It’s another scorchio day. Yesterday whilst out and about looking at flora I found some spiders. There were dozens of them stalking flies and I tried and tried to get a macro shot of them but it was a fruitless quest. Not only can they run fast but they can jump as well.
I was pondering the problem last evening when I remembered that a couple of years ago I got dragonflies in flight using extension tubes on a 400mm lens. This morning whilst having breakfast I stuck 70mm worth of tubes on the 400mm lens then noticed a drone fly hovering outside the window. After several goes and putting the camera on burst mode like the birders do I got it’s picture.
After a much delayed breakfast and going down on my knees in floods of tears in front of the farmer for permission to piggyback his internet we eventually went to find the spiders.
This system is not macro but does allow for reasonable images without the insect disappearing. Subject to front element distance is about a couple of feet or so. Next is to get a butterfly flying.
That’s me up to date.
you have much more patience than I do :)
ReplyDeleteR.Mac, probably just more time.
DeleteBananaman? Superman? Batman? None of these. I hereby anoint you Spiderman (Arachnus fartus homoerectus). As usual brilliant images born from passionate interest in tiny creatures that effectively rule our planet. It has been estimated that there are around ten quintillion insects on Earth. That's 10,000,000,000,000,000,000. You still have a fair number of pictures to go if you are going to snap them all.
ReplyDeleteYP, I dred to think of all the tiny ones, anything less than ten millimetres long is getting too small for me. They are good fun to look at.
DeleteLooks like you had fun while letting your breakfast go cold Adrian? I too tried my hand at snapping hoverflies in flight, unfortunately my results were not a patch on yours and only troubled the delete button!
ReplyDeleteMother nature never makes it easy when it comes to IDing things, does she?...I think the hoverfly you've got here is Eristalis arbustorum (going by the last shot which appears to show that the hind metatarsus is as thick as the tibia which is also partly yellow (just a couple of the ID features!!)
Good luck with the Butterflies, at least they should be easy to ID!...[;o)
Trevor the Eristalis are the very devil to tell apart. My book suggests examining their genitals but not only does it not say what to examine them for I think that is a step above and beyond the call of duty.
DeleteButterflies will be nearly impossible in flight. Wasps may be possible.
This system works with the 100mm-400mm lens you have and a stack of extension tubes. Manual focus then watch and pray as it is the very devil to pick insects up in the view finder.
PS. I was using 1000 ISO but still could have done with more light. AV priority and wide open which is about f5.
DeleteThat fly photos is fantastic. Not sure I'd have had the patience though.
ReplyDeleteMark you would. It is only half the size of your locomotives.
DeleteBrilliant images Adrian..
ReplyDeleteBob, they are as good as I can get with this set up. I am happy with them but most are in the bin.
DeleteEstán muy bien Adrian. Las has pillado al vuelo :)
ReplyDeleteYa estamos en casa de nuevo .
Buen jueves.
Un abrazo.
Laura, me alegro de verte de nuevo seguro. Es divertido agarrar la mosca pero más suerte que habilidad.
DeleteThe second and cropped image of the bug in flight are a great effort, definately not easy. The spider looks menacing from here
ReplyDeleteDouglas, I had to laugh at my previous attempt with the macro lens. I had the spider in focus then it disappeared. It was sitting on the front element.
DeleteThe flies flying are very hit and miss. three usable out of twenty.
Nothing quite as challenging, frustrating, absorbing and time consuming as insect flight photography but very rewarding when the results look good.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I'll have to try more of it but I need so much light. The thought of using strobes is a complication too many but I fear it may be the answer.
DeleteIs that last one the same as a hover flly? I don't know much about flies....
ReplyDeleteFrances, yes it is or very similar. I admit to finding them all very confusing.
DeleteIt's tricky capturing birds and bugs in flight. The lighting has to be right and so does the focus. Bees are especially tricky. It's rewarding to get those captures!
ReplyDeleteChris, these appear to stay still until you try and catch them in flight then it's amazing how much they move about.
DeleteI'm going to have to see if there is a burst on my camera. Lately I've seen some excellent photos of birds in flight.
ReplyDeleteRed, it is worth a look. I went back to single shot as I get a focus confirmation beep. Focus is manual but it only beeps when I'm in single shot mode.
DeleteAdrian, you've won me over to the beauty of flies. But spiders? I fear that may be one step too far for me.
ReplyDeletePauline, spiders are fine here. They do have venom but i don't think they can get through human skin. If you find a wolf spider in the dark and shine a torch at it then you get six little beams of light back from it's eyes. Okay that's not earth shattering but is much better than TV.
DeleteHI Adrian Yes I thk you have great patiene adn time to be able to photograph these small insects in flight but the shots are superb.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I certainly have the time. The hit rate is very low. three out of twenty.
DeleteThe second image is an absolute show stopper!
ReplyDeleteMersad
Mersad Donko Photography
Mersad, Thanks. I think it is worth trying again.
DeleteNow that is perhaps one of your best achievements in my book. Every person who has tried to photograph a moving insect will admire that....a lot.
ReplyDeleteGraham, it would be good to get some more of them. I tried today but it was too breezy. I couldn't even find them in the view finder. Dragonflies would work but butterflies are two unpredictable I think.
DeleteThis is how it should be done.
DeleteFLYING INSECTS