Challenge accepted

Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
A few weeks ago I was photographing "long legged flies" and found that using a flash makes them take flight instantly. This caused OOF shots most of the time. So I set myself a challenge, to photograph a long legged fly in flight, if anyone has photographed these before they would know how skittish they are, here are my attempts.

One thats not flying ;) (I think I wore him out).

SHM_3594.jpg
 
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Ironwood

Senior Member
Nice work Scott. I know how difficult those flies are to photograph, I have wasted a few hours trying to get a few good shots out of many, most were deleted.

​So, whats your secret, do you have to drug them ?
 
Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
Ironwood said:
Nice work Scott. I know how difficult those flies are to photograph, I have wasted a few hours trying to get a few good shots out of many, most were deleted.

​So, whats your secret, do you have to drug them ?
Click to expand...
Haha I wish I knew a drug.

These were of around 15 images, my secret is judging which way the fly will fly. I normally focus behind him as I figure they tend to jump back, also I place them when landed at the lowest point of the shot as I also figure they will be jumping up out of the frame if centred etc. I am happy with the ones that I managed to get. Also I am suing flash sync of 1/320sec ISO 400 f/11 or something lol.
 
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Ironwood

Senior Member
Do you get 1/320 with your onboard flash on the D800E ? I can only get 1/250 on my D7100.

​I am looking at getting a flash that I can get a higher sync speed, all the specs I have been reading about have been confusing my brain.
 
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PapaST

Senior Member
Don't I know it. It's like they can feel the electrical charge build in the flash before it fires and they just zip out of there. It's difficult to say the least.
 
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grandpaw

Senior Member
Ironwood said:
Do you get 1/320 with your onboard flash on the D800E ? I can only get 1/250 on my D7100.

​I am looking at getting a flash that I can get a higher sync speed, all the specs I have been reading about have been confusing my brain.
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken the higher flash speed has nothing to do with the flash you use but is controlled by the camera. I would think you could set it up in the menu to go MUCH higher than 1/250. On my D7000 I could set it up that way but as you pass the normal sync speed for the camera it will lessen the power of the flash due to the flash having to fire more than once to cover the whole frame of the photo. In that regard a stronger flash will work better.
 
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