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Swimming Leafhopper Cicada

Published: Monday, August 24 2020 17:58

Swimmming Cicada
^{Hemiptera ... Leafhopper}

When I saw the Water Strider post of @qwerrie a couple of days ago I knew I had seen such insects wandering over the water many times before, never thought of photographing them though.
But I told @qwerrie that I'd give it a try when I'm at some water where I might eventually find such insects next time. Well, next time was yesterday, but all I found has been this tiny insect which was "swimming" on the water in the little well in my parent's garden.

This post (first photo) is my contribution to the @PhotoFeed Contest #7 - Macro Photography (Amateur).

All photos were shot hand held sitting in the wet grass. It was windy and the water moved continuously - the insect was actually swimming or floating 😉

I didn't use any extra light or diffusers and set my camera to aperture priority mode at ISO 200. Due to the movement of the water and the floating insect, focus stacking was no option.

During my research I have found a few bugs which look similar to this one, but I'm not sure which might be the right one. So, I just suppose it is an insect of the order of Hemiptera, Superfamily Membracoidea, Family Cicadellidae - a Leafhopper. If you know better or more, please let me know in the comments.

Fighting Gods

Published: Thursday, August 20 2020 17:58

It's my kids 18th birthday today. Now you may ask "why are you posting on such a day?" and you might also ask "what has this to do with the title 'Fighting Gods'?"

When Gods fight in the sky

Well, from the early morning on they have had Well-wishers visiting us, mostly family. The answer to your first question would be "I take advantage of a little break while we wait for my niece who comes from Lower Austria to make some replies and a post".

She had to wait for the result of a Corona test she had to make because one of her colleagues was tested positive. Her test was negative, so she could head towards Carinthia. Today is her birthday too, so we will have 3 birthday kids at home today. Well, when you see this post it will be evening here and she will already be gone to her own family here in Carinthia.

On the right side you can see what I didn't see ;)

The answer to the second question is a little different.
Yesterday evening I was on the mountain where I photographed the Golden Hour in the Mountains photos of my contribution to the @Qurator's Photo Quest "Golden Hour". I wished I had not been so much fixated on the setting sun, because the phenomenon to the right of the sun has certainly been much more intense a while before I took notice of it.

So, long story short, to me it looked like a brightly shining boomerang which was thrown on something that glowed like a rainbow when hit. "Fighting Gods" I thought, and since I love my kids like little gods and they have always been fighting, this is the answer to the second question.

When then I saw the Halo it was almost gone

Before the Storm

Published: Friday, August 07 2020 17:58

We have had quite a few rainy and stormy days since last week, and this is how it all began...

Before the Storm
^{Stormy Weather}

I have made these photos during a motorbike ride around town last week.

When I came back home from the ride a thunderstorm began shortly after and it was stormy and rainy until three days ago, when the sun finally won her fight against the clouds.

It was late afternoon and the setting sun has lit the storm clouds beautifully.

By the way, the little black spots in the zoomed images are no dust or sensor spots, but they are birds - many birds enjoyed their afternoon in the sky before they had to hide from the storm 😊

The day before yesterday was the first day on which I could sit on my motorbike again and make a little ride around to see if everything is still okay ... and it was 😉

ain't she sweet?

Published: Friday, August 14 2020 17:58

Mantis - Mantodea

... but to be honest, the Mantis has found me. I was looking at a flower at the side of the path at the Reservoir when I noticed a movement right in front of my feet, which obviously was the Mantis. Such a small thing - I would never have seen her in the grass if her green color had not been brighter than the green of the grass.

I thought "will she bite me if I grab her?" But of course, I knew that Mantises don't bit people and they are not venomous either. So I put my hand in front of the green beauty and she climbed on it at once. It was still early in the morning and she might have liked the warmth of my hand.


Four hand held taken photos manually focus stacked in Photoshop. I thought I had taken a sharp photo of the middle part of the Mantis too 😉

I made a few quick hand held shots of her on my hand and then I put the Mantis on the flower below which she has been sitting in the grass, waiting for me to come by 😉


Two photos manually focus stacked in Photoshop.

All photos on this page are shot hand held and the two above are focus stacked images (Focus stacking - Wikipedia). I know they are far from sharp focus stacked images, but as said, I shot them hand held and the little green lady was moving on the flower.

After a few photos I took her and put the Mantis on another flower for some more photos and then I put her in the grass further away from the path. Now that I know that there are Mantises in that area I will certainly keep an eye open for them.
The whole photoshoot took about 10 minutes and I didn't stress the insect - if the Mantis had not wanted to climb on my hand I wouldn't have forced her.

Sunrise at the Lake Wörthersee

Published: Sunday, March 01 2020 17:58

In the east and on the horizon behind the mountains, where the sun was just about to rise, the clouds shone golden as you usually see it at sunsets, while the rest of the sky and the clouds were still colored in the pink and slight purple of the blue hour before sunrise.

Before I packed my stuff and continued my trip around the lake, I quickly took a few photos with the 70-200mm telephoto lens.

Lake Wörthersee at Sunrise

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Swimmming CicadaHemiptera ... Leafhopper

When Gods fight in the sky

Before the StormStormy Weather

Mantis - Mantodea

Swimmming Cicada
^{Hemiptera ... Leafhopper}

Before the Storm
^{Stormy Weather}