Gambian macro subjects

As many of you will know I am a keen herper, so before heading to the Gambia I had a lot of ideas about which snakes I'd like to photograph. This did NOT work out - during November, snakes are largely nocturnal in Gambia, myself and Matthew Fox spend a few very long nights searching through forest, farmland, scrub, swamp and even eco-lodge garden. Guess where we found the only significant snake of the trip...

That's not to say we didn't come up trumps with some other great macro subjects though. 

A blister beetle - so called as the adults secrete cantharadin (a poison) from their leg joints, which may make human skin blister. Apparently if ingested this can prove fatal!

Family - Meloidae

Genus - Actenodia

Senegal chameleon (Chamaeleo senegalensis).

Interesting huntsman spider found at night (Sparassidae sp.)

A Golden-orb weaver, Nephila sp. 

The lighting in these invertebrate pictures was created by careful selection of background scenery and the use of a little off camera fill flash (bounced - not direct). I have tried to place emphasis on the subject, also the web in the spider images, and to slightly underexpose the background. Let me know what you think!

A twin-spot assassin bug,  genus Platymeris sp. 

Many more macro subjects to come.