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just been hanging around in the yard during lunch break of the cricket.
thought I might try and shoot some flying bugs.
I think it is too hot for em though because this is all I saw:


shot @ 1/60sec with some fill from the sb800
was after a feeling of movement, but think maybe I should have panned the shot rather than go for a slow speed.
Think I would have preferred head on also but it was hard to get the bug to cooperate.

Steve

No, they're just inside watching the start to the Sydney to Hobart yacht race!

Nicely Captured!

Ok, time for a bad joke....
Why was the bee flying around with its legs crossed?
Because it couldn't find a BP station. lame, I know.

not actually sure this is a bee....
looked bee-like in colour but by the amount of hovering I observed, I figured it might be a hoverfly.
Perhaps one on our resident entomologists could set me straight??
It is about 1/3 to half the length of a regular honey bee with a slender body.

In flight it was hovering quite often but flying rapidly about. Even saw it fly backwards

Steve

Great catch. Which Lens?

slider, I meant to put lens etc details in the post but forgot.

this was taken with the micro nikor 105 f10 1/60s handheld

Steve

I think this has a good sensation of movement, these tackers are hard to catch so I can appreciate how tricky it is...

avkomp wrote:slider, I meant to put lens etc details in the post but forgot.

this was taken with the micro nikor 105 f10 1/60s handheld

Steve

Thanks Steve. Very nice.

found this shot when going thru my the shots, whilst not conveying the movement, it is also a flight shot of one of these bugs and may make it easier for the amateur entomologists (or even the professional ones) to ID for me.

anyone??

Steve

Very nice work Steve, particularly for the critical nature of the timing and focus tolerances. Great effort You must hover around like a bee yourself trying to catch these little suckers!
cheers
marco

marco:

All I can say is that it was lucky the bad language police werent in my backyard when I was trying to get these!!

It took ages. firstly to find em and then wait for them to go where I needed.
I really wanted head on shots but had to settle for butt shots but did get the top view which may help id.
Steve

avkomp wrote:found this shot when going thru my the shots

Alright, admit it, you found a dead insect on the floor and montaged it into a blurry leaf shot...

Seriously, you must either be taking a huge number of shots or have incredibly good reflexes. Kudos, at that magnification I can't shoot anything that moves.

Cheers
Steffen.

Steffen: I have often thought of posting comments like that to some of the various macros I have seen posted here!!

I took about 12 shots only. I was aided by luck and the tendency of this insect to hover allowing focus to happen.

I would like to get one of a dragonfly or something like that but that looks harder to do than these!

As far as shooting stuff that moves, I would suggest practicing in the garden.
Digital is free and you just hide anything that doesnt work. Just like I do.

Steve

Still waiting for an entomologist to ID this for me!!
Steve

I'm no bug man but it does look a LITTLE like a european wasp???

as a matter of coincidence I know as much about bees and bugs as I do about capturing macro/micro shots of them. I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to catch bugs etc using the kit lens or 50mm 1.4 plus extension tubes (and tripod)

apart from a sore back and lots of blurry shots (only very small sections of the pics are in focus) things are going very slowly but every now and then I get a glimmer of hope that progress is being made...your comment about previous blurry postings only inspirs me to hold off posting til I get something half decent.

if you were to choose the best lens for bugs/flower shots would you go with the 60 or 105 nikon? Santa has provided a glimmer of hope of having another lens sooner rather than later!

was much smaller than a european wasp. and more orange
lengh is around 1cm although it wouldnt sit still and let me measure it

Steve

rookie: Narrow depth of field will be a fact of life with macro and we have to deal with it.

nice shot can still be had so long as the intended main subject of the shot is sharp. With insects this is probably all we can hope for and I wouldnt not post a shot like that, in fact it is probably beneficial to post something like that for several reasons.
for example:
it may be not as bad as you think, people may love it!!
people may be able to offer suggestions as to how to improve it.
it will inspire you to get getter ones.
etc
etc

The ones I would hide would be the ones where I missed focus totally.

You can get much better depth of field by stopping way down, but that will be more suited to stuff that cant run off (flowers, etc) experiment!!
like I said before, digital is free!! (now we already have the cameras and stuff)

Steve

As I said Steve my entomology is on par with my photography..that's why I come on line late at night (actually its because I'm on dial up!)
sorry I couldnt help.
R2

Is it one of those tiny things that seem to stand still in mid-air and then suddenly disappear? In that case, this would seem like an extraordinarily lucky shot.

Cheers
Steffen.

yep, thats the beastie!!
Initially I tried following it around unsuccessfully but then decided to stake out the lavender where it returned a few times.

That let me get the shots because I was already prefocussed where I hoped it would be and final focus was almost instant.

Steve

Hmm, seems true what they say: the key to good animal shots is learning and understanding their habits beforehand.

Cheers
Steffen.

especially true when photographing birds.

Steve

just read the POTW for this week,

this bug would definitely appear to be a hoverfly. The POTW image is way better than these though. I definitely wouldnt have posted these if I had noticed that thread!!

Steve