The hoverfly in motion I think is almost abstract.

Sorry Paul, but those first 2 just don't do it FOR ME. Cool images, but not my thing ;)

That backlit image is pretty intriguing though. Is an insect in the bulbous leafy part?

What beautiful photos Paul. I'd not heard the term hoverfly before so I had to google up some images. Can I ask for exposure info?
The third image is also quite beautiful. I like how translucent it is.

That backlit image is pretty intriguing though. Is an insect in the bulbous leafy part?

The plant, what you see there at the base of the stem is the next branch developing inside it, so the new leaflets and stem are curled up inside it waiting to break forth and aim for the sky in their turn.

This image form another plant shows a slightly different angle. I think it took the backlight and a younger plant to make it an attractive photo.


Not every image pleases everyone, that's to be expected.
I like them because of a geeky aspect, if the fly's wingbeat is constant (you know how they buzz constantly) then you cen see the acceleration of the fly from a hover to forward flight in the second photo.
If you look very carefully you can see the slight (less than 1mm) rise and fall in the flight path of hte body because of hte highlight reflection on the left front leg.
There's just so much detail to find in the image s if you look at it to start to analyse their flight.
What can I say - I'm a geek !

1/6 hand held - I was astonished it worked
The key to that was bracing the camera well and the IS lens in mode 1
But no tripod, just a windless day and some luck
I had the 100-400 L IS focussed as close as possible, then stalked the fly and rocked back and forth to get it in sharp focus.

No of course I'm not going to show you the out of focus ones, or count them :)


Original date/time: 2005:07:03 18:02:32
Exposure time: 1/6
Shutter speed: 1/6.00
F-stop: 9.0
ISO speed: 100
Focal length: 400.0000
Flash: Not fired
Exposure mode: Auto
White balance: Auto
Orientation: Top-left
Aperture: 6.3398
Exposure bias: 0.0000
Metering mode: Pattern
Exposure program: Aperture priority