[Doundounba]

Haven't been shooting much in the last few weeks, but I made it out to the Montreal Botanical Garden yesterday. Here's the keeper of the day. Anyone got a clue on species? Someone suggested it's a Fruit Fly on Flickr, but the legs seem too long for that, no? Given where I found it and its posture, I'd almost guess Dolichopodidae, but that would make it a non-green Long-Legged Green Fly...

Four-frame focus stack with the D-FA 100mm WR and Raynox DCR-250, but not quite at MFD. (X-posted to Flickr Explored.)

[noelcmn]

Wow Doundounba!

[WPRESTO]

Wow Doundounba!

+1 on that praise for Doundounba. Puts my effort on insects to shame.

[WPRESTO]

hat would make it a non-green Long-Legged Green Fly...

Maybe it's been out in the sun too long and has faded.

BTW: When taking multiple images for stacking of a live one, in the field, do you 1) work off a tripod or hand held; 2) move the camera or twist the focus ring; 3) do whichever of these depending on the situation?

[WPRESTO]

I got a trophy head!

[Doundounba]

Wow Doundounba!

+1 on that praise for Doundounba.

Thanks guys! I enjoy your shots too! (WP, that spider focus stack was/is just mind-blowing.)

Maybe it's been out in the sun too long and has faded.

BTW: When taking multiple images for stacking of a live one, in the field, do you 1) work off a tripod or hand held; 2) move the camera or twist the focus ring; 3) do whichever of these depending on the situation?

When the Raynox is on the D-FA 100mm, moving the focus ring changes the magnification of the shot, so you can't twist the focus ring to move focus point in the traditional manner. What I do is pick a magnification using the focus ring, set the camera to Continuous High shooting, and then to attempt a focus stack, I brace as well as I can and fire a volley while moving the camera slowly backwards. (I move backwards just because Zerene likes to stack from back to front.) With the Godox V850ii flash I am using, flash power varies from about 1/16th to 1/32nd, and at those powers, the flash can keep up with the K-3's 8.3fps for around 8-15 frames without missing a beat. (I also sometimes use a Godox AD180, which is about twice as powerful and has a huge external battery, but it's heavy and cumbersome.) The toughest part is moving slowly enough to not have gaps between the in-focus areas from shot to shot. Frankly, I could use 10-12 fps, but I'm not sure the V850ii could keep up (though the AD180 wouldn't break a sweat). IMHO, Zerene is quite amazing for it's ability to align the shots and correct for my never-perfectly-linear movement, and I'm getting better at using its retouching tool when the software doesn't quite get it right.


This fly was very cooperative, so I shot about 100 frames, varying magnification and angle. Probably at least 20 different compositions, some single frames, and some stack attempts. When you've never shot a species - as was the case here - it's hard (for me) to predict the angles that work. It's also (for me) difficult to predict which angles will produce a nice background. So my approach is pretty much to try as many things as I can. (BTW, a single frame can tell me whether to attempt a stack or not from a given angle. It can also mean I have something for my efforts if the bug decides to leave. Some bugs don't mind a single flash, but are much less happy with 8.3fps flash bursts.)

In the end I stacked five bursts, and also considered 5-6 single frames with in-focus eye(s), and this stack was the clear winner, IMHO, for it's low angle, nice bokeh and head-on-the-left-ness (many of my shots were from the other side, with the head on the right of the frame). There's some other pretty good ones, so I might still publish one or two of the single frames or another stack, but I'm a little short on time, and this is surely not a previously unknown species, so maybe not...

p.s.: If I could improve one thing, I would make a better diffuser: one that would "droop" down on each side of the lens. Fill those shadows just a bit more...

[Thagomizer]

Wow Doundounba!

Wow Noel, that's some relaxed 'hopper!

Around here they're usually pretty skittish. I had a jumping spider jump onto my lens the other evening. I had to encourage it onto my finger, which worked. Sometimes they flee as well, so I was lucky with that one. I didn't want it to wander far (like up my sleeve), so I didn't try any shots while I had it on me.

[WPRESTO]

We have fallen behind the required pace to insure someone gets a K1, about 300 posts short of where we should be, so I will put up several images one after the other.
This fellow got a dirty foot, Maybe he should stay higher on the grass blades when out in a cow pasture.

[WPRESTO]

A deeper crop from an all-of-the-bug with some of the plant image. IQ is starting to fall apart.

[WPRESTO]

And a dew dragon awaiting the sun on a Queen Anne's lace.

[noelcmn]

The No 1 Terrorist in the world


---------- Post added 08-15-18 at 11:46 AM ----------

Wow Noel, that's some relaxed 'hopper!

Around here they're usually pretty skittish. I had a jumping spider jump onto my lens the other evening. I had to encourage it onto my finger, which worked. Sometimes they flee as well, so I was lucky with that one. I didn't want it to wander far (like up my sleeve), so I didn't try any shots while I had it on me.

Much the same here, though this one was quite co-operative and probably had to do with my SSSLLLLOOOOWWW movements so as not to frighten it away. Had it on a stick first, so perhaps it realized I was not going to harm it! Had a word with it afterwards, just to say thank you, it murmured something back which I could not quite make out

[MetteHHH]

And a dew dragon awaiting the sun on a Queen Anne's lace.

Oooooh. This makes me want to get up early and go dragon hunting! SO beautiful!

[WPRESTO]

Oooooh. This makes me want to get up early and go dragon hunting! SO beautiful!

Oooooh and thank you so much. At least here, dewy dragon hunting is best late in the late summer and into the early autumn (=September and early October), and obviously early AM before it gets warm enough for them to shake it off and start flying.

[WPRESTO]

I'll post three flies in a row, starting with a hover fly.

[WPRESTO]

This one is quite a bit smaller. It might be a fruit fly.