Sunday, October 28, 2012

Gasing Hill revisited..

That Saturday afternoon itch to go hiking...
It was a hot afternoon and after some deep thought, I decided to pack my macro gear to shoot some bugs at Gasing Hill.
I roped-in Michelle who was more than happy to go with me.
It as a good break from cycling as I was too lazy to do so.
So, there we were, on the trail again. Before we did that, we made a pit-stop in USJ11 for an early lunch.
Gasing hill is not that crowded around 1pm and it was great to have the trail all by ourselves.
After I parked the car, I saw two photography enthusiasts with their macro photography gear. 
The sight of a home-made diffuser snoot is unmistakable. 

At the trail head

A tree snake

Fern butt
 Mrs Green-fingers
While setting up at a hut donated by the Lions Club, I noticed an elderly lady and a young man who were chatting there.
Later, I was told that the lady was responsible for planting flowers at the entrance of the trial.
Michelle and I worked on looking for some subjects.
I spotted a black jumper and managed to get a few shots before moving on.
Just metres away, there was a tree snake perched on a fern.
Michelle managed to get a shot before it slithered off..

Michelle on the trail
Getting close and closer...
I found at least two subjects that made my day.
First, was the Single Striped Grass Spider.
These are very common in Gasing Hill and are out in huge numbers.
I managed to capture a set before moving on.
Next, there's the Jolly Telamonia jumping spider.
Now, this one - I paid careful attention in capturing extreme close-ups with my Canon MPE-65 macro lens.
Aided with the MT24EX twin flash, I didn't have much issues capturing the spider under high-magnification settings...

Happy camper: Samo on the trail..
Testing the camera's twin flash setting on an Orb weaver
On the whole, I was very happy to get at least two working sets of photographs.
The Single Striped Grass Spider and Jolly Telamonia was captured in its full glory.
Just minutes after we left, the sky became gloomy.
This is typical weather at the end of the year and we were just happy to be on our way..

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