Bee fly

[Ken Ramos]

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.

[acerola]

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.
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Péter

[Ken Ramos]

Thanks Péter, it was pretty late in the afternoon when I shot these and maybe had I opened the aparature up a bit more the backgrounds would have been much lighter.

[jaharris1001]

These are really different Ken,, I dont think Ive ever seen on here in Florida,, I saw someone else had one posted today,, this is the first Ive seen of these
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Jim

"I'm growing older,, but not up " Jimmy Buffett

[Ken Ramos]

They should be down you way there Jim. I don't see them too often around here, just every once in a while. Thanks Jim

[beetleman]

You must have caught him getting ready to settle down for the night.
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Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

[rjlittlefield]

[Ken Ramos]

Indeed they do settle down. This one was still there for a couple of hours the next day, finally by afternoon, either it went for or became lunch. Thanks guys!