Front Garden Hoverflies

On returning from getting a roll for lunch, I spotted a number of hoverflies by the front door, despite a strong breeze blowing the bushes, I just could not resist trying to capture them, as I like a challenge. I knew it was going to be hard to capture one in flight, but it did not stop me popping the 100mm Macro on the 7D with the 1.4 converter to try my luck.

I set 800 ISO and put the camera into manual mode having used it as a lightmeter first to ascertain what it considered the exposure to be – it read 1/250th at 5.6, so I set it at 1/250th at f/11 and popped up the flash, and after a few shots; some in sunlight some in shade, and some that I erased due to poor framing or movement or focus blur, I twice got shots of one of the hoverflies in flight. I kept the better of the two for the last shot in the gallery.

I have to own up that I find them a fascinating insect, and I love the opportunity to record the detail of their structure and strive to improve the quality of in flight images I capture. The females have distinctly separated multi-lens eyes, those of the males meet in the middle. A while back, I also learned that if I place my hand beneath them when they are hovering, they will often land, hence the shots on my fingers.