Sundew

Small sundew (Drosera intermedia) grows near fens on heathlands and we have quite a few of those in Drenthe. On the heathland I usually go to, I found very small plants but they were completely flooded a week later (hard to imagine with the current drought). It was my luck that I found another spot. The plants there are so beautiful and also large! And large is relative.

Sundew grows on poor soil and survives by catching flies and other insects. The leaves contain hairs with sticky drops. When an insect is trapped the leaf rolls up. Dead flies are not very pretty and I prefer to photograph around them. The buds in the middle are emerging flowers.

The leaves of sundew are very small and these were captured with a Lensbaby Velvet 56 with Kenko extension tubes (all of them: 12 + 20 + 36 mm). What I like about the Velvet is the glow you get with apertures from 1.6 to 4.0. and the soap bubble bokeh before the focal plane. I took all of these out of hand by resting my hands on the ground. Even with all the tubes, the shutter times were most of the time higher than 1/200 s at ISO 400. 

These pictures were made with apertures from F 1.6 to F 4.0. Because of the extensions, the depth of field is very shallow. When you move the camera millimeters forwards and backwards - you can see the bokeh change. 

Sundew grows on peat moss, the yellow fluffy part of the picture. I love drops and when they are not there, this is the next best thing. I always found these plants difficult to capture with my 100 mm macro lens, but with the Velvet 56 with extension tubes it is possible to zoom in to a few leaves. I should really try it again with my old macro lens and the tubes. 

These must have caught something, they are starting to curl. 

There is a little young cicade resting on the stem and seemingly unaware of the danger. Or maybe it is protected this way? If you look closely you can see that there are not only drops at the tip of the hairs but that there are also teeny tiny ones along the hairs. 

It's all about the bokeh for me. The light was soft on the days I made pictures there. I should go back  again when there is sun because the bokeh rings are sharper then - like in the third picture were the light became a little bit brighter for just a moment. It immediately shows. 

And this picture makes me smile because it reminds me of a woman with a perm, like my mother had. 

I will probably try once more and bring my normal 100 mm macro lens. Never know if I get this chance again next year.