The Flickr Cocacolazweefvlieg Image Generatr

Kersenbloesems en magnolia's in bloei

This male marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) and I struck up a perfect partnership when I found him on this on a Maltese-cross (Silene chalcedonica) in my mother-in-law's garden outside Härnösand, Sweden.

He really was the perfect model and when I left him (still on the same plant), I had taken four or five shots of him - each and every one of them in my opinion equally great, both in composition as in placement of focus and exposure.

This species is a bit special in that it is very confident at hovering - for longer periods of time than most other hoverflies. This to the point that I on several occasions have managed to photograph them hovering in mid-air - like here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/43828564261/

The flower is known under several intriguing names and is sometimes also known as the scarlet lychnis, flower of Bristol, Jerusalem cross and nonesuch.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53921216043/

Part 2 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53971106290/

A female marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) on the leaf of a wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) on a rare not-cold day in April.

I'm still absolutely delighted by the additional detail offered by the more than double megapixels of the new (ie early 2021) camera. Do zoom in on the compound eyes and the white pollen on it.

Part 1 is a very similar shot - but completely uncropped so it's still the full 50 megapixel in size. You can find it here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/51156778370/

Part 2 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/51708664908/

The same hoverfly, but from a different angle here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/51587940064/

Some animals have very similar names in different languages. Like the European garden spider which is known in German as Kreutzspinne, in Dutch as kruisspin, in Swedish as korsspindel, in Norwegian as korsedderkopp and in English also known as the cross orb-weaver.

This rather striking hoverfly is a bit different thouh. In English, this is a male marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), but in Swedish it's a "flyttblomfluga" which tanslates into migratory hoverfly. The Germans on the other hand call this a "Hainschwebfliege" meaning grove hoverfly, but they also call it the Wanderschwebfliege (wandering hoverfly) and Winterschwebfliege (the winter hoverfly).

And then we look at the Dutch. They go all in on the names and call this one the snorzweefvlieg (moustache hoverfly), pyjamazweefvlieg (pajama hoverfly), dubbelbandzweefvlieg (double-banded hoverfly) and cocacolazweefvlieg (yup, that's the Coca Cola hoverfly).

Regardless of name, this one is enjoying a flower on my mother-in-law's great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis).

Back in October of 2020, I was in the process of rebuilding my flash diffuser and had reached a beta stage for the new version where I thought I had the form down, but needed to try it out to verify it worked both with the normal lens and with the MP-E65mm - including the MP-E at 1:1 mag where it is around 100 mm in length all the way out to 5:1 where the length of the lens instead is around 250 mm which moves the point which needs to be lit quite significantly.

With autumn already here, the selection of models to shoot this way was rapidly disappearing in Stockholm, Sweden as everything was preparing for winter, but I found this female marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) which posed helpfully on a yellow flower.

I like the diffusion from this one (this is at 2:1 mag), but perhaps I should've set the flash to have slightly more power?

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/50452765606/

A portrait shot of it at 3.9:1 magnification here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/50511036147/

Mosca-das-flores-comum
Marmalade Hoverfly

Belinho
2020

This male marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) and I struck up a perfect partnership when I found him on this on a Maltese-cross (Silene chalcedonica) in my mother-in-law's garden outside Härnösand, Sweden.

He really was the perfect model and when I left him (still on the same plant), I had taken four or five shots of him - each and every one of them in my opinion equally great, both in composition as in placement of focus and exposure.

This species is a bit special in that it is very confident at hovering - for longer periods of time than most other hoverflies. This to the point that I on several occasions have managed to photograph them hovering in mid-air - like here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/43828564261/

The flower is known under several intriguing names and is sometimes also known as the scarlet lychnis, flower of Bristol, Jerusalem cross and nonesuch.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53921216043/

The marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) like this female on the flower of a great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis) is one of my favourie hoverfly species.

Not only is it attractive and relatively unafraid which makes it easier to shoot, but also I can't think of a species which is more fond of hovering than this one which makes it easier than most to photograph on the wing.

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This male marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) and I struck up a perfect partnership when I found him on this on a Maltese-cross (Silene chalcedonica) in my mother-in-law's garden outside Härnösand, Sweden.

He really was the perfect model and when I left him (still on the same plant), I had taken four or five shots of him - each and every one of them in my opinion equally great, both in composition as in placement of focus and exposure.

This species is a bit special in that it is very confident at hovering - for longer periods of time than most other hoverflies. This to the point that I on several occasions have managed to photograph them hovering in mid-air - like here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/43828564261/

The flower is known under several intriguing names and is sometimes also known as the scarlet lychnis, flower of Bristol, Jerusalem cross and nonesuch.

All four shots in today's upload were taken today. We're spending two weeks at my mother-in-law's place outside Härnösand, Sweden (500 km north of where I live). Here garden is a wonderful source of bug photos, but today was something of a record. I came in with 200+ photos and after a first culling, there are almost 150 keepers so I figured we might as well have just fresh photos today.

This is a female marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) and I found her and a vast number of other bugs on these flowers which are known as the great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis).

If you want to see more shots of bugs on this flower, I have an album with 50+ photos here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/albums/72157705562389611/

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