One from last Summer

[AndyP]

Taken on a reversed 50mm pentax f1.8 bolted onto the front of the Nikon D5000, pp included help from a friend in Topaz denoise and I felt the results came out stunning.

C&C most welcome.

Andy

[jiro]

Nice! Was this shot outdoors? The lens reversal seemed to worked nicely here. My only comment was that the noise reduction using Topaz Denoise software was a bit over. You can actually take out much of the noise without sacrificing the details by tweaking the "Reduce Blur" and the "Recover Detail" sliders.

[AndyP]

Nice! Was this shot outdoors? The lens reversal seemed to worked nicely here. My only comment was that the noise reduction using Topaz Denoise software was a bit over. You can actually take out much of the noise without sacrificing the details by tweaking the "Reduce Blur" and the "Recover Detail" sliders.

Hi Jiro and thanks for your comment, yes it was outdoors on a very warm summers day, I have progressed with the topaz a bit now and it was a friend who actually denoised this one.

Thanks again

Andy

[Camellia]

Hi Andy

That's great! My only quibble is that it's a shame the tail wasn't in focus as well - but that's neither here nor there. Excellent shot.

R

[AndyP]

Hi Andy

That's great! My only quibble is that it's a shame the tail wasn't in focus as well - but that's neither here nor there. Excellent shot.

R

Thank you, this was one of my first ever macro shots so you can imagine how happy I was with it; this caused the bug (no pun intended) to bite me

Thanks again

Andy

[Wirefox]

it's a shame the tail wasn't in focus as well

I am amazed that you got what you did in focus. The DoF is wafer thin when you reverse the lens like that. I have tried this with my old Zuiko 50mm f/1.8. The image is very well done and I would love to know what distance you were from the fly and what aperture you set the lens to. You have inspired me to have another go at this.

[AndyP]

I am amazed that you got what you did in focus. The DoF is wafer thin when you reverse the lens like that. I have tried this with my old Zuiko 50mm f/1.8. The image is very well done and I would love to know what distance you were from the fly and what aperture you set the lens to. You have inspired me to have another go at this.

Hi Wirefox.

Blazing sunshine, F22, Iso640, shutter 250th and about 8'' from the target; if you watch hovers they pause prior to going into a plant, they regularly pause in the same bit of air space too this helps in predicting roughly where they will go so you can prepare.

Hope that helps, below is another same style; again slightly ott on topaz, but it made me a happy chap.

Thanks

Andy

[AndyP]

This one is with a Nikkor 105 micro.

[jiro]

Now this one is a sure keeper, Andy.

[Donald]

That's amazing. If I was on any other forum I might even be tempted to say 'Wow!'. Compliments, Andy.

[jeeperman]

Thanks for sharing! These are really driving my longing for my macro lens. Soon I hope, I can't take it any longer!

[AndyP]

Thanks all for looking and the compliments; these were all posted previously on another forum, it just helps me gain a bit of confidence on a new forum

Thanks again

Andy

A juniper shield bug

[Wirefox]

If I was on any other forum I might even be tempted to say 'Wow!'.

Steady on old chap. Wow today...OMG tomorrow...and that would never do...especially from one of the top brass....poor form and all that....the 'wows' are best left to our American cousins

Andy these are truly accomplished photographs. Not my usual 'thing' at all but I take my hat off to you with these.

[AndyP]

Steady on old chap. Wow today...OMG tomorrow...and that would never do...especially from one of the top brass....poor form and all that....the 'wows' are best left to our American cousins

Andy these are truly accomplished photographs. Not my usual 'thing' at all but I take my hat off to you with these.

Thanks Wirefox; got to agree that a 'wow' or owt else is a bit out of it for me, that wouldn't be cricket at all Thanks again

Andy

[Geoff F]

If you haven't identified that hoverfly yet, Andy, it is a male Episyrphus balteatus.

They also sometimes occur in a dark form (luckily this specimen was sitting still for a few seconds.



These are possibly one of the more reliable in flight hoverfly subjects because they do tend to hover in one spot; but actually getting a good flying shot is never easy. I like to use a Sigma 180 macro lens for insects but it is a bit slow on auto focusing; so I mostly use manual focus. But in flight subjects move faster than I can manually focus.

Unless you can manage a perfect angle (at 90 degrees and parallel with the longest area, body or wings) some part of an insect is usually slightly out of focus; but sometimes you can't worry too much about that. This is even more important with long bodied species like dragonflies. Usually if the head is sharp any other areas don't notice too much; although because I mostly photography insects in order to identify them I tend to just concentrate on the required identification areas.

I always like the way this species 'tuck up' their backlegs and let them stream back alongside their abdomen.

[AndyP]

If you haven't identified that hoverfly yet, Andy, it is a male Episyrphus balteatus.

They also sometimes occur in a dark form (luckily this specimen was sitting still for a few seconds.



These are possibly one of the more reliable in flight hoverfly subjects because they do tend to hover in one spot; but actually getting a good flying shot is never easy. I like to use a Sigma 180 macro lens for insects but it is a bit slow on auto focusing; so I mostly use manual focus. But in flight subjects move faster than I can manually focus.

Unless you can manage a perfect angle (at 90 degrees and parallel with the longest area, body or wings) some part of an insect is usually slightly out of focus; but sometimes you can't worry too much about that. This is even more important with long bodied species like dragonflies. Usually if the head is sharp any other areas don't notice too much; although because I mostly photography insects in order to identify them I tend to just concentrate on the required identification areas.

I always like the way this species 'tuck up' their backlegs and let them stream back alongside their abdomen.

Thanks, no I didn't know the name so that is very interesting; what a great shot that is too.

Many thanks

Andy

[PopsPhotos]

The catnip crop was very thin in this part of the state last year, so we had many hoverflys in our little patch. I shot over 150 photos of them with my 55-200 and managed to get 1 (one!) actually sitting still. (I still haven't identified it.)

Pops

[AndyP]

Good fun though Pops, rather be out shooting these critters than going out to the shops with the wife

Thanks for looking and commenting

Andy

[Geoff F]

Yes Andy, but I reiterate the normal warning which should come on the bottom of macro lens boxes

'Macro photography is addictive and can seriously damage your wealth'

[AndyP]

Sure is, but it also fun

Green Bottle Fly