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Re: [OM] The Flies Have It

Subject: Re: [OM] The Flies Have It
From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2016 11:09:35 -0400
Amazing stuff. Seen on the patio recently: dozens of dragon flies, a blue tailed skink and a little green tree frog. None of which chose to pose for more than 100 milliseconds. :-)

Chuck Norcutt

On 7/14/2016 11:46 PM, Moose wrote:
After getting a pretty nice image of a green bottle fly rather casually
with moderate gear, I got curious about what other ones I hadn't been
paying attention to. The next day was not conducive to sitting out,
waiting for them to come to me, but I ventured out with TG-4 and
teleconverter, 170 mm eq., to see what was out and about and try its
focus stacking.

I did get what I consider a pleasing composition of a fly on a fern. And
the stacking worked a treat for the fly and foliage, giving much better
DoF on the frond than any single shot, while the background is nicely
soft. <http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20401>

OTOH, I couldn't get close enough to this small fly to get a good
close-up, and going 100% with the tiny sensor, mistakenly set at ISO
400, had little detail. <http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20405>

A few days later, I toted the E-M5 II, PLeica 100-400 and Nikon 5T C-U
lens out with me as I sat in the sun. I fairly easily got a better green
bottle shot than before.
<http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20427>

I tried some stacking, but the flies were quite active, so all the
series did was nail focus/DoF one or two single shots, as the above one.

The next day out, I found some of the smaller flies I had seen and shot
with the TG-4. I discovered that they are hoverers, as easily noticed
from their shadows as directly, and hard to get the AF to find. I did
get "closer" with the longer lens. Closer to 1/4" than 3/8" in length,
with similar wingspan, they are much smaller in bulk than the green
bottles.

This is a full frame of a shot of one.
<http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20409>

A crop of the same shot.
<http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20411>

And a head on shot at greater distance. Not as good detail and DoF, but
I love the pose, and the way its perch is isolated.
<http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20413>

A couple of days later, a small fly found the skin of my knee
fascinating, so I took it's picture. It was in constant, rapid motion,
and DoF is tiny at that distance/magnification, but I did get shots that
should ID him, should I want to.
<http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20415>

I did manage to get two shots without too much movement between them,
giving a strange image of a creature in focus at back and head, but
fading into softness in the far middle. :-)
<http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20417>
Then a green bottle sat still on a sprinkler head long enough for a
focus stack. Terrific job on the foreground, but I need different
settings to get deep enough for the far wing. Still, rather nice.
<http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20419>

Then, there's this thing. Big, hovers like a hummingbird/clearwing moth,
the body hair is like some of them, but the head, 'eyebrows' and mouth
parts are wrong. <http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20421>

It did pose for a peekaboo shot.
<http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20423>

Then flew right up and sat still briefly on a flower right in front of
me. <http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20425>

The combination of PLeica @ 400 mm and 5T really is da bomb for live
shootin' of these little critters.

Flying Moose

<http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20417>
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