Hovers.

[John 2]

Three more from the garden. The late good weather has now sadly left us and so I guess we won't be seeing many more. Can't ID these either. The second one with the white longitudinal stripes in particular is new to me. Thought it might have been a loss of colour in processing but the raw file seems to suggest that the colouring is accurate. C&C very welcome

All Fuji X + 60mm macro
1.


2.


3.

[DEAN01]

Wow! Great work, John.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[DanK]

Great shots. I particularly like the third--face-on and side-on are usually (IMHO) more interesting than shots from the top.

One suggestion: these look oversharpened to me. Even at this low resolution, I can see halos and other sharpening artifacts. this is most noticeable on the third.

[Dave Humphries]

They do look good John, but I have to agree with Dan on them being over sharpened; in #3 and #1.

Guess we'll have to wait for Geoff for ID

[John 2]

Not sure about over sharpened as such but Dan, you are right. I have been a bit careless with the third image. It was a bit late last night is the only excuse I can offer. Easily corrected though and I have done so.

[DanK]

Looks much better. #1 needs the same, IMHO. Open it in the lytebox and look at both sides of the front leg and the top and bottom of the eyes.

[Dave A]

Very nice John, I like them. Any chance you can tell me how you get these shots and focus before they fly away? Handheld or mono/tripod? Natural or other lighting?

Thanks,
Dave

[Rebel]

Great shots John, great detail and sharpness!

[NorthernFocus]

Awesome set. IMO the yellow flower in the second shot doesn't lend itself as well as the other two. The angle in the third shot is excellent.

[Geoff F]

For me, the saturation is excessively strong with these images and it is beginning to give some false colours.

The first one is an Eristalis family and I was initially thinking about Eristalis pertinax but those thorax markings seem more like a rather dark Myathropa florea.

The others are Helophilus pendulus.

[marlunn]

Geoff, looking in the Ball and Morris filed guide I would go pertinax, the colouration can be variable to some extent, for florea I would expect to see more distinct T3 T4 markings. Front and middle tarsia look yellow-ish as well, R1 and R2+3 seem to reach the wing margin together with petiole not seperately ?, agree pendulus

[IzzieK]

I particularly like #1 because it is more pronounced all over...#3 is the best composition .

[John 2]

Thanks for all of the continued comments.

Dan, I can see what you mean. There is a slight halo in No 1. I tend to sharpen as a matter of course after conversion to Jpg just because it is part of my standard work flow. I clearly need to be a bit more selective.

Dave, all hand held and natural light but it's better if there is a bit of cloud about. I find a tripod just too inflexible. Although some use a monopod and I have one, I find that too clumsy. I try to work at a minimum of f8-11 and I avoid going in too close. This helps with DOF (and sharpness) although the last shot I notice is at f4. I use auto focus now that Fuji have got there act together in terms focus speed but another technique is to pre focus and move the camera in and out. (I've even heard of individuals who switch to continuous shooting in the expectation that at least one frame will be in focus but that's a bit OTT for me). Even so, I would guess my success rate is only about 10:1 or thereabouts.

Dan yellow flowers are difficult. They seem to be more eye catching even than white flowers. I try to cut them back but they then begin to look a bit muddy.

Geof/Mark, thanks for the IDs. I couldn't hope to develop a level of knowledge that seems to be needed for an accurate result. Geoff, no saturation has been added here. I might have increased the vibrance slightly in RAW. I sometimes do but I don't think so in this case. There has been a lot of PP to the background though in the form of killing the highlights and vignetting the image as a whole. That will have emphasised the insects more...?? Not sure.

[bnnrcn]

Those are great John I also like the PP work, the oversharpening issue can be fixed anyway.

[rpcrowe]

Outstanding captures!

[Geoff F]

I have seen some particularly dark Myathropa this year, Mark, but looking again at the top wing in full screen size, E. pertinax would seem the more likely option. Certainly an odd specimen.

Regarding editing. I normally have Vibrance around 20 for most of my shots. The last image looks just right to me.