Hoverfly Syrphus torvus

Lord Vetinari

Hoverfly Syrphus torvus in the garden yesterday. Ony Syrphus species I can recognise as it has slightly hairy eyes.
Brian V.

IPClark

Lovely shots Brian.

Wish I could obtain the level of detail you and others get in your shots. I don't do too badly but it always seems that my images just lack that level of finesse and detail. (ps. help ).

Lord Vetinari

IPClark wrote: »

Lovely shots Brian.

Wish I could obtain the level of detail you and others get in your shots. I don't do too badly but it always seems that my images just lack that level of finesse and detail. (ps. help ).

Thanks for the comments Ian.

Can only think of 2 probable causes for the difference.
Firstly I try to avoid too much diffraction softening in the image by not shooting at small apertures- eg normal max would be F11 at 1:1, F9 at 2:1, F7.1 at 3:1 for a 1.6 crop camera (these can be relaxed a bit for a full frame camera by around 2/3 stops).
Second thing might just be my sharpening routine. I sharpen the jpg from RAW conversion in PS using unsharp mask at 200,1,1 and then normally fade it by 50 %. I then reduce the picture to a size for posting on the web (9cm short side at 180DPI) and then resharpen the result by 200,1,1 but fade it to 30%.
Only other thing is I often focus stack to increase the DOF.

Brian V.

IPClark

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the information. It's certainly appreciated. As you know I do shoot most of my images at F11 as I find the DoF achieved it right for what I want. Must admit on the sharpening, I have a completely different method. I've been using the Nik Sharpening software which I can use to brush onto certain areas that need it such as face, wings etc. I'll try your method above and see how it differs.

Focus stacking I am absolutely abysmal at. Can't get the shots in the first place to even stack

basflt

@ IPClark , have you tried / considered manual stacking ?
it can often help ( software-stacking wont work for me either )

GOLDENORFE

very nice Brian, i need to start looking , only seen bumbles so far

IPClark

basflt wrote: »

@ IPClark , have you tried / considered manual stacking ?
it can often help ( software-stacking wont work for me either )

Bas, I just can't get the shots in the first place to stack. Single shot yeah... succession of shots. Just can't do it. Very frustrating

Lord Vetinari

GOLDENORFE wrote: »

very nice Brian, i need to start looking , only seen bumbles so far

Thanks Phil
Brian v.

carlogalliani

Beautiful shots Brian !

Lord Vetinari

carlogalliani wrote: »

Beautiful shots Brian !

Thanks Carlo
Brian V.