I tried to capture this insect but it was not easy since it would not settle for more than a second and I could not focus manually and shoot all within that time. Sorry about the quality of the photos, but that is the best I could do with my limited equipment. I had to get pretty close to isolate it and also needed high shutter speed, thus the not so sharp focus most of the time. What amazes me is that it is able to just hover in one place, skip very quickly to another place and then hover without moving an inch to any side. Each hover normally lasts a second each time. Anyone knows what it is called. I bet its got amazing wing dynamics. I was shooting at close to 1/800 and still no frozen wing action. How fast do its wings flap !!
Some people think they're bees or wasps, but they don't bite (around here they don't). You'll see they have a head like a regular house fly. They're a "good" insect.
Here's another one. I didn't know what they were called either until I saw pictures of them here. They looked like some kind of harmless little bee to me. :-)
Jacko (or anyone else)...I love those macro bug shots (I don't think I'll ever grow tired of them) and since I'm a new guy, I'm allowed to ask naive questions:
With my little Canon A40, should I even bother with macro shots of insects or anything else? Should I just develop my photography skills in general and then start Macros when I've got some better equipment?
My shot was done with the G3 and 3 diopters (closeup filters) attached so it is possible. - It is also a crop from a larger photo.
I believe there is an adapter you can get for the A40 that allows you to attach filters so this same method could be used. The filters are not expensive so if you want to play with macros, I say go for it.
