"Portrait of an Hoverfly" posted on 500px.com

Today I was playing outside with my daughter when I noticed a little bug on her. Coming closer, it was an hoverfly, that wouldn't move out. Upon closer examination, I quickly found that this was because of a broken wing.

I went to get my camera - the fly still on my daughter, not scared at all by the "bebete" (French for little bug / insect) - and came back to take a few shots. This one is my preferred one, and one of the few with focus spot on on the eye:

"Portrait of an Hoverfly" (c) Gilles Royer 2014

I also posted it on my +500px gallery under the following link:
https://500px.com/photo/85330385/portrait-of-an-hoverfly-by-gilles-royer

This was a great opportunity to take a macro shot of that fly, otherwise, I don't know how to get those close-ups of flying insects - they don't stay very long on one spot!

If you have any tips on how to take insect macros, please share them!

"Ants and Kangaroo Paws" on @500px

Today was a beautiful day in Melbourne, very sunny, and a very welcome break to a long winter this year. That got me in the mood to get out and take a few shots in the garden.

I was shooting some "Kangaroo paws", when I noticed one, which had just started to flower, was covered in a multitude of curious and busy ants - a nice addition to a flower macro shot.

So here we go, that's the shot that I selected to post on 500px.com:

"Ants and Kangaroo Paws" by Gilles Royer, (c) 2014

You can also find it at the following link:
http://500px.com/photo/80673039/ants-and-kangaroo-paws-by-gilles-royer

Thanks for stopping by!

The Story Behind... Portrait of a Mantis

Hi there. I've just posted this photo, in my series "Portrait of...", on my 500px portfolio (http://500px.com/photo/63354599). This one is titled "Portrait of a Mantis"

Portrait of a Mantis (c) Gilles Royer 2014 - Nikon D200 / Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro

This shot is from an impromptu meeting. A couple of nights ago, my wife had a little scare as she met this little mantis on our deck. But the surprise over, she called me as she realised I'd be keen to take a few snapshots of this beautiful little bug. 

I straight away took the camera, but it was quite dark outside. But I thought this was the only chance I had, so set the mantis in a pot of flowers nearby, and started to shoot with the flash. I then moved it to a cyprus bush, and tool a few more shots. When I reviewed the shots later on, I was not fully happy with them, as it was hard to get a good focus in total darkness, and the flash and focus of the Tamron lens combined were way too slow to get an interesting shot.

So I was nicely surprised, the day after, when I went in the garden, and this mantis was still there, baking in the late summer sun. You already know what I did next! I rushed back inside to grab my camera, determined to have a good shot under the nice morning light. 

And I did! I tried a few different angles and distances, as well as a few different sets, thanks to a very helpful Mantis, happy to be moved around, carried on a stick, and probed to show its best angle! 

This was was shot in a bush of purple Platycodon Astra (Platycodon grandiflorus), hence the nice purple hues in the background. I aimed at focusing on the eye, whilst setting a shallow aperture of f/5.6 to get nice separation between the face and the rest of the body. I also turned down the ISO to 125 (I usually have 200 as a standard setting on the camera).

I'm not quite sure what the exact species of Mantis this one is. It's a brown / beige colour, not the green mantises I'm more used to. Please let me know if you know the species name, as I'd be keen to find out.

Hope you like it! And thanks for your visit

The Story Behind... Let's Have a Drink

Let's Have a Drink - (c) Gilles Royer 2014 - 90mm - f/5 - 1/60 - ISO 200

This photo was taken in my new house, which has a water feature in the front garden, being an urn with water coming up. we had a very hot summer here in Melbourne, Victoria, with a whole week where temperatures reached the 40 degrees. I noticed , at the end of the afternoon on those days, that several bees gathered on the edge of the urn, and went for a drink, just the way they would go and collect pollen from a flower. 

I found this quite interesting, and decided to take a shot of those, armed with my macro lens (the Tamron 90mm). I took quite a lot of shots, varying the angle and trying to get a sharp image, whilst opting for a wide aperture.

I selected this shot for several reasons. First, this was one of the only one where the bee's tongue (or proboscis) was really clear and sharp, and so were the eyes. Second, I quite liked the angle of the image, and the texture provided by the water overflowing from the urn (made of cast iron). The background was blurred enough with an aperture of f/5.

As always, you can find this photo on my 500px portfolio -> http://500px.com/photo/59718228

I hope to see more of these bees around, or other kinds of insects, or even birds. Actually, next to the water feature are a couple of trees, with quite a big spider web in between. The spider has been growing over the last few weeks, so that might be the next photo idea! 

Cheers
Gilles