Eupeodes corollae (Hoverfly)

Eyes of the hover fly

Back in July I saw this hover fly in our garden. I wanted to experiment and see how far I could go with the Tamron 180mm and my father's Nikon TC201. This 360mm combination should be able to make 2:1 macro shots as the focussing distance remains almost the same with a tele-converter. I selected f/11 on the Tamron, what resulted in f/22 with that TC. Nevertheless the extremely thin DOF made this picture barely usable, so the only remaining purpose became showing a 100% crop of the compound eyes. As the TC201 doesn't communicate with the D70 and SB-800 I had to set the flash to auto [A] and I dialled the aperture to f/22. I've set the D70 to ISO200 for minimal noise (important for 100% crops) and 1/500 sec for reducing motion blur. All in all the picture came out pretty dark, but this can't be a surprise with these shooting parameters. Luckily Nikon editor handles RAW images pretty well, so adding auto-contrast did not trigger excessive noise.

Photo by Frank Panis

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1 with Nikon TC201
Sensitivity: ISO200
Shutter speed: 1/500sec
Flash: SB-800 in A mode on camera dialled to the right aperture, as the TC201 is a manual TC and it doesn't meter with a D70
Image: RAW, converted in Nikon editor, sharpening low, auto-contrast, saved in JPEG, denoised with Helicon and cropped + USM added in PS7.

Hoverfly II

Taken during our 2008 Austria Holiday: a hoverfly on a bed of flowers. I like the colour and composition very much.

Photo by Frank Panis

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro APO HSM
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/400s - f4.0
Flash: none
Support: handheld
Image: RAW, converted in Nikon CNX 2.2.1

Eupeodes corollae (common name: Hoverfly)  

This photo was not meant to be part of this section. I was impressed by the way this insect stood still in mid air before visiting a flower and took a shot of it when it landed in one, just to identify it later and learn what kind of insect it it. Fortunately, one of the pictures turned out really good but, unfortunately, identification was not that easy. I am still not sure if it should be regarded as a fly or a wasp.

Photo by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D2X
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO100
Shutter speed: 1/125 sec, f/5.6, Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS, levels adjusted, USM added and resized.

Hoverfly IV

We are always surprised by how much life one can find in an apparently deserted field during the hot summer months. This hoverfly was quite busy harvesting flowers which allowed us to capture it in action.

Photos by Marina Parha and George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

1. Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: AF Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 SP Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/500 sec - f/8, Manual mode
Flash: Nikon SB-800 in TTL/BL/FP mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized. 

2.  Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: AF Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 SP Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/500 sec - f/8, Manual mode
Flash: Nikon SB-800 in TTL/BL/FP mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.