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Marbled White
E-M1 mklll + 12-100 lens
E-M1 mklll + 12-100 lens
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Soldier Fly Stratiomys sp
This was my first close encounter with a soldier fly. Yesterday, it was a solitary individual on pond-side vegetation at a local nature reserve and represents a new site record.
The undergrowth of vegetation was tussocky and very difficult to walk through, let alone stalk a fly. Closer approach was impossible.
It was only around for a few minutes. The larvae of the likely species are carnivorous and semi-aquatic.
There are several species with yellow bands on the abdomen. Any suggestions?
The images are quite severely cropped.
The stereo is crosseye.
Olympus EM-1 (aperture priority), Olympus 4/3 x2 TC, Olympus 4/3 50mm f2 macro, 1/100 sec at f11 ISO 250, hand-held.
Harold
Last edited by Harold Gough; 10 July 2022, 01:14 PM.The body is willing but the mind is weak.Comment
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Best fit I can find (but note that I don't have any books showing all the UK Soldier Flies) is Stratiomys singularior. There are lots of excellent photos on this flickr page ... https://www.flickr.com/photos/630752...7632863337845/ -
Thanks. The fuzziness and reddish veins match but the partly yellow legs and the patterning on the abdomen don't.
It seems closer than the one I had in mind originally.
Harold
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We see a very pronounced sequence of hawkers on our marshes each summer. Although there is quite a bit of overlap there is usually one species most numerous: in date order Hairy Dragonlfly, Norfolk Hawker, Brown Hawker & Southern Hawker (Migrant Hawker the exception as it is pretty much out at th same time as Southern). Currently the Norfolk Hawkers are coming towards the end of their season but I still found a few today in good condition. But try as hard as I did none would give in to flight shots: too much breeze and none patrolling the same dyke in a predictable manner!
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couple of holiday close ups both with the 100-400 handheldComment
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Large Skipper Near Pond
I visited a nature reserve where these were quite numerous, flying close to or over the water of a large pond. Several were perched on twiggy vegetation overhanging the water.
They were flying around rapidly, which is how they got their name. I didn't see the upper sides of the wings but I suspect this is a female.
No hope of stereos!
Olympus EM-1 (aperture priority), Olympus 4/3 x2 TC, Olympus 4/3 50mm f2 macro, 1/60 sec at f11 ISO 250, hand-held.
Harold
The body is willing but the mind is weak.Comment
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As it was calm this morning I had an opportunity to try focus stacking insects in the field. I'm trying to get confirmation, but this may be Helina impuncta.
OM-1, 60mm macro, 1/160s at F3.2, ISO 1600. 28 frames stacked in Zerene Stacker.
Last edited by Ian; 12 July 2022, 07:58 AM.Comment
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antpitta The in-built stacking can be a bit limiting if you are after the best possible result, as it could be difficult to guess how many frames you need. What I do is this:
Firstly I autofocus on what I think may be the closest part of the subject, then manually pull the focus a little bit closer to be sure I've caught the very front of the subject. I then shoot off a standard 60 frame sequence as I know from experience that 60 frames is always more than enough to cover the depth of the subject.
Because I shoot a standard number of frames, it is easy to move each sequence to a separate folder when back on the computer. I then look at each sequence and delete all the frames focused in front of the subject, and all those focused behind the subject, just leaving those I need to cover the subject's depth. That way any foreground or background remains nicely blurred. I shoot at near maximum aperture as it helps to keep the shutter speed up (no flash) and the background soft.
I then load the remaining frames into Lightroom and make any exposure and colour temp adjustments, synchronise across the flames, and export to a temp file as 16 bit TIFFs.
I then load the TIFFs into Zerene and create the stacked image, which is usually a blend of the two methods provided, and output the final stack back to the temp file.
Finally I load the stacked image into Photoshop and do any final tweaks before saving as a jpeg.
The main issue is that it isn't until a long way through the processing sequence that you find out whether the result is going to be a keeper, and this can waste quite a lot of time. All sorts of things can go wrong; I move too much, the subject adjusts its position, there is a puff of breeze, etc. However, when it works, the results can be rather good, and my fly images have done particularly well in club competitions.
Hope this helps. Any more questions I'd be happy to answer.
Oh, and I've had expert confirmation on Helina impuncta.
Mike
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How Do I File These Images?
Under 'C' for cactus or under 'C' for cricket?
The female Speckled Bush Cricket had found is way into our conservatory where the flowering Opuntia was.
I subsequently released her into our garden where the species is resident.
The strange backgrounds are an oil-filled electric radiator and some rather pink house bricks of the wall.
The long, brownish blurs in the second stereo are cactus spines.
The stereos are crosseye.
Olympus EM-1, (aperture priority), Olympus 4/3 50mm f2 macro, f9 ISIO 250, hand-held.
Harold
The body is willing but the mind is weak.Comment
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From Sunday, don't have an idea what it is but it was the only one obliging enough to sit.
Dragonfly by Matt Hirst, on Flickr
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Catty Pillar....
Cinabar moth caterpillar on ragwort
Paul
Retired and loving it.Comment
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We took quite a number of quite jittery butterflies today - either the weather or perhaps mating is quite rife where we were.
A couple worth showing methinks.
In flight
Comma
.Just like that - gone in a flash!
Now in use.Comment
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femaleorange tip feeding
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Broad Bodied Chasers, laying eggs in the newly dug scrape.,,:-)
There was a female there I promise
Hendy Nature TrailComment
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Peacock butterfly on thistles.
RonComment
... Bempton just a great place to visit with bins & a camera!
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