August Bugs . . .

. . . also from 2014. In fact, from the same day as the previous gallery of flowers.

Following up on the previous post, here’s the rest of the photos shot on August 15, 2014. These are all macros of bugs. And by bugs I mean bees and flies.

People often ask me about my shooting habits. I then have to ask them if they mean with guns or with a camera. They invariably mean with the camera. Specifically, they ask about my macros; do I use a tripod, how do I get the clarity, and so on.  

Here are the quick answers. If I shoot indoors, I usually use a tripod. If I shoot outdoors, I hand-hold. Outdoors, I have a few rules I follow. 

1. get close (the first rule of macro shooting)
2. shoot at a speed at least twice (in hundreds of seconds), and sometimes three times, the zoom. That means that if I am using my 105mm macro, I’m looking at shutter speeds ranging from 200th to 300th of a second. I usually accomplish this by bumping up the ISO.
3. if shooting bugs, move slow. 
4. I usually shoot a middle aperture (f-stop between 5.6 and 11) depending on the light available. If I shoot in program mode I bump the ISO and let check that the camera picks at least f/5.6. As some know, I’m not a huge fan of shallow depth of field. Unfortunately, it’s unavoidable when shooting macros, but I try to minimize it. 

If interested, go to the SmugMug gallery and hit the “i” for every photo and it gives you the shooting data. With rare exceptions, it conforms to the above. 

Oh, again don’t worry . . . no opinions or commentary with this piece. 

So . . . bees. Regular readers have already seen this shot:

That shot is actually part of a sequence. I’ll only show a few of the shots, but the rest are in the SmugMug Gallery.

If you, gentle reader, click on any of the photos, they should open larger in a new window or tab. Once opened, if still small, you can zoom in by clicking on them.

If you do that, you might notice the pollen sacks (one in each hind leg) and notice they are purple. They are purple because these Russian Sage flowers have purple pollen. You can see both of them in this photo.

I used to have a difficult time photographing insects on the wing . . . I got better. 

Here is a sequence ending with the bee landing on a flower. 

I’m fairly happy with these shots. 

This next bee engaged in acrobatic maneuvers as it explored the flowers of one of my Bluebeard Shrubs. There are a lot of shots, but I think them worthwhile to show here as most people will not go to SmugMug.

I know; a lot of photos, but I like the way this guy (gal?) was grabbing at everything it could as it explored the flowers.

. . . for instance, reaching over to grab the stem even as she’s almost upside down. 

Here too, you can clearly see the pollen sack (smaller than the ones on the other bee — perhaps this gal is more particular). 

There are a lot of flies about. Sometimes they sit still long enough for me to capture their digital image.

When I can get close enough I delight on the detail of the wings. 

I should urge readers to click on at least one of those to see the details, but I know I’m likely wasting my breath; there be them that do without being asked, and them who don’t no matter how often I mention it. 

Here’s a different and more familiar (traditional) fly. 

Sometimes I catch other bugs . . . 

. . . but there are a lot of flies around . . .

So, nothing spectacular so far . . . 

. . . and then . . . 

These are a pair of Progressive Bee Flies. One fly sat on the rock and the other fly buzzed it with some insistence, getting almost on top of it and then backing off. 

On the first shot, you can see the blur of the one that’s flying. On the second photo, the flyer is more in focus. Here are a couple of the approaches (more in the SmugMug Gallery).

Understand, I was pretty close, but they basically ignored me. At one point, the fly that was hovering got between me and the fly on the rock. 

I keep the camera on auto/constant focus and the focus shifted to the hovering fly when it crossed in front of the lens.

I don’t think I could have shot this if I tried; just dumb luck.

And then they took off, flying in formation. These are flies, you understand, and it would be foolish to try and follow them in flight . . . 

As usual, one can click on the individual photos for a larger version, OR . . . you can go to the SmugMug Gallery HERE to see the photos up to full resolution. Really, at the very least, pick one photo you like most and click on it for the larger version in a new tab or window.

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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Astute persons might have noticed these doodles, and correctly surmised they hold some significance for me, and perhaps for humanity at large.  

If you click on the doodle, and nothing happens, this is the link it’s supposed to go to: https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/palm-vx-and-i/.

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Note: if you are not reading this blog post at DisperserTracks.com, know that it has been copied without permission, and likely is being used by someone with nefarious intention, like attracting you to a malware-infested website.  Could be they also torture small mammals.

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Please, if you are considering bestowing me recognition beyond commenting below, refrain from doing so.  I will decline blogger-to-blogger awards.   I appreciate the intent behind it, but I prefer a comment thanking me for turning you away from a life of crime, religion, or making you a better person in some other way.  That would mean something to me.

If you wish to know more, please read below.

About awards: Blogger Awards
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. . .  my FP ward  . . . chieken shit.