Garden spider

It took quite a bit of patience and steady hand to take this image. There was a little bit of wind that caused focusing issues and I didn't have the tripod out with me. I've learned that, when using the macro, it doesn't matter how high the shutter speed you will still need a tripod. I can't believe that even less than a millimetre of movement can throw the subject out of focus. It's absolutely amazing.

This little garden spider (not fully sure what the actual species is) was only about 1cm in length. His web was in a prime spot because he seemed to be catching all the greenfly. Unlike his friend, whose web was empty. He was running about like crazy trying to fix his little web, which was obviously in a poor position compared with Mr."wind-blows-them-here-first". I wonder which spider built his web first!!

Ugly Ducklings?

Not these cute little guys.

I took this image when I was at Butterfly and Insect World. There is an enclosure at the back of the hot-house where you can have a look inside wasp and bee-hives, bird watch or just cool down. These cute little ducklings were gathering close to their mother before she herded them away to a less 'busy' area of their enclosure.

As sunlight was minimal at this point, and I had no tripod, I put my ISO up quite high (800 maybe, I can't remember). I love the grainy quality that the high ISO has produced. The original was in colour but I think it looks better in black & white.