Seen in my garden

[Rudi Venter]

After all the great macro images I saw here I decided to take my favorite macro lens into the garden today. It is winter here but still a few bugs around!

Here are a few images....

NOT a good day for this poor Bee

Love the colors of this Hover Fly enjoying the winter sun!

Thanks for looking,
Rudi

 

[Glen Roberts]

NOT a good day for this poor Bee

You can't help feeling sorry for some things being munched in nature but predators have to eat too.

Great shot of the Hover Fly, don't think we have any red ones in our country.

 

[Rudi Venter]

Thanks Glen!

Yes, it is rather sad that a Bee gets munched but I suppose the spider feels differently! I wonder if a Bee tastes sweet?

I forgot to mention, the "monster" in the first image is really tiny! The image is smaller than the others since it is a 100% pixel crop, the actual mite (I think that is what it is?) is no more than 3-4mm in size. It also shows how sharp the Sigma 150 macro is.

 

[Glen Roberts]

I forgot to mention, the "monster" in the first image is really tiny! the actual mite (I think that is what it is?) is no more than 3-4mm in size. It also shows how sharp the Sigma 150 macro is.

I don't know the species but it's a spider of some sort rather than a mite.

I have heard good reports of both the sigma 105 &150mm macro lenses and seen some excellent shots taken with them. The reason I got the Tamron 90mm Macro is a friend of mine upgraded to the Canon 100mm IS and I got the Tammy at a good price.
The one I was thinking about before was the Sigma 105mm.

 

[Rudi Venter]

You are correct Glen, it has 8 legs so must be a spider!

Yes, both the Sigmas are great, the 105's focus is just a bit slow but with macro that is not normally a problem. I have heard great things about the Tammy, for some reason I have never owned or even used a Tammy, they seem to be scarce here in Dark Africa

 

[Hamish Gill]

yet another person capable of such photography ... i must give it a bit of practice ... it frustrates the hell out of me that i cant do it!

i love the second one!

 

[Katherine Lihou]

Hello Rudi,

Well done for capturing #1 so well. I’ve been pushing the limits by going after aphids recently and know how hard it is to to get a sharp image of the really small beasties.

Spider and prey shots are both sad and fascinating and it's about the only time you get to see the more flittery insects keeping still for once

That hoverfly is gorgeous. I agree with Glen that I’ve never seen a red one of that species in the British Isles.

On another thread you mentioned using AI Servo. I always imagined that would only work on bigger beasties. What size of insects do you get over there for goodness sake?

You were asking if bees taste sweet. For a moderately authentic experience may I suggest an experiment involving a small-bore straw and a bit of concentrated CO2 as an anaesthetic?

As an aside, if you lick a Banana Slug the slime will numb your tongue, but I’ve never been brave enough to see if our garden varieties have the same effect…

Cheers,

Kate

 

[Rudi Venter]

Hello Rudi,

Well done for capturing #1 so well. I’ve been pushing the limits by going after aphids recently and know how hard it is to to get a sharp image of the really small beasties.

Spider and prey shots are both sad and fascinating and it's about the only time you get to see the more flittery insects keeping still for once

That hoverfly is gorgeous. I agree with Glen that I’ve never seen a red one of that species in the British Isles.

On another thread you mentioned using AI Servo. I always imagined that would only work on bigger beasties. What size of insects do you get over there for goodness sake?

You were asking if bees taste sweet. For a moderately authentic experience may I suggest an experiment involving a small-bore straw and a bit of concentrated CO2 as an anaesthetic?

As an aside, if you lick a Banana Slug the slime will numb your tongue, but I’ve never been brave enough to see if our garden varieties have the same effect…

Cheers,

Kate

Thanks Kate!

It is difficult to find a subject that sits still long enough for a shot! Yes, AI servo works well even for the smallest subjects, as long as the active focus point is mostly covered by the subject it will track it. AI servo also helps if you move forward or backward slightly, it will keep the focus locked.

We have some huge bugs here, but also lots of very small ones

Hmm, I have tried, unwillingly, the Bee tasting experiment and I must say it was not fun! The only problem was that the flavor of the transport media masked the flavor of the Bee so I still don't know

As far as the slug bit goes, no thanks!!!!!

Cheers,
Rudi