Category Archives: Blog

Favorite photos from 2021

Posted on June 1, 2022 by João Burini

I finally got around uploading my favorites of last year, trimmed them down to about 80 photos which are in most part from a few weeks in Ecuador the beginning of the year, as always detailed insect macrophotography and spiders make the bulk of the gallery.
Almost all macros that year were taken with the new Laowa 50mm on either my Olympus EPL5 or EM5, and for a change, bird photography was done back with my Canon 70-300 5.6 IS adapted to M4/3 which turned out unexpectedly great, this shall be the theme of a coming post.

Anolis lizard from Mindo, Ecuador — Anolis gemmosus on a fern leaf

Be sure to check them at the main site for a better viewing experience

2021

Wasp parasited by entomopathogenic fungus

Army ants guarding their prey cache of larva and pupae

Harvestman guarding eggs, with embryos visible

Habitat shot of Mindo's cloud forest — Habitat shot of Mindo’s cloud forest

Cupiennius found post moult with blueish legs

Harvestman preying on a green planthopper

Rainfrog vocalizing with inflated vocal sac

Lichen camouflaged stick bug on a fern leaf

Harvestman guarding eggs underneath a leaf

Flurescence of a harvestman on a tree trunk

Harvestman carrying Chloropidae fly pupae parasites

Plated millipede exploring the forest floor

Frontal portrait of a unusually patterned rainfrog

A katydid finishing it's moult process — A katydid finishing it’s moult process

Red and black millipede on the leaflitter

Campbell's toadheaded viper — Campbell’s toadheaded viper

A juvenile anolis on the same leaf as a planthopper

Gagrellinae harvestman preying on a planthopper

Cupiennius wandering spider found post moult

Stingless bee hive found on the forest floor

Fluorescence of a crab spider eating a stingless bee

A jumping spider feeding on a dengue mosquito

Posted in Blog, Photo Journal | Tagged blog, macrophotography, update | Leave a comment

Rarely photographed bees and other species

Posted on April 4, 2022 by João Burini

I’m writing this post as I think this past month was unusually high in number of interesting findings, including species that possibly got recorded alive for the first time – not photographed recently but from my archive. I haven’t been out photographing lately due to high gas/lodging prices and the diminishing returns of short 1-2 days expeditions, so in the meantime I’ve been processing older photos that either I haven’t followed through with identification at the time or just didn’t think they looked good enough compared to other photos I got in the queue to post.

When I say possibly recorded alive for the first time, it’s difficult to say for sure as my reference is google not showing any indexed photos of live (or sometimes not even fixed) specimens, they might have been photographed before but maybe just not identified or not uploaded anywhere, as is the case with myself, they were just sitting in my hard disk for years.… Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Science | Tagged bees, entomology, Insects, macrophotography, photonaturalism | Leave a comment

7Artisans 60mm macro II for Fuji apsc – Review

Posted on March 18, 2022 by João Burini

If you prefer this review in video and to see some clips the lens in action, check the YT link above. My main macro setup is still m4/3 but I’m always curious about testing Fuji gear.

It’s a lens designed specifically for aps-c mirrorless instead of just a ported mount so there’s no image circle wasted, the design itself is a big upgrade that makes the mark I look like a weird prototype in comparison, with the most notable change being the internal focus now, no more extending barrel – that’s a problem I see with the majority of macro lenses, Laowa had been safe from this lately and now 7artisans came out with this updated lens as well, I’m happy for it.… Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Equipment | Tagged 7artisans lens, apsc, gear, macrophotoraphy, review | Leave a comment

Laowa 50mm 2x macro for mft – Review

Posted on November 10, 2020 by João Burini

Laowa lens on a Olympus camera

Time to give my input on this new Laowa 50mm macro after using it enough now, this is just a bit more extended version of my YT review and with different photos, in case you want to see the lens in action and how it looks on hand I’ll also leave the video link here:

If you aren’t familiar with Venus Optics / Laowa, they have been putting out some first in their class and high quality lenses recently specially in macro and wide angle – after they released a 65mm 2x for aps-c I started getting tempted to get one for my Fuji, but that 65mm having a manual aperture without camera contacts put me off as usability wouldn’t be so different from a reverse lens, except that I’d still have focus to infinity.… Continue reading

