A bugs life...

[Mark Evans]

Are there anymore fly photos, btw?

just different angles of this one. look pretty much the same. i'm on the hunt though.

Great macro you getting the hang of these now time to take the camera in the field and start shooting bugs,

yep, i'm on a mission now.

 

[Tony Swinney]

Great pic Mark

Chilling insects down is certainly an option used. We did a shoot once with Damselflies, and bumble bees, all of which had to be in flight. We had an insect specialist from the Oxford Scientific Film unit working with us, and he used a spray to temporarily knock out the insects, so that he could use a slightly warmed and very soft wax to attach a fuse wire to their abdomens. After a minute the wax would set, and the insect would come around. If you placed them on their feet on a surface (holding the other end of the fuse wire) they were fine, but once you lifted them from the surface they would start flapping their wings to fly ! We could then shoot the pics with them flying exactly where we needed them and within 5 mins they'd be knocked out again, the wax warmed up a little to remove the wire, and they'd come around and fly off into their enclosure. We did that for about 5 days

Tony

 

[Mark Evans]

Chilling insects down is certainly an option used.

and works a treat. it knocks them out for a while for sure.

i think i've bought this at the wrong time of year.

cheers tony

 

[Mark Evans]

here's a sideways on shot of a blue bottle. i love the funky hair do on the neck

 

[aquaticmaniac]

To me it looks like something that goes into a pair of headphones, not a fly. Very, very interesting

 

[hydrophyte]

Nice shots Mark. When I was in school I worked in an entomology lab and I always found the flies to be the most fascinating creatures to observe with magnification. I especially appreciated their neat arrangements of hairs, which you show very well in those pictures.

 

[Mark Evans]

To me it looks like something that goes into a pair of headphones, not a fly. Very, very interesting

it's kinda freaky when you look through he lens. I must admit, when i attempt shooting spiders, i do jump when they move

Nice shots Mark. When I was in school I worked in an entomology lab and I always found the flies to be the most fascinating creatures to observe with magnification. I especially appreciated their neat arrangements of hairs, which you show very well in those pictures.

thanks Devin.

 

[Mark Evans]

last of the summer bee's.

a chance encounter really. spring seems such a long time away.

 

[samc]

now thats got a funky hairstyle

another cool pic

 

[Mark Evans]

thanks samc. he is rather funky.

here's a spider who's web is rather tatty. maybe he's lazy. i like this shot more for colours. beautiful, with a sinister twist.

 

[CeeBee]

I'm sure you're already aware of this, but just in case - here's a link to a download for CombineZP. It's an image stacker used to extend the DoF in macro photography. There are other packages out there, and you can use photoshop - but CZP seems to be pretty widely used too and its free (CZP is the latest version, previous was CZM);

http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co. ... lation.htm