I have always wanted to get a good shot of one of these things, a Bee Fly that is and it was right at dusk and the Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) were singing in the twilight of a warm, spring afternoon. Somewhere deep in the woods, along the rolling landscape of the foothills region here in Rutherford County, a loon could be heard calling in the distance and with the last vestiges of sunlight clinging to the horizon, it was nice to be out of doors, taking in the sounds of the coming of night and getting some, well unintentional, photos of insects coming to rest. Such is the case with this Bee Fly.
All Images
Canon EOS 20D
Manual mode, hand held
1/125 sec. @ f/14 ISO 100
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Canon 430EX Speedlite ETTL @ -1/3, off camera w/Novoflex bracket
PP: Photo Impact 6
I found this quite by accident, I was not intentionally looking for insects at the time but more enjoying just a late afternoons walk when the twig of a pine tree presented itself against the late afternoon sky and lo...in the fading light, the silhouette of the Bee Fly.
Bee fly
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
I really love the beeflies. Nice captures. I like the first one because the nice background. But it might be a little lighter. If you get bored with the black background on the flash lighted pictures. You can modify the time in manual mode until it will show -2 or -3 EV underexposure. If you use this you might still get a handholdable time but a lighter background. You can go under the time a little you thought is appropriate because a slight motion blur is not so visible, as the flash will rule the subject. You can get the backgrounds like the first one. Maybe even one stop lighter background.
Or you can stick with this time and raise the iso to 200. It will also lighten your background with one stop. 20D is producing great pictures until iso 400.
Or you can lighten the background with just putting an object not too far from the subject for the flash.
Or you can stick with this time and raise the iso to 200. It will also lighten your background with one stop. 20D is producing great pictures until iso 400.
Or you can lighten the background with just putting an object not too far from the subject for the flash.
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Hhmm, and sometimes when these things settle down for the night, they really settle down for the night!beetleman wrote:You must have caught him getting ready to settle down for the night.
I am reminded of my experience last year:
The fly in pic #1 had actually shut down for the day -- it was so cooperative for such a long time that finally I poked it with a finger to see if it was really alive! It was, and in response to my poking, it merely shifted position.
--Rik