Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

[serendipidy]

Wine lipped spider orchid. A bit of a rare one, but there's a nice little crop of them out in the reserve, near me.

From a camera, technical perspective, I was surprised how much detail was in the highlights. The leaf coming towards the camera, was overblown and looked like there was no detail (just a creamy blur really). In Lightroom, I turned the highlights down by 100, and suddenly, the detail popped out

Nice photos, Mr. Bean What reserve?

Thanks serendipidy. The reserves I talk about are pockets of land, maybe 20-50 acres in size that run NE of Melbourne (Australia) - from Warrandyte State Park. Most are linked to State parks, and ultimately link up with the biggest park near Melbourne - the Kinglake National Park. The orchids in question may only take up an acre (or less) in each of these reserves. So, it's a bit tricky finding them at first. But, you learn the signs over time

Thanks. Orchids are one of my favorite flowers.

 

[Eldar]

The smallest Hoverfly on the tiniest mountain flower I know.
Canon 1DX, 100mm f2.8L IS, handheld.

 

[Kernuak]

The smallest Hoverfly on the tiniest mountain flower I know.
Canon 1DX, 100mm f2.8L IS, handheld.

Looks like something similar to the marmalade hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus or maybe one of the Dasysyphus spp.

 

[Eldar]

The smallest Hoverfly on the tiniest mountain flower I know.
Canon 1DX, 100mm f2.8L IS, handheld.

Looks like something similar to the marmalade hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus or maybe one of the Dasysyphus spp.

I believe this sub species of the syrphidae family is called syrphus ribesii. But it is not easy to tell them apart.

 

[Mr Bean]

The smallest Hoverfly on the tiniest mountain flower I know.
Canon 1DX, 100mm f2.8L IS, handheld.

Very nice. Hoverflies move too quick for me to snap them (well, the ones down here in Australia). Nicely captured

 

[Mr Bean]

Wax Lipped orchid, up close after the rain.

 

[serendipidy]

Wax Lipped orchid, up close after the rain.

Lovely. Sharp with nice colors. Love the water drops.

 

[Kernuak]

The smallest Hoverfly on the tiniest mountain flower I know.
Canon 1DX, 100mm f2.8L IS, handheld.

Very nice. Hoverflies move too quick for me to snap them (well, the ones down here in Australia). Nicely captured

The only chance with hoverflies is really handheld, unless you find one roosting. Flash helps to freeze the action.

 

[Eldar]

The smallest Hoverfly on the tiniest mountain flower I know.
Canon 1DX, 100mm f2.8L IS, handheld.

Very nice. Hoverflies move too quick for me to snap them (well, the ones down here in Australia). Nicely captured

The only chance with hoverflies is really handheld, unless you find one roosting. Flash helps to freeze the action.

I am very happy with this image. The composition is nice, the focusing is right, DOF is adequate and the colors are nice. The problem with getting the shot was that it was very close to ground, both the flower and the fly are very small (the flower was about 10mm across) and as you say, the only option is handheld. So fast crawling on wet ground over time is quite tiresome. But when there is a reward like this in the other end, it is easy to accept the effort it took.

 

[Don Haines]

I spent half an hour this morning hunting bees in flowers in my backyard, 70-300L on a bunch of extension tubes. MF only, stupidly low DOF, handheld, only thing useful was the IS, those bees move fast and you have to be lightning quick to find, follow, frame, focus before it moves to the next flower.

sigh.

damn i want the 100L, would make my life so much easier...

Funny you should say that.... I have lots of asters growing in my yard and they are a bee magnet... Shot this one today with the 100L on a 60D, handheld, in a bit of a hurry because there were dozens of bees flying around me and I was starting to get a wee bit nervous...

 

[Mr Bean]

Nicely captured Don. This and the hoverfly from Elder have got me thinking about bug photography for this weekend. As we head into spring (down under) these guys start to frequent the garden

Might have to experiment with the off camera flash

 

[Mr Bean]

White Cabbage moth feeding. Hand held, using off camera fill flash to bring out some detail in the shadows (it was in full sun).

 

[Mr Bean]

Pink Finger orchid. They start to make an appearance this time of year (in Australia). Can be confused with the Wax Lip orchid, which are in full bloom at the moment.

 

[ERHP]

Nice bee shot, Don! Can totally understand not wanting to get stung.

Like the moth Mr Bean! The flash seems to make it look more natural and the part I like, I honestly would not have known if you didn't say anything.

Yesterday I spotted these two doing the tango on a stalk just above head high. On the positive side, they did let me get very close but angle choices were limited. 1/250 : f/14 : ISO 400 on a 5D MK III - awkwardly handheld, lol.

 

[Mr Bean]

Like the moth Mr Bean! The flash seems to make it look more natural and the part I like, I honestly would not have known if you didn't say anything.

Thanks ERHP. I'm starting to use off camera flash a lot more these days, for macro work, simply to balance light and shadows. Considering the camera has the smarts to handle high speed sync flash, I might as well use it
(the pic of the moth was taken at about 1/1000 sec @ f6.3 with high speed sync flash). All I had to worry about was keeping the moth framed and not stumbling over in the garden

Love your dragon fly pic. Great sharpness and detail (and love your pic's on smug mug).

 

[Mr Bean]

Chocolate Lily, starting to pop up around here. In the next couple of weeks, there will be a sea of lilac.
And yes, the scent of the flower does smell of chocolate

 

[Eldar]

Nice bee shot, Don! Can totally understand not wanting to get stung.

Like the moth Mr Bean! The flash seems to make it look more natural and the part I like, I honestly would not have known if you didn't say anything.

Yesterday I spotted these two doing the tango on a stalk just above head high. On the positive side, they did let me get very close but angle choices were limited. 1/250 : f/14 : ISO 400 on a 5D MK III - awkwardly handheld, lol.

Very impressive!

 

[scotty512]

havent zoomed in and no post processing, first play with the 100mm in NZ and my first weta - but ugly creature - great skull mask !

 

[Mr Bean]

Hover fly, doing, what it does best, hover
A tricky subject to capture, and this isn't the sharpest image. But, the beauty of digital means, I can try it again (this one took around 40 shots to get).
Off camera fill flash (to the left) to balance the midday sun. Even though the exposure was around 1/800 second, the wings still blur.

 

[Dukinald]

Some of my test shots this morning using my new 100L.

Very very happy with this lens !! ;D ;D