This my sharpest fly photo if that is what this is. There are so many insects out there and I would like to start learning how to identify these. This time I tried the full frame camera. I wonder if that does better than the 90D being a full frame. Not sure about that though, been seeing some awesome photos of these closeups so I thought I would try it 6D ii 180 macro soft flash. on a tripod. ISO 1000 1/100 F/11 The area was VERY green with plants at the Desert Museum in AZ
I added a post crop vignette in LRC to help bring out this subject, which I don’t use much.
Dean, while I can’t specifically ID this critter, I’ve read that you can separate flies from bees because flies only have two wings (like this one) while bees have four wings. The details in the fly and the flower look good.
Very nice, Dean. I have this same fly in our garden. I have captured a few shots but not as good as this one. I even tried to capture it in flight, but as little as it is, it is hard for the camera to lock focus on hm. They are very tiny, around the size of the hoverfly, I think, but maybe thicker in body. Well done. I love the way he is positioned on the flower.
Thanks Mark, that is really good to know. Something I will remember as I am trying to identify these insects. Shirley, good thing I have the 180 because even moving my head to the OVF of the camera tends to spook these guys. Do you both think f/11 was too tight or about right. I have read the best setting is 3 stops down so in this case f/8. I use a tighter DOF because usually I only get one shot at these. One big disadvantage of using a flash is not using high speed shooting. I have read it does recycle faster for some reason when the lens is open more wide.
Dean, Yes, it is very sharp. great details on the bee. Nice foreground with flowers. Composition is good. I would slightly tone down the bright spots on top and right. That would keep attention on the bee.
Dean: While the optics on a lens may be optimal at f8 or f11, in macro the effect is negligible compared to getting enough DOF in the final image to get things sharp where they should be. With single capture getting your POF/DOF right can make or break the image. I routinely shoot at f22 and sometimes even f32 on flowers. With insects subject movement makes everything more complicated because you have to consider SS as well. When shooting moving critters like butterflies and dragonflies I tend to set my initial aperture at f8 or f11 and try to get as much working distance as I can. Once I have a shot in the bag that will work I’ll then try to play with smaller apertures or getting closer with my tripod. Considering your ISO and aperture it doesn’t look like you had a lot of light to work with but your plane of focus looks spot on. On a different note I agree with Ravi regarding the relatively bright blue spot on the upper border and would tone that down some.>=))>
Thanks @Bill_Fach, that was pretty useful information. I will try that on a flower next time out in the field (tomorrow LOL) I did a update on the photo and anything I would do with the brighter areas was still annoying. So I used PS . 1) used Content Aware 2 Blur with a large feather on the selection. 3 final clean up with the patch tool on small areas. I found that CA has issues when there is not a hash contrast inside and outside the selection. I need to start stepping back and really look at the whole photo because those bright spots were quite annoying. Thanks Bill and Ravi for that observation.
Dean: Nice work on the repost. Made a good image even better. >=))>
Repost is much improved. I believe that this is a bee fly (Bombyliidae). You may want to do some internet searches for bee flies in your area to put a name on this insect. Well done…Jim