I was walking down to the bank of the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan and heard a very loud buzzing sound. About 1 meter away was a large bumblebee patterned insect perched on some bee balm. I took a few shots and tried to reposition for a better shot, but the critter decided to fly to a new spot. Finally, I was able to get positioned better and fired away with the Z9. I knew this was a bumblebee mimic and was able to determine it as one of our native robber flies. The insect is about 25mm in length.
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Lighting was not the best and had to work up the shadows and highlights to tame everything down. How did I do?
Pertinent Technical Details
Z9 200mm f4 Micro (1/640 sec at f20, ISO 3200) Levels, DeNoise, Shadows and Highlights, slight crop and rotation, Brightness & Contrast, reduction of green and yellow saturation, Rubber stamp tool for crescent shaped highlight on thorax…Jim
Jim: This challenge should be right up your alley and you’ve certainly provided a great entry here. Terrific capture and I think your processing is spot on. These are fearsome critters and I’m glad it wasn’t sizing you up for lunch. >=))>
You’ve certainly captured a sharp image of this robber fly Jim. I have never heard of them, but I can see how you could mistake if for a bumble bee. The brown and yellow tones of the fly contrast nicely with the soft green of the foliage in the background. Nice image.
