Post your insects

[orlcam88]

Geoff,

Nice shots! I really like the first one of the Common Blue Damselflies as it's shaped in a heart!

[Geoff F]

Geoff,

Nice shots! I really like the first one of the Common Blue Damselflies as it's shaped in a heart!

Yes that is the intention, Orlando. They do occasionally form a decent 'love heart' shape. The problem is firstly searching for suitably trained insects - then managing to photograph the scene correctly.

Which is why after seeing this scene, I was rather timid and started shooting from a distance in case I scared them away. Which happened the last time I was in this position.

[Geoff F]

I have previously mentioned that with insect photography and identification you occasionally find just one species in a week which makes all the tribulations of kneeling in wet poo worth while.

This is one such find. A somewhat uncommon brightly marked attractive beetle called Leptura aurulenta (no common name)



The beetle was still and there was no wind so I managed two shots with different focus points which I merged.

[Letrow]

I have previously mentioned that with insect photography and identification you occasionally find just one species in a week which makes all the tribulations of kneeling in wet poo worth while.

and a beautiful shot Geoff, nice lighting.

[Geoff F]

Yes, Peter, lighting is usually a problem with these beetles, it is so easy to get substantial hot spots on those reflective wing cases. I can't remember if that was shot with flash, I tried both ways. And some subtle editing during the Raw conversion plus an extra tweak afterwards.

And today - my first Golden-ringed Dragonfly of the year.



Two of them were flying around me, but reluctant to stop and pose for a photo. This is the only angle that was possible, and the background is a little bit complicated.

[Geoff F]

While photographing other insects I saw this Blue Damselfly had become entangled in a spider's web.



OK, I know we shouldn't really intervene but I thought it was a bit too large for a little spider to eat. In fact, the spider was obviously keeping a safe distance.

So I lifted the damselfly out of the web. It then sat on my finger for a few minutes while it cleaned up bits of web debris before eventually flying away.

And today, my first Chrysotoxum elegans hoverflies of the year.



I was beginning to worry about whether they would appear this year. But found 6 of them today.

[Rita]

[Rita]

I shot this moth yesterday. It was resting on a glass door producing the double reflection. This is the first time I have taken something like this so any feedback would be appreciated

[Rita]

Oops, didn't add the pic. Here it is. Just learning to post on here.

[Rita]

One more pic.

[Cantab]

One more pic.

Rita, congratulations on the the photograph. I recently took probably 100 shots trying to get a good image of a bee feeding on one of my rhododendrons. My success rate was not very good

What type of lens were you using?

[Rita]

Bruce, it was amazing this bee stayed there for ages....I lucked out on it. I just recently purchased an Olympus OM-D EM5 and these pics were taken with the kit lens. 14-50mm with the macro setting on.

[Geoff F]

Stand clear, I'm landing on that flower!



Episyrphus balteatus. Also sometimes known as the Marmalade Hoverfly.

[Brownbear]

incredible image... love your damsel flies too

Stand clear, I'm landing on that flower!



Episyrphus balteatus. Also sometimes known as the Marmalade Hoverfly.

[Geoff F]

Thanks Christina.

These are actually one of the easier flies to photograph in flight because they often hover around one position which gives time for focus - sometimes!

A ball head tripod and using ETTL flash on manual camera settings helps to remove some of the variables.

[Cantab]

These are actually one of the easier flies to photograph in flight because they often hover around one position which gives time for focus - sometimes!

A ball head tripod and using ETTL flash on manual camera settings helps to remove some of the variables.

This is quite a photo! I'll have to see if I can find a hoverfly -- I don't know if there are any in my area. As indicated in a previous post, my attempt at bees on rhodo flowers was not a great success. The little critters just keep on flitting around.

What was the natural light like when you took this photo -- or was flash the main source of lighting?

[Geoff F]

A bit of both, Bruce.

My standard set up for insects is; manually set camera to 1/250, F14, Iso 200 (plus or minus a little) then allow the flash to set its own output level depending on the ambient light. Usually with a bit of flash output compensation. Somewhere around -1 or -2 would be average.

High speed flash is also an option for faster shutter speeds.

If flash is causing problems, I tend to revert to Av setting with an aperture between F11 and F14 with Iso between 400 and 800. Some exposure compensation is usually needed.

Where possible, I manually focus, which worked OK this time. Occasionally AF works best but the old Sigma 180 macro lens is a bit slow on AF.

The ball head tripod mount definitely helps. Particularly compared with the twin levers which need careful and time consuming pre adjustment. Although I often tilt my tripod so only two legs are actually on the ground and use it more like a monopod.

I can set the tension on my ball head so that it is just firm but I can still move my camera with one hand while focusing.

[Cantab]

Geoff, thanks for your comments. When I tried my bee photos, I hand held the camera, manually set the focus and then the final focussing was moving the camera to try to get a bee into focus before it moved somewhere else. Oh, and I used machine gun mode for multiple shots in the hope that one photo in each shoot might be in sharp focus. But for the most part things did not work out well.

[Franci]

Great shots Geoff (just as always)! I shot a couple of insects, but I am not positive with their identification
Epistrophea Melanostoma?


Pyronia cecilia?

[Cantab]

Great shots Geoff (just as always)! I shot a couple of insects, but I am not positive with their identification
Epistrophea Melanostoma?

Quite apart from being a clear shot of the whatever the insect is, this photo is very attractive -- probably because of the colours and light.