rudan nature reserve for the promenade. The surprise of the day was the wood anemone, which is your typical Spring flower. The hugly fungi grew next to the anemone, which in turn grew next to the other fungi. I named that photo Umbrellas on the beach.

Summer Berries

Been shooting a few macro snaps lately. Of summer berries. Hallon and blåbär in Swedish. Raspberies and Blueberries.

Vit Kattost

I titled the top photo whateveritis when I posted it on flickr. But if my flickr friend Marcus is correct, this is Vit Kattost. Malva pusilla Sm. Small mallow in English, but the Swedish name wins because if you direct translate it back to English it means Tiny Cat Cheese. Anyway it is on the endangered list so it is a good thing that the farmer at the Nödesta farm, Janne decided to raise the crop here in front of the smithy that I show you every now and then. And no I don't know if the crop is useful at all.

Smultron

A "smultronställe" is a favorite place that you want to keep a secret. It is also a movie by Ingmar Bergman. Smultron is also the Swedish name of the wild strawberry. It is a very tiny and sweet berry. Whenever I manage to find a few "smultron" I will eat them with my "filmjölk" for breakfast. Luckily for me there are a few "smultronställen" at Bergdalen where I live and that's where I took these photos.

22-Pistepirkko

Out chasing that Finnish rock band in the wet grass. Try saying Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata a few times. We call this tiny (3 to 5mm long), ladybug Tjugotvåprickig nyckelpiga.

No-Name Knot

I have been spending a lot of time shooting macro photos lately. Beetles, bugs and bees and what have you. This was a bit of a surprise. Grass stalks that had been tied together by another type by grass. I wonder what knot that is.

30000 Facettes

I was sitting on the veranda enjoying a cup of coffee when this four-spotted chaser flew in and landed on my leg. It sat there for a while resting so I had time to grab the camera and go macro on it. Tricky to set the focus but somehow I managed to get this photo of it's impressive eyes. Bigger here.

Red and Yellow

I guess it could be hard to see what this is at a quick glance. Both pictures show macro photos of young pine cones. Found near the old tree.

In Camouflage

This is a Gurkspindel,(Araniella cucurbitina). Cucumber green spider. It is 4 to 6 millimeter long. I noticed it in the web as I was out shooting photos of ladybugs (see yesterdays post).

Nyckelpiga

Nyckelpiga is the Swedish name for Ladybug. They are fun to photograph, but it's not very easy to get a good result. I used all three extension tubes and the nifty fifty for these two photos. It is impossible to shoot with the auto focus on, and tricky in general to find the correct settings. I shot these hand held sitting on the not so dry grass and was attacked by a bunch of ants during the shoot! I have read up about macro stacking and I will try that technique next time to get more depth of field. I found the ladybugs just a few meters from the old tree so I will be back here very soon.

Don't you forget about me

Forget-me-not. Förgätmigej in Swedish. They really are hard to forget these tiny colorful flowers.

Sitting on a grass straw

Tiny bug on top of a grass straw. Shot with the nifty fifty and three extension tubes. Haven't been able to ID it yet, Some sort of "Skinnbagge" is my guess. It is a few millimeters long.

Macromania

Say after me: Rödplister. Gullviva. Kabbleka.