Cocoon, fully formed

The caterpillar's cocoon is now fully formed. It covers completely what used to be a caterpillar. Now I am eagerly awaiting for the day when it would emerge as a full grown butterfly. I guess I will have to wait for about 2 weeks or more for that.

I will keep you posted about this.

Caterpillar now fully enclosed in a cocoon

Caterpillar (higad) Preparing a Cocoon

As I mentioned in my last post, there are so many caterpillars crawling around in my garden. This particular type called "higad" here is just everywhere, there is always the risk of bumping into them and getting itchy all over. However, as I showed you last time, they are so colorful and symmetrical such that I cannot help but take more pictures of them.

Anyway, as I ventured out into my garden yesterday, I saw another "picture perfect" opportunity. I saw this caterpillar starting to form a cocoon around itself. It was moving ever so slowly as it formed threads around itself. It was my first time to see such an event so I excitedly took several shots again.

You can still see the bristles of the caterpillar and even its orange head is still evident. However, it is now enclosed in some silvery threads that definitely show the beginning of a cocoon. Isn't this exciting?

caterpillar or "higad" forming a cocoon around itself

Have you seen a "higad" (caterpillar) close-up?

For the past weeks and month, we have been having "higad" galore. There is an acacia tree in our front yard and this tree is one of their favorite hangouts. We usually encounter the "higad" hanging by a silvery thread from the tree. They are so small such that you usually don't see them before it's too late. Too late means you have them on your skin or your hair and of course your will get the allergic reaction. This is the reason why I always try to avoid them - I get itchy all over once they contact my skin.

I am however curious how these little creepy crawlers look like in close-up. So I got a small twig from our acacia tree and took photos of them. It's no wonder they are so itchy. Just look at their bristles! Ugh! They are so ugly yet so beautiful too. Their symmetry and color are fantastic. Don't you agree?

 

When You Can't Think of Anything to Shoot - Just Add Water

Sometimes (or is it many times?), we can't think of anything to shoot. We wake up in the morning and can't imagine shooting another sunrise or another face, what do you do then? One advice I remember is - "just add water"and go on shooting.

So I explored this "just add water" advice throughout my photography adventure. In the process, I have collected hundreds if not thousands of "water" photos.

I remembered this advice when I was thinking of what article to write for my next hub. It was just perfect. I gathered my "water" photos, and now I have a hub. Please check it out at  http://hubpages.com/hub/Just-Add-Water-A-Photo-Tip-When-You-Cant-Think-of-Anything-to-Shoot 

learning about filters in Photoshop

I have recently been experimenting with the filters in Photoshop and have created some interesting art works. Can you guess what this photo above is? I just used "distort" then "artist" to create this.
What do you think?
This is really fun and you should try it too!

one little candle

Yesterday, we had an almost all-day brown-out. There wasn't much to do in the dark so I started taking photos of the candles we were using.

Candle photos are fun to take because they already have their own light. Still, I found that my photos appeared better and with more details if I cranked up the ISO setting a bit. Here is one sample photo.

Moon and Venus Aligned

Last Sunday, May 16, 2010, we were treated to a rare phenomenon in the sky. The Moon and Venus were aligned with each other for a few minutes and this created such a happy picture. A kind of smiley picture.

Some people believe that this augurs well for our new incoming president, Noynoy Aquino. I certainly hope and pray so.  

I was lucky to have been able to witness such phenomenon and even more important, I was able to take a picture. So here is the photo I took.

 

                                                          Moon and Venus aligned