Yesterday in the garden - Flies and bees

[GardenersHelper]

Captured with FZ200 and Raynox 150. (#6 might have used the Raynox 250. It was a quite small fly.)

There are 1300 pixel high versions over at Flickr.


1.

0730 11 2015_05_30 P1790995_DxO DXO LR 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

2.

0730 12 2015_05_30 P1790999_DxO DXO LR 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

I thought there was going to be some action here ...
3.

0730 21 2015_05_30 P1800055_DxO DXO LR 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

... but no, the ? bee sat there for a short while, and then safely left.
4.

0730 22 2015_05_30 P1800054_DxO DXO LR 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

5.

0730 41 2015_05_30 P1800151_DxO DXO LR 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

6.

0730 26 2015_05_30 P1800084_DxO DXO LR 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

7.

0730 44 2015_05_30 P1800160_DxO DXO LR 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

8.

0730 64 2015_05_30 P1800453_DxO DXO LR 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

 

[Paul Iddon]

The little bee is lovely and set off against the leaf really nicely.

A good all round set to go with those too.

Paul.

 

[hoftwi]

The bee in No.3 is great and be able to see the detail on it

 

[Tintin124]

Excellent Nick...

Is #6 a massive crop? I spent 2 hours chasing one of those and it never let me near i ended up with a shot but not as close as yours and I had to crop quite significantly but that fly has got amazing coloured eyes.

Needs rotating 90 CW ... think cause of the crop and sharpening detail has been lost kinda fuzzy effect if you see what I mean.

Lovely set but #6 is my fav cause I know how hard it is to shoot

 

[G.K.Jnr.]

Yet another great set of images Nick, #6, & #7, are clear favs' for me. I also think that #6, would be improved with a CW rotation of maybe 60ish degrees.

George.

 

[GardenersHelper]

Is #6 a massive crop? I spent 2 hours chasing one of those and it never let me near i ended up with a shot but not as close as yours and I had to crop quite significantly but that fly has got amazing coloured eyes.
think cause of the crop and sharpening detail has been lost kinda fuzzy effect if you see what I mean.

Yes, a pretty big crop.

0730 26 Crop by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

The cropped area is about 1700 pixels high, so given that I'm processing to 1300 pixels high, the big version at Flickr is getting towards a 100% crop. That is too much for the FZ200's (noisy) tiny sensor and I wasn't going to post it because as you rightly point out the image quality isn't very good. Also, by my usual criteria the wrong (far) wing is (and is only somewhat) in focus, and the mouthparts aren't in focus. Either of those is usually enough to get an image rejected. And now I come to look more closely at it, I can see jaggies on the antennae. If I'd noticed them that too what have made it a reject.

But then, against my better judgement, I posted it anyway.

The FZ200 was at full zoom, which would make it about 2.4:1 in APS-C terms if I was using the Raynox 250 (which I suspect I was), or about 1.5:1 otherwise. (Autofocus btw in either case.)

Needs rotating 90 CW ...

I also think that #6, would be improved with a CW rotation of maybe 60ish degrees.

He he. I hear what you say. Please feel free to post a version to illustrate your preference. For my part I think I'd probably rather look at it in the orientation it was actually in, but a picture is worth a thousand words - perhaps I'd like it rotated.

 

[GardenersHelper]

The little bee is lovely and set off against the leaf really nicely.

Thanks Paul. That bush makes a great backdrop with a great variety of colours in its leaves. It is (my wife tells me - I know nothing of such things) Spiraea japonica 'Goldflame'. We have two, one in the front garden and one in the back garden. Unfortunately I don't find many subjects on them, but when I do it's great (although another complication is that the foliage flutters around a great deal in the breeze, more than I think any other of our bushes).

 

[Tintin124]

But then, against my better judgement, I posted it anyway.

Was definitely worth sharing....

This fly just doesn't let you close

Uncropped
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115362543@N04/18253630396/in/dateposted-public/

Cropped
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115362543@N04/18281466741/in/dateposted-public/

I will get a decent close shot but after 2 hours I was fed up

 

[GardenersHelper]

Was definitely worth sharing....

Thanks.

This fly just doesn't let you close

Uncropped
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115362543@N04/18253630396/in/dateposted-public/

Cropped
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115362543@N04/18281466741/in/dateposted-public/

I will get a decent close shot but after 2 hours I was fed up

I suspect it isn't the same species. Look at the hairs on the tibia (I had to look it up to see what the second leg segment was called ). On your fly there are a few big hairs. On my fly there are a lot of smaller hairs.

We have a very different approach. I don't chase subjects - I wouldn't have the patience for it. I just amble around very slowly looking for subjects. If one I find flies off, or crawls or slides away into the undergrowth I just turn away and carry on ambling and looking. And if I don't see anything for a long period (say 10 minutes or so) I start back to the car (if I'm out at a nature reserve) or back to the house if in the garden. Mind you, it can take me a couple of hours to get back two or three hundred yards to the car, or an hour to get back 20 metres to the house because I get sidetracked by things offering themselves to be photographed.

 

[Tintin124]

Thanks.



I suspect it isn't the same species. Look at the hairs on the tibia (I had to look it up to see what the second leg segment was called ). On your fly there are a few big hairs. On my fly there are a lot of smaller hairs.

We have a very different approach. I don't chase subjects - I wouldn't have the patience for it. I just amble around very slowly looking for subjects. If one I find flies off, or crawls or slides away into the undergrowth I just turn away and carry on ambling and looking. And if I don't see anything for a long period (say 10 minutes or so) I start back to the car (if I'm out at a nature reserve) or back to the house if in the garden. Mind you, it can take me a couple of hours to get back two or three hundred yards to the car, or an hour to get back 20 metres to the house because I get sidetracked by things offering themselves to be photographed.

I didn't chase it around for 2 hours without shooting other subjects. Lol it just took 2 hours to get a decent shot of it