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Thomas Ellaby Photography, Brisbane (2026)

27/10/2026

Made a little friend out in the garden today, This is The Biting Jumping Spider (Opisthoncus mordax) a common, non-dangerous jumping spider found across eastern Australia, including Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria

24/09/2026

Recently went for a trip up to Toowoomba to have a look at all the flowers on display for the Carnival of Flowers. Took a fair few photos and still working through them all but here is a couple of what i think are nice ones..

05/09/2026

I decided to try somewhere different this time in my hunt for Jumping Spiders and ended up in some bushland out near Capalaba here in Brisbane. They are such amazing little things and they all have their own personalities.

🕷️ So on that note meet the ant hunter. This little Salticidae (jumping spider) has evolved to specialise in hunting ants, no small feat considering ants bite back and often travel in numbers. Jumping spiders rely on incredible eyesight for their size, up to four pairs of eyes, letting them stalk and pounce with pinpoint precision.

Some species even mimic ants themselves to get close enough for the ambush. Nature's tiny assassins, hiding in plain sight.

📍 Brisbane Koala Bushland, Burbank, Brisbane QLD
📷 Shot on Olympus EM1 Mk2, 60mm Macro Lens and diffused flash

05/09/2026

I decided to try somewhere different this time in my hunt for Jumping Spiders and ended up in some bushland out near Capalaba here in Brisbane. They are such amazing little things and they all have their own personalities.

🕷️ So on that note meet the ant hunter. This little Salticidae (jumping spider) has evolved to specialise in hunting ants, no small feat considering ants bite back and often travel in numbers. Jumping spiders rely on incredible eyesight for their size, up to four pairs of eyes, letting them stalk and pounce with pinpoint precision.

Some species even mimic ants themselves to get close enough for the ambush. Nature's tiny assassins, hiding in plain sight.

📍 Brisbane Koala Bushland, Burbank, Brisbane QLD
📷 Shot on Olympus EM1 Mk2, 60mm Macro Lens and diffused flash

05/09/2026

🍄 Found this little beauty tucked into the mulch at Mt Coot-tha, believed to be Pluteus petasatus, a saprotrophic fungus that thrives on decaying wood and woodchips. That cream-coloured cap and salmon-pink gills only show up once the spores mature, so catching one at this stage is always a treat.

Macro photography has a way of turning something you'd walk straight past into a tiny alien landscape. 🌿

📍 Mt Coot-tha, Brisbane
📷 Shot on Olympus EM1 Mk2, 60mm macro lense and lighting diffusers

01/09/2026

🕷️ Grey Huntsman Spider (Holconia immanis)

Taken at Mt Cootha Botanical Gardens recently.

📷 OLYMPUS E-M1MarkII - OLYMPUS M.60mm F2.8 Macro - 60mm | f/10 | 1/160 | ISO 200

29/08/2026

🕷️ Gray Wall Jumping Spider (Menemerus bivittatus)

50 images stacked and edited with MacroStudio

📷 OLYMPUS E-M1MarkII - OLYMPUS M.60mm F2.8 Macro - 60mm | f/5.6 | 1/8 | ISO 640

25/08/2026

Snapped this one up at Mt Coot-tha, a Tachinid fly, most likely from the genus Rutilia, one of the larger and more colourful genera in the family here in eastern Australia.

You can usually pick a Tachinid by its heavily bristled body - those stiff black spines covering the thorax and abdomen are a key identifying feature entomologists use to sort out different genera. This one's got a striking mix of a dark, checkered thorax and a golden, almost metallic bristly abdomen, plus those deep red compound eyes that dominate the head.

Always amazes me how much detail is hiding in something this small once you get in close with a macro lens. 📸

📍 Mt Coot-tha, Brisbane

20/08/2026

A highlight of recent macro flower shots.

20/08/2026

A little colour from the plant side of things - this Garden Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) caught the light just right, with those delicate pink petals framing a burst of gold. 🌸

~📸 Olympus EM1 mkii
~🔍 OM system M.Zuiko Digital 60mm Macro
~💡 Godox TT350O
~💭 KR Macro Diffuser
~ 🥞 single shot, handheld
~ 🌏 photographed at Mt Coot-Tha Botanical Gardens, Brisbane QLD