Hunting

Found this mosquito (think that was it is?) on some purple sage this morning just stabbing away. Really like the reflection in the wings.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Cropped quite a bit. Toned down the back by dodging in LR/PS. Never used auto ISO before, is that what most of you do when photographing insects, birds, etc.? All thoughts welcome.

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

He was only about 1/2", very small. Does the insect stand out enough? All thought/comments welcome.

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

Nikon D7200, f/13, 1/800sec., iso 1100, 100mm

Linda, I’m not sure what this little guy is, but pretty sure he isn’t a mosquito. We have them here in NC too, and have took a few shots of him. He also likes our purple sage. Maybe someone can ID him. I use the auto ISO most of the time, whether it is birds or insects. I don’t use auto ISO when I use the flash. Just too many variables for me. I like auto ISO because I can shoot in manual mode and set my shutter speed and f-stop to what I want. You can set limits on your ISO to not go any higher or lower than a certain point by going in through your menus. That can keep you from going above what your camera is good at for keeping noise down, etc.

It seems to be a fair amount of noise in the BG on this one. Otherwise a nice shot of this little guy that is probably about a quarter inch long.

Thanks Shirley. I also felt there was too much noise, but that was part of my question about using auto ISO. It seems to me when I have my camera set to auto ISO it always go higher than I would have chosen. For this shot it went to iso 1100 (there was a slight breeze, but it was plenty of light so I couldn’t figure out why it went to iso 1100?). I have my max iso set for 2000, guessing that’s a bit too high. Thanks again the your thoughts and help.

Linda, this is a nice look at what I think is a small fly. The iridescence in the wings is a “thin film” optical effect that can be seen in lots of insects with clear wings provided you’re at the right angle with the sun. It is a neat thing to pick up. The mix of colors both in the sage, the fly and the background are very pleasant to look at. Your composition is nicely minimalist and unusual with the flower and the fly on the right. I use auto ISO with shutter speed control (or in manual) when I want to freeze the motion. You could also use it in aperture control if you want to fix the depth-of-field. The noise looks decent since there’s very little color noise, you can also work adjust that in raw processing, with the typical trade off being reduced noise means a slight reduction in resolution.

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Thanks Mark. I’ve not done much practicing with auto ss or aperture, so this is good to know. I appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Linda: Good question about the auto ISO that makes me think a bit. It’s a feature I never use but that comes from my slide shooting days where any ISO above 200 got pretty grainy. My early digital bodies also got noisy above 400 ISO so I just never went there. But with modern sensors and processing software so good now I’m having less trepidation about using higher ISO to maintain a fast shutter speed or get more DOF. As for the image, this is a fly and a good capture of it. The comp is growing on me but my first impression was that I would prefer more room in front of the subject and less behind. Again, that’s probably my old set in my ways thinking. Overall, :+1: :+1:>=))>

Thanks Bill. I bought my first “serious” camera in 1991 - a Nikon N6006. A film camera that I took many slides with. . … .absolutely no idea of what I was doing. I only knew that I absolutely loved looking through the lens and seeing things in a way I never had before. So, yes, experimenting with auto ISO is a new, and somewhat intimidating, experience for me also. I also agree about having more space in front but the fly was so small when i moved back, he got lost in the foliage. Not sure how to compensate for that? Still working/experimenting. Thanks again for your thoughts & comments.