The Real Flower

Most people think that the pink petals are part of the flower. That's not really true. Those pink "petals" are just leaves.

The real flower is the tiny white one in the centre. The entire plant is beautiful no doubt but the real flower is tiny.

A Small Part

Here is another extreme macro shot. This time of a really tiny flower.

The entire flower itself couldn't have a diameter larger than 2 centimetres and it's stamens (the male part of the flower) is really tiny. So tiny infact that you wouldn't notice it unless you were really really close to the flower.

I had noticed it before when I'd shot it but never really got to get so close. I absolutely love this. It's like a whole new world.

It's Fly Time

Yup. Another extreme macro shot. This is of a common housefly.

It really surprised me. Not the fly but the picture. They are actually quite beautiful. God's creation truly is amazing!

Flies are a nuisance but they sure are pretty. Look at those massive compound eyes!

Macro Beauty

I've just got into shooting extreme macro photographs and it's awesome.

I've been blown away by the beauty that lies in the world - even in things that are so tiny that they are ignored.

This is a tiny part of a larger flower. I don't know the name but it has red petals and yellow part inside.

Mosquitoes Are Beautiful

Before you say I'm crazy just look at today's picture.

So I just got a DSLR - a Canon T4i aka 650D - as a very generous gift from a couple in USA. It has got to be one of the best presents I've ever received.

So I've always wanted to try out taking extreme macro shots and I wasn't disappointed. Sure it's really difficult and you have to shoot a tons of images just to get a handful that you can actually use, it's really rewarding because you get to see the world like never before.

This picture of the mosquito was really surprising. I actually said "Wow!" out loud when I saw it on my camera's LCD screen. It was the first time I've seen a mosquito like that and it blew me away.

I'll still swat at mosquitoes when they irritate me but they are beautiful!

Also a BIG Thank You for the camera :)

A Brief Stare

This juvenile Oriental Garden Lizard was very difficult to shoot.

It kept hiding. I'm sure if it plays hide-and-seek with it's friends it'll beat them every single time. The fact that they can change their skin colour to a certain extent doesn't help either.

I had to search for quite a while just to find it and get this shot.

The Other Way

I wonder what it would be like to eat or drink when upside down. I'm sure it would be really uncomfortable and probably even dangerous. Butterflies fascinate me because they get into weird angles to suck the nectar out of the flowers.

This particular butterfly was all over the place. To start off the flower points at the ground probably because the plant can't support it so the butterfly just casually landed on it upside down and stayed there for a while before trying new angles.

Ready For Takeoff

This dragonfly was rather uncooperative. It kept flying around.

For a few seconds it seemed fine and that is when I took this shot. As soon as I took this photograph it took off and landed far away.

I'm going to start doing tutorials for my Youtube channel again. If any of you have any suggestions and/or topics I'd be happy to hear them.

Dry Eyes

I came across this Indian Bullfrog because of my dog. He hates it for some reason but I love it.

The pattern on its body is amazing and beautiful. The day this was taken it was raining heavily. There was a puddle right outside my dog's kennel and that is where this frog decided to hide.

Its entire body was under the water with just its eyes above it.

The Flower In Pink

I am amazed by the number of days some flowers last. They just don't seem to fade.

Which is a really good thing. This is one of those flowers. There are so very many on one single plant and it looks beautiful. You can hardly see any leaves - just flowers.

Looking Down

There are some awesome flowers in my mom's garden and this particular plant has a unique pattern.

The largest flowers are always on top and the newer, smaller ones are lower down.

I decided to use this perspective because it looks like the flowers are looking down on the others. That's kinda pessimistic I know but the opposite "looking up" perspective wasn't working out.

Through The Foliage

My mom recently bought some really pretty flowers. They look amazing and I'm surprised at how long they last.

This particular one is one of my favourites. It's been there for over three weeks now and doesn't seem to be fading. It's just beautiful.

Just beside that are some plants with leaves that have a little bit of pink in them and I thought they matched perfectly. So I wanted a frame with both in it at the same time.

Choices

This butterfly was really pretty and although we were in a hurry I just had to get a shot of it.

The day was perfect too. The sun was bright and the clouds looked amazing. I couldn't go close to the butterfly because the plant was in an enclosure.

This is where the massive zoom on the SX50 HS helped.

It seemed like this pretty little creature was having a hard time making up its mind because there were so many flowers to choose from. It finally picked this one.

Playful

This is the juvenile Oriental Garden Lizard that I spoke of in my previous blog post about these lizards. This is only one I've seen that's this tiny.

It was thinner than my little finger - and that's really ting because I'm pretty thin myself. It was tiny but it's tail just stretched on forever.

It was beautiful though and I wish I had more time photographing it. It was really shy and kept jumping everywhere. It just wouldn't stay still. But it was worth it. I hope I get to see more of these this year.

Intense

Since most of the lizard were hibernating I wasn't able to get good pictures so here is one that I took last year.

This particular fellow won a fight which I'm guessing was about its territory. It then went on to climb a fence and just stayed there for a while before coming back down and onto the grass.

It provided me with loads of really great picture opportunities and I must say that those pictures were some of my favourites.

Also I think the lizards are slowly coming out of hibernation because yesterday was really sunny and I saw two of these amazing creatures. I was able to shoot one (with a camera, obviously).

Depths Of Beauty

A friend of mine recently got a new camera and he wanted some help with it, so we met up and spent some time taking pictures.

The place he was staying at had some really pretty flower. This particular one was my favourite.

My camera had a really tough time focusing for some reason so I had to switch to Manual Focus for this. It's time like this that make me wish I had steady hands :P

Different From The Others

I really love photographing flowers. There are so many different ways you can shoot just one flower.

My mom just bought some beautiful new flowers but I wasn't able to take pictures because I got home late from class. Will try and get some shots tomorrow.

Took this picture during a recent trip to Darjeeling. We stopped at Batasia Loop and the garden was stunning!

Fitting In

This little spider tried it's very best to hide and it almost lost me.

I thought the brick looked weird and it was only when I got really close that I realised why it looked weird - it had eyes!

Nature is amazing at camouflage and it always amazes me how we can miss beautiful things that are sometimes right in front of us simply because we don't look close enough.

Towards The Source

This is a plant that is underrated. Sure, it's a wild plant and just grows on its own but it does have some really pretty flowers.

Another thing is that these flowers last for weeks. It adds colour to this world so I just don't get it when people say that it should be destroyed.

I would understand if it was getting in the way and stopping you from doing something else but if it's just growing on its own then there should be no problem but people have still always maintained that we should get rid of it for no reason.

Fortunately we didn't and it grew tall and these beautiful flowers blossomed :)

Leaf Eater

We've had this cherry tree in our front garden for a few years now and one of the best things about it is the wildlife it attracts. There are loads of birds, bats and Oriental Garden Lizards that love this tree.

I've seen birds and bats eating the fruit but I've never seen an Oriental Garden Lizard eating one so I was curious when I noticed this little lizard munching on something. Turns out it was eating the leaves.

It was completely engrossed in what it was doing that it didn't even notice me sneaking up on it to get a picture. This has got to be one of my favourite pictures of this beautiful creature.

You can find this picture and more in my new "Best of 2013" video on my Youtube channel.