3 flies and a spider

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

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Cyclops
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3 flies and a spider

Post by Cyclops »

OK only one is a true fly(Diptera), the other two being Hoverflies(Hymenoptera)
It surprises me how many still see one of these and shout Wasp!!

Heres the fly, sat sunning on the windowsill outside. the lens is practically on top of it-I have to get that close to get photos, which is a devil if its at all windy!
Image

And heres one of the hoverflies. Its not very sharp as its handheld and every time I went to press the shuttter the wind picked up!
I take my hat off to those guys who get good shots of these mini beasts out in the field!
Image

and a much smaller one, somewhat sharper too. So much so that I was able to crop much closer(its a very small Hoverfly)
Image
The flower in the garden is Ragwort(Senecio), a wild plant that I encourage for its obvious benefits to wildlife.

Now for my fave mini beast, a spider. This is a small wolf spider(Lycosidae), and despite dialling in some exposure comp due to the blindig white background its still somewhat dark. I'd love to get a good shot of one of these on a darker background using flash-oh for a DSLR!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/D ... ider02.jpg

That ones heavily cropped for ID purposes, I have a more artisticly driven shot here http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/D ... ider01.jpg, which I like the composition of

[Admin edit to conform with posting limit.]
Canon 5D and 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope

Aynia
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Post by Aynia »

I do love hoverflies and yellow flowers. :D but as for the spider... and I do appreciate that they have some uses but I noticed last week that one had knobbled a lacewing in the bathroom. :evil:

Cyclops
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Post by Cyclops »

Aynia wrote:as for the spider... and I do appreciate that they have some uses but I noticed last week that one had knobbled a lacewing in the bathroom. :evil:
LOL, I used to have a captive house spider and on a couple of occasions I have fed it Lacewings :P
Canon 5D and 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Nice pictures, Cyclops! :D

A couple of nits...

1) I'm seeing four pictures right now, but the limit is three per day in this gallery. I'll admin-edit your post to turn one into a link for now, and you can put it back to an image tomorrow.

2) The hoverflies really are true flies also: order Diptera, family Syrphidae. http://syrphidae.com/ is a great reference, BTW.

--Rik

Cyclops
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Post by Cyclops »

rjlittlefield wrote:Nice pictures, Cyclops! :D

A couple of nits...

1) I'm seeing four pictures right now, but the limit is three per day in this gallery. I'll admin-edit your post to turn one into a link for now, and you can put it back to an image tomorrow.

2) The hoverflies really are true flies also: order Diptera, family Syrphidae. http://syrphidae.com/ is a great reference, BTW.

--Rik
Oh sorry Rik I thought it was 4, my bad (did it used to be 4 per day?)

Thats interesting about the hoverflies being part of Diptera, i thought they were hymenopoterids! Thanks for the correction!
Canon 5D and 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Cyclops wrote:Oh sorry Rik I thought it was 4, my bad (did it used to be 4 per day?)
No, it's always been 3 in the image galleries. It's 4 in Favorite Locations, and now unlimited (used to be 3) in Techniques and Technical Discussions.
Thats interesting about the hoverflies being part of Diptera, i thought they were hymenopoterids! Thanks for the correction!
Hymenoptera is all the bees, wasps, and ants -- four wings, if any at all.

The cool thing about the Syrphids is how much they look like wasps in general appearance, while still clearly being flies in all the details -- such as 2 wings and 2 halteres.

--Rik

Cyclops
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Post by Cyclops »

Hey anyone know what the fly is doing in that first pic? To some it might look like a dead fly but I assure you as soon as I moved it was off!
Canon 5D and 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope

lauriek
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Post by lauriek »

Looking at the angle of the shadow I would guess he's angling his back towards the sun to maximise the warming effect on the flight muscles.

Cyclops
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Post by Cyclops »

lauriek wrote:Looking at the angle of the shadow I would guess he's angling his back towards the sun to maximise the warming effect on the flight muscles.
Ah thanks Laurie yea it was sunny then. First bit of sun we've had in ages!
Canon 5D and 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope

P_T
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Post by P_T »

Cool shots!! Suggestion for the spider shot, when you have so much light reflected off a surface like that, perhaps the use of a polariser would be a great help for the camera metering system.

Cyclops
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Post by Cyclops »

Thanks P T,i do have a polarizer but i use it for removing reflections from water etc and darkening blue skies. Never thought it would be useful in this situation!
Canon 5D and 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope

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