Fly appeal

Lord Vetinari · July 19, 2011

Spotted this fly sitting on one of the kneeling mats I have in the garden (on the back of a bench chair) looking at me rather appealingly when I went to feed the fish. It seems to have rather severe wing damage I guess from it's emergence from the pupa
I think it's Phasia hemiptera a Tachinid fly.
Feeling a bit sorry for it, I trapped it and took it inside for a feed of honey before releasing it into my greenhouse.
Focus stacked using zerene stacker.
Brian v.

cross-eye stereogram

vico21 · July 19, 2011

what lense did you use

Lord Vetinari · July 19, 2011

vico21 wrote: »

what lense did you use

These are all using a canon MPE-65 1-5X lens
brian v.

SnoopMacro · July 19, 2011

Nice shots. The lighting, especially of the eyes came out well.
He does have a 'help me' look to him.

vico21 · July 19, 2011

and the light color and contrast are perfect excelletn

vico21 · July 19, 2011

what is the maximun and minimun distance between you and the subject with that lense thnjsks

vico21 · July 19, 2011

in those takes
or takes like those these are wondorfull

IPClark · July 19, 2011

Superb series Brian. The focus stacking is exceptional here and the colours are lovely.

Hehe, it's amazing how in one respect we despise flies for their so called "dirty" habits and rightly so with regards to food etc. but when it comes to photographing them, we see them in a completely different light (no pun intended) and feel quite sorry for them at times especially when injured.

Lord Vetinari · July 19, 2011

Thanks again for the comments

Vico focus distances in front of the lens go from 4 inches max down to 1.5 inches minimum.

Ian - I think flies in general get a bad press. They actually spend a lot more of their life span washing themselves than we do (admittedly they often get into dirtier places) plus many of them are actually useful. The tachinid family of which this is one are all parasitic on other insects many of which are serious plant pests. Eg this one is parasitic on shield bugs for example.
But yes they can obviously spread dangerous pathogens from contaminated sources onto our fresh food if you are not careful.

Brian v.

kwickers · July 19, 2011

Great captures, love the drop of honey drinking shot. Extraordinary detail! re: flys; I appreciate all animals, but there is a reason they make fly swatters!

DeVil · July 19, 2011

Lovely shots, great detail

vico21 · July 19, 2011

Lord Vetinari wrote: »

Thanks again for the comments

Vico focus distances in front of the lens go from 4 inches max down to 1.5 inches minimum.

Ian - I think flies in general get a bad press. They actually spend a lot more of their life span washing themselves than we do (admittedly they often get into dirtier places) plus many of them are actually useful. The tachinid family of which this is one are all parasitic on other insects many of which are serious plant pests. Eg this one is parasitic on shield bugs for example.
But yes they can obviously spread dangerous pathogens from contaminated sources onto our fresh food if you are not careful.

Brian v.

so that means it has to be nest to him, so you cant take 1 mtr distance shot with that camera lense, taking risk of scaring the flying object.

carlogalliani · July 19, 2011

great set and great shots

IPClark · July 19, 2011

Cheers Brian, appreciate the excellent information.

Lord Vetinari · July 19, 2011

Thanks again for the comments

Vico - I have a more normal 1:1 macro lens for shooting at less than 1:1 (ie it focuses on infinity)

Brian v.

vico21 · July 19, 2011

Lord Vetinari wrote: »

Thanks again for the comments

Vico - I have a more normal 1:1 macro lens for shooting at less than 1:1 (ie it focuses on infinity)

Brian v.

what you recomend for shotting 1 miter distance but with the quality of yours. i have canon eos mark ii

Lord Vetinari · July 20, 2011

vico21 wrote: »

what you recomend for shotting 1 miter distance but with the quality of yours. i have canon eos mark ii

Just about any of the macro primes from major manufacturers are good.
I'm currently using a Tamron 90mm but canon 100mm F 2.8 or the 2.8L are both optically excellent.
Brian v.

vico21 · July 20, 2011

Lord Vetinari wrote: »

Just about any of the macro primes from major manufacturers are good.
I'm currently using a Tamron 90mm but canon 100mm F 2.8 or the 2.8L are both optically excellent.
Brian v.

ok thanks, but why do you use yours if you have to get very close to animals, i mean the one in this picture where you wherein cehes to the fly

Lord Vetinari · July 20, 2011

vico21 wrote: »

ok thanks, but why do you use yours if you have to get very close to animals, i mean the one in this picture where you wherein cehes to the fly

The lens I used for the above pictures only takes macro shots in the range of 1:1 to 5:1 magnification (MPE-65) so I use it for high mag shooting.
Brian v.

vico21 · July 20, 2011

vico21 · July 20, 2011

tkans

Paul Iddon · July 20, 2011

Stunning images Brian - you continue to surpass the limits!

Paul.

IPClark · July 20, 2011

Vico, you do have to get quite close up and personal with your subject but then it makes it all the more rewarding when you get that shot. With my 105 Macro (capable of up to 1:1), I'll often be as close as 3 or 4 inches away. Recently I've been using a 12 or 36mm ext. tube on with my Macro lens which allows me to either photograph with more magnification (albeit with less DoF) OR, to photograph at a smaller mag that could be obtained with just the lens itself but by being a touch further away from the subject so as not to disturb it (That is provided it's a live one

)

The MPE-65 that Brian, Phil (Goldenorf) and others use are a different beast altogether. They're capable of insane things and take a lot of practice to use. I have yet to have the opportunity to try one but It's the kind of lens I hope to get one day (they don't come cheap)

vico21 · July 21, 2011

IPClark wrote: »

Vico, you do have to get quite close up and personal with your subject but then it makes it all the more rewarding when you get that shot. With my 105 Macro (capable of up to 1:1), I'll often be as close as 3 or 4 inches away. Recently I've been using a 12 or 36mm ext. tube on with my Macro lens which allows me to either photograph with more magnification (albeit with less DoF) OR, to photograph at a smaller mag that could be obtained with just the lens itself but by being a touch further away from the subject so as not to disturb it (That is provided it's a live one )

The MPE-65 that Brian, Phil (Goldenorf) and others use are a different beast altogether. They're capable of insane things and take a lot of practice to use. I have yet to have the opportunity to try one but It's the kind of lens I hope to get one day (they don't come cheap)

thanks for your answer, i know its not cheap, but im thinking about lots of things, like poison things, but not ofen, would be great to have at least 2 meters distance and id like to know what lense´d fit to take shots like the ones here, in this post, in this forum.

Lord Vetinari · July 21, 2011

Paul Iddon wrote: »

Stunning images Brian - you continue to surpass the limits!

Paul.

Thanks Paul

Brian v.

Fly appeal

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