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Re: [OM] Scourge of the Flies

Subject: Re: [OM] Scourge of the Flies
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2017 12:57:31 -0700
On 7/9/2017 4:09 AM, Christopher Crawford wrote:
Awesome photos, Moose.

Thanks!

"Photos", plural is interesting. The image presented is a focus stack (bracket in Olyspeak) of 15 'slices' of focal planes. So it is, in a way, "photos" OTOH, both images in the gallery are of the same composite focus stack, one framing the whole dragonfly, and one a 100% pixel sample, to show the detail.

How do you get so close to insects without them ‘bugging out’ and flying off?

Shot at 400 mm, so I wasn't all that close. I'm about 6 ft. away, front of the 
lens about 5.5'.

Here are a couple of smaller insects shot in the same place, about the same 
time.
A fly, taken at about the close focus limit of the PLeica 100-400 mm lens. EXIF says 1.4 m, which is a little of a guesstimate.
The full frame. <http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=22174>
A crop. <http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=22172>

A stylish little wasp, with blue accents, not quite as close.
The full frame. <http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=22170>
A crop. <http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=22168>

There are more examples in the Flies Gallery. 
<http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20400>
And the Bees & Wasps Gallery. 
<http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=20429>

Back to the dragonfly; as is my common practice, I took another stack from a little farther away and a less interesting angle, in case moving around and going closer scares the subject off.

Dragonflies are not really scared of people and are fairly easy to approach,

Dragonflies tend to fly off, whether scared or for an aerial snack, then return to the same perch, often many times. So set-up on the place just vacated will often be rewarded shortly.

Doesn't always work . . . A couple of weeks ago, I spotted a dramatic dragonfly with black and yellow striped body, out in the garden. I ran to grab the camera and then outside, but it had flown off and didn't return to that perch, or the yard, at all. Turns out it must have been lost, as this isn't it's normal habitat at all. It's usually seen cruising up and down stream beds.

but I’ve seen closeups like that of skittish insects like houseflies too.

Jim is the 'bug whisperer', getting close enough for shots of many small insects with Leica-R 90 mm or even a short macro lens. I rely on loooong FLs, and, for the little ones, often achromatic C-U lenses on the front, although not for any of these.





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What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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