Posted in Equipment | Tagged laowa 50mm macro, lens review, mft macro | 3 Comments

Birding with the Canon FD 300mm 2.8 Fluorite

Posted on August 4, 2020 by João Burini

As mirrorless cameras get popular we’re seeing old manual lenses springing back into life more and more as budget options (even though 2.8 isn’t exactly low budget), for telephoto it’s particularly teasing to be able to use them on stabilized sensors, so I figured it’s worth sharing the experience I have with some of those lesser used lenses. This is a long term review of the FD 300mm 2.8 fluorite after 10 years using it first on the aps-c Canon 450D and later on the m4/3 Olympus EM5.

Relevant specifications, taken from Canon:
Release date: 1975
Diaphragm blades: 9
Minimum focus distance: 3.5m
Length: 230mm
Weight: 1900g

Short version: image quality is great in real life shooting, surprised me how glowy it looked after shooting a test chart, and usability is difficult because of how long the focus throw is.… Continue reading

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End of 2019 update

Posted on December 15, 2019 by João Burini

Ending the year with a new gallery for my favorites of 2019 earlier this time.
A notable change this year is that I began trying out a fuji body back into aps-c, so I’m walking with the sigma 10-20 again and worrying less about noise reduction. Also something ticked and I got super inspired for composition of rainforest photos, never before I got happy with the composition of so many shots of this kind, getting lucky with the weather played a huge part, but still felt easier than before.

In 2018 I noticed I was lighting and processing my images in a much darker way than past years, I feel like I’m balancing back into the usual exposure this year, and with the fuji I’m noticing better green tones too, shouldn’t make a difference when shooting raw but maybe the film simulation fuji has a starting point in post processing makes me biased in keeping a desatured green that is looking more real to me, I’m noticing this difference specially when I shoot macro with it compared to m4/3.… Continue reading

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M4/3 25mm 1.8 cctv ‘green circle’ – Review

Posted on September 22, 2019 by João Burini

Seemed worthy to review this cheap lens since there isn’t much info around, it’s a no-name lens and is being referred simply as ‘green circle’ the few times I tried to find anything about it, there’s also a red ring one but it should be the same.
The short version: it’s not a total crap and better than legacy lenses at the same price in some aspects, sharper than lots of them wide open while also having lots of ‘character’ if that’s your thing. Wide open it’s sharp as the olympus 14-42 II kit lens at 25/4.4, but while the kit lens maintains the image quality throughout the frame, this 25mm gets weird towards the edges.… Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Equipment | Tagged 25mm 1.8, budget lens, lens review, m43, manual focus | Leave a comment

Update with best of 2018 gallery

Posted on January 21, 2019 by João Burini

Took me more than it should to make this selection but the gallery with my favorites of 2018 is now online together with a insect-only 2019 calendar:

Also worth noting from this year but not included in the selection was the mention in Nikon Small Word Competition and in the Wiki Loves Earth 2018:

Posted in Blog | Tagged best of the year, calendar, macrophotography, update | Leave a comment

Carnivorous Utricularia from Itatiaia

Posted on August 23, 2018 by João Burini

I haven’t given much attention to plants here before, but these are granted to get interest even from bug-people like me. Utricularia (Lentibulariaceae, commonly named bladderwort) is the fastest and most diverse genus of carnivorous plants so far with more than 200 species, a lot of them have big and colorful flowers and for the average person this is all the credit they get, I found it’s common to be met with surprise when you tell someone they’re carnivorous plants, looking nothing like flytraps of pitchers.

Part of the lack public knowledge about this is due their traps being hidden underwater or damp soil, they’re rootless aquatic plants depending on small creatures like zooplankton to capture nutrients in poor substrate, the traps are modified leaves looking like small pitchers, prepared to suck prey inside by pumping out water and causing decompression inside.… Continue reading

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Site update

Posted on May 7, 2013 by João Burini

New gallery added, the field studio, containing photos of live creatures on a shadowless white background, as the standard for the Meet your Neighbours project.

Posted in Blog, Photo Journal | 3 Comments