Humming-bird Hawk-moth aka Macroglossum stellatarum aka Taub

[RealMash]

Hi!

This not so little Butterfly (or Moth) is somewhat of a Problem to take a picture of. At least for me. This little Bugger is clever, fast and hates to be photographed (at least by me, might be that it is sitting somewhere posing for somone else:blah. Finally today I was lucky-most settings on the camera were preset right, I was clothed in Black (come to think of it, maybe a floral print on the shirt would have helped:-)), and the light was not a complete disaster. It was still quite dark because the flowers this little Bugger visited are in front of a Neighbours balcony on grond level inside a quite dark patio. And we had constant rainshowers or at least light overcast skies here for the last three weeks...So I got one half decent Picture-of course I will go on hunting those little Buggers until I get a much better one, but at least this is a picture that I think is acceptable. But ist sure shows the limits of my capablities, and maybe a little of the FZ30 limits-this cam sure is light hungry. Maybe an external poerfull Flash might help a little? The built in one was not strong enough. I did not get closer than about 2,5-3m, the butterfly felt being disturbed then, flew some reconaissance rounds, and left altogether