Some Hoverfly BIFs

Lord Vetinari · August 4, 2005

Managed to get some reasonable in flight shots today after a couple of days of trying..
Comments/critique welcome
Brian V.

bfjr · August 4, 2005

great series
like #3 contrast between white flower and hover looks like I reach right in

gluwater · August 4, 2005

The third is the best. It is the most interesting of them all.

Nick

Lord Vetinari · August 4, 2005

bfjr wrote:

great series
like #3 contrast between white flower and hover looks like I reach right in

gluwater wrote:

The third is the best. It is the most interesting of them all.

Nick

Thanks BFIR and Nick - think I agree #3 is the "cleanest" shot with nice compostion. I was also pleased to finally get a good shot of that particular hoverfly species.
Brian V.

pathfinder · August 4, 2005

gluwater wrote:

The third is the best. It is the most interesting of them all.

Nick

Higgmeister · August 4, 2005

HI Brian,
Yes, I agree too about #3. But hell, I'd be happy just getting a BIF and focused too. All are nice shots, but #1 has the problem with the stem interfering with the hoverfly and #2 is a bit OOF. The others are sharp but have busier backgrounds. They are good shots, but #3 steals the show here. And you have several good shots of the species. Are bugs your hobby? When I shoot bugs, I'm just happy to get a shot let alone what species it is.

Thanks for sharing,
Chris

gtc · August 4, 2005

identifying species

Higgmeister wrote:

HI Brian,
Yes, I agree too about #3. But hell, I'd be happy just getting a BIF and focused too. All are nice shots, but #1 has the problem with the stem interfering with the hoverfly and #2 is a bit OOF. The others are sharp but have busier backgrounds. They are good shots, but #3 steals the show here. And you have several good shots of the species. Are bugs your hobby? When I shoot bugs, I'm just happy to get a shot let alone what species it is.

i like #3 also

-re species names:in nature photography it helps if you can correctly identify a species ,as it will help sell it and you will learn something-a very hard thing to do with bugs though as there are so many insects and the differences between them are sometimes very, very minute-a general classification and common name are usually as far as I get-I am currently trying to spot the differences between various different kinds of Myrmecia,the Australian Bull Ant-and it is very difficult,especially as they tend to attack and envenomate you....

Lord Vetinari · August 5, 2005

Higgmeister wrote:

HI Brian,
Yes, I agree too about #3. But hell, I'd be happy just getting a BIF and focused too. All are nice shots, but #1 has the problem with the stem interfering with the hoverfly and #2 is a bit OOF. The others are sharp but have busier backgrounds. They are good shots, but #3 steals the show here. And you have several good shots of the species. Are bugs your hobby? When I shoot bugs, I'm just happy to get a shot let alone what species it is.

Thanks for sharing,
Chris

Thanks Chris, Yes shooting bugs is my hobby at the moment- suspect I will eventually get bored with it (remember I'm retired so have plenty of time). Like youI'm pretty happy when I get a shot in focus without worrying about the composition to much.

[QUOTE=gtc
i like #3 also

-re species names:in nature photography it helps if you can correctly identify a species ,as it will help sell it and you will learn something-a very hard thing to do with bugs though as there are so many insects and the differences between them are sometimes very, very minute-a general classification and common name are usually as far as I get-I am currently trying to spot the differences between various different kinds of Myrmecia,the Australian Bull Ant-and it is very difficult,especially as they tend to attack and envenomate you....[/QUOTE]
Thanks gtc
I've just got a book on British Insects so will probably try to identify them in future but it's not always easy.

Brian V.

MuskyDude · August 5, 2005

Hey Brian
As always, these are excellent. Love your use of light.

AJ

BigAl · August 5, 2005

Brian I have to be a bore and go with everyone else - #3 is superb.

regards
alan

Lord Vetinari · August 5, 2005

MuskyDude wrote:

As always, these are excellent. Love your use of light.

AJ

BigAl wrote:

Brian I have to be a bore and go with everyone else - #3 is superb.

regards
alan

Thanks Muskydude and Alan, Think the light is just the way my rig works- I rather like darker menacing shots most of the time. Was lucky with #3 as it seems the sun made a significant contribution ( the flash is very slightly right of the lens and that shadow in the flower seems to be to the right as well)- must have been the sun rather than the flash.

Brian V.

Netgarden · August 6, 2005

Brian I enjoyed your "in flight" photos so much and appreciate the difficulties achieving that! Inevitably my best focus shots on a flyer is in front of a dead flower or something! lol

No 3 is indeed fabulous! You have to enter that in a challenge or contest!

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks Muskydude and Alan, Think the light is just the way my rig works- I rather like darker menacing shots most of the time. Was lucky with #3 as it seems the sun made a significant contribution ( the flash is very slightly right of the lens and that shadow in the flower seems to be to the right as well)- must have been the sun rather than the flash.

Brian V.