Visitors to my window.

[Geoff F]

A window, which overlooks my garden, has a light which is fairly close to the glass so it attracts a variety of insects.

Still early here with cool nights, but no frost, so there is only the occasional visitor.

Besides a couple of moths, there was an early lacewing and a caddis fly.





Shot chiefly for identification purposes; which requires specific angles.

The lacewing has keyed out as the brownish winter form of Chrysoperla carnea. The important element is getting a clear shot of the wing veins. And in particular, a vein from the wing base which runs roughly through the centre of the wing.

A little way along the vein it briefly splits into two which forms a small circle. And the critical part is whether the short cross vein below it is before or after the apex of the circle.

In this case that cross vein is some distance further along; so this is Chrysoperla carnea.

Caddis Flies are tricky to identify, even at this time of the year when the number of species are reduced. So unless something better comes along, let's just call him Cedric.

[deetheturk]

Nice captures Geoff,i have yet to come across a lacewing,dont know if we get them here?

David

[Geoff F]

I'm not sure about the distribution of lacewings although they appear to be fairly widely found across Europe. So you might get them where you are, David.

But they do tend to be mostly nocturnal, although I regularly see the odd few feeding during the day in the Summer. They are frequently caught in moth traps because they are attracted to lights.

They come under the Neuroptera heading; or more specifically the Chrysopidae family. They are tricky to identify from photos but can often be successfully placed if you have good clear shots of the wing veins and head area, particularly the base of the antennae.

[Shadowman]

Nice images.

[IzzieK]

I like #2...much clearer.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice wings and eyes in #1

[ClaudioG]

I like #2, may i ask, when you shoot for identification, what aperture you work at? And do you already know what to look for before you take the image to identify the insect already? Sex and so on?

[Geoff F]

I like #2, may i ask, when you shoot for identification, what aperture you work at? And do you already know what to look for before you take the image to identify the insect already? Sex and so on?

In theory, Claudio, when I first see an insect I consult my basic 'portable computer' (although it is over 60 years old now and liable to errors) and think 'That looks like . . . but I need to have a clear shot of this or that item in order to separate it from similar species.

But I often take a first shot from a longer distance so that if it gets scared away at least I have some sort of record, even if it isn't a perfect photo.

For most shots I work at F11 to F16 with F14 being a good compromise. But always keep a watch on the shutter speed.

Whether I use flash depends on the conditions. There are arguments for and against.

With these shots, I was shooting indoors under daylight quality 'studio lights' so I could reduce the shutter speed a little, obviously on a tripod. But went up to Iso 800 which is higher than I like to use for outside work.

Lacewings don't sit still for very long so I had to set up everything in advance then just managed two quick shots before it flew out of the window.

I use a shallow tray with appropriate backgrounds of leaves or bark. The tray enables a quick rotation or tilt to get the best angle. If I get the background correct, moths often sit there quite happily while I take multiple shots. In fact I sometimes find it difficult to get them to leave when I take the tray outside. And some species actually perch on my finger while I'm attempting to shake them out into the natural outside world!

With the Caddis Fly (and many moths) it was possible to take a couple of shots with different focus points and merge them. That enables me to open my aperture to F11.