327: Pillars of Frost

Settings: f/5.6, 1/180, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44M M42, 21mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced.)

326: Berries, Frost & Leaves

Settings: f/11, 1/180, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44M M42, 21mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced.)

299: Blueberry Leaves

Settings: f/5.6, 1/80, ISO 200, DA 16-45 (34mm.)

278: One Dozen Ladybirds

Settings: f/5.6, 1/10, ISO 100, 50mm Cosinon M42, 19mm extension, tripod.

267: Yellow Lines

I'm used to a fixed focal length lens, but a fixed focus lens is something I'm just not used to using with an SLR. It takes me back to the days of little plastic 110 and 135 compacts, except with a better viewfinder for starters.

Like the last time, I used electrical tape to fix a lens to the camera... Bad practice! Don't do this at home unless you expect things to fall out now and again.
I really need one of those double threaded M42-M39 step-down rings. Much better than tape.

Settings: f/4.5, 1/320, ISO 100, 50mm Paterson 1:4.5 M39, M42-PK adapter.

261: Ripening Tomatoes

The traffic lights are all on at once here, but they're very slow to change. And they get eaten; those two red examples were picked later in the day.

Settings: f/3 (approx,) 1/200, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44-2 M42. Some curves and colour adjustment, slight sharpen and crop.

250: Green Stink Bug

Settings: f/5.6, 1/180, ISO 200, 50mm Cosinon M42, 67mm extension, 1/4 flash, foil reflector, tripod.

249: Slugs In Your Grass

Settings: f/11, 1/180, ISO 200, 50mm Cosinon M42, 19mm extension, on-board flash & foil reflectors. Some PP & cropping.

247: White-Marked Tussock

I found this little one while pruning a fruit bush, never seen one like it before. It didn't move a millimetre while I set up the shot.

Settings: f/5.6, 1/180, ISO 200, 50mm Pentacon M42, 26mm extension, 1/4 flash, white paper, tripod.

229: Poker Top

Settings: f/5.6, 1/160, ISO 100, 50mm Cosinon M42, 26mm extension.

228: Water Droplets On Leaf

Settings: f/5.6, 1/80, ISO 100, 50mm Cosinon M42, 16mm extension.

216: Web Droplets

A spider's web provides a very good medium for raindrops to attach to. This one was almost parallel to the ground, attached to the base of a plant pot. I wasn't looking for one, but it was easy to notice due to its shininess - quite like a sheet of bright jewels hovering above the ground.

Settings: f/8, 1/5, ISO 100, 50mm Cosinon M42, 19mm extension, beanbag.

215: Squash Leaf Ladybird

Is this possibly one of the larvae I placed under this plant? I'm not sure how long they take to fully develop, but there were a lot of them around.

Settings: f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 100, 50mm Cosinon M42, 19mm extension.

210: Green Furry Caterpillars

I found yet more caterpillars on my black kale today. (Small White?)
After picking off all that I could find, I figured making whatever use I could of them would be good; I tried leaving some out for the birds a few days before, but they didn't get eaten. So a photo now, and into the compost bin afterwards... Sorry folks, that's life. It's them or my vegetables.

Settings: f/8, 1/4, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 49mm extension, 1/4 flash, glass, red paper, white cards, copy stand.

209: Bound Beans

A roving squash tendril wraps around this green bean pod. I'm not bothering to free the pod, as these wrappings are surprisingly tough; and it's probably doing more good to leave it as it is. It looks interesting, so there's another reason to leave it.

Settings: f/4, 1/60, ISO 400, 50mm Pentacon M42, 9mm extension. Slight cropping, sharpening and noise reduction.

203: Ladybabies

Babybirds? (Baby bugs.)
These were found under a curly parsley leaf a couple of days ago, but then all a cluster of tiny yellow eggs. I was unsure what they were, and left them indoors. I noticed they had hatched this morning, and initially thought they were blackfly. On closer inspection I was delighted to see they were ladybird larvae. I put them ouside under a blackfly-encrusted squash plant - even though it doesn't seem affected, I hope that the larvae will find plenty to eat there, as well as adequate shelter.

Settings: f/8, 1/4, ISO 100, P-FA 50mm, 136mm bellows, 1/4 flash, white cards, copy stand.

202: Spider in the Parsley

This is one of those shots taken quickly, and without much thought. What I liked about this was the unexpected detail lurking in the focus area it's cropped to.
It's nice to think that I may have noticed it subconsciously, but most probably not - just a curious accident.

Settings: f/4, 1/160, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 19mm extension. 100% crop.

176: Roots of a Beet

Some roots from slighty pot-bound a red beetroot here, just prior to re-planting. They really are pink all the way through.

Settings: f/5.6, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 19mm extension, 1/4 flash, white card, tripod.

175: Rondo di Nizza

Settings: f/5.6, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 19mm extension, 1/4 flash, 2 white cards, tripod.

172: Another Frog

Settings: f/5.6, 1/60, ISO 100, P-FA 50mm, pop-up flash.