Newly emerged Hoverfly

[pxl8]

Took a look round the garden to see if anything exciting was about and came across this newly emerged hoverfly - a semi-captive subject as it could along walk about :)

Here with the caste in the foreground
http://photo.pxl8.co.uk/albums/upload/web_8246.jpg

A little walk to find a better place to dry out and warm up
http://photo.pxl8.co.uk/albums/upload/web_8262.jpg

It finally settled here and you can see the colours have already become more intense.
http://photo.pxl8.co.uk/albums/upload/web_8267.jpg

Whilst watching the hoverfly I also spotted this ladybird which must have hatched early morning judging by hint of orange
http://photo.pxl8.co.uk/albums/upload/web_8254.jpg

As always: 30D, Sigma 150mm, natural light.

[Ewan]

The second fly one is great. Also the ladybird is nice, but the DOF is a bit shallow. I'm only being picky cos your macro's are usually perfect :D

[pxl8]

DoF is always a tricky thing with ladybirds because they're so round. At 1:1 f/8 there's only about 2mm of sharp focus. The shot was f/5.6 so it's a case of finding the focal plane that gets the most parts in focus.

I guess it's the price I pay for shooting natural light :(

[CT]

Lovely shots, lovely colour. Daylight does look great when it's not too contrasty. :)

[moomike]

2nd hoverfly one for me too mate, really nicely done :clap:
I was considering putting off getting a macro as I had heard bad things about using natural light but think I may have to reconsider now :thumbs:

[pxl8]

Here's a few more hovers from today...

This little girl was one of the rare hovers that doesn't mind being snapped, I even managed to coax her into landing on my hand at one point.
http://photo.pxl8.co.uk/albums/june07/web_8272.jpg

Tasting the rhubarb leaves
http://photo.pxl8.co.uk/albums/june07/web_8277.jpg

Time for a clean
http://photo.pxl8.co.uk/albums/june07/web_8296.jpg

Finally, a different hover posing nicely - (handheld shot)
http://photo.pxl8.co.uk/albums/june07/web_8321.jpg

[minimeeze]

Lovely sharp shots, and a nice little series :)

[Janice]

These are beautiful....thats a great lens! :thumbs:

[TomB]

Those are wonderfully sharp... can I ask what/how much sharpening you do in PP? I've been getting some alright shots with my Sigma 150 but nowhere near these!

[pxl8]

Tom, I use Focus Magic to recover sharpness after re-sizing for the web. I find it controls sharpening halos very well and doesn't bring out the grain either. The same amount of USM sharpening would be approx radius of 0.6, strength of 150 and clipping of 12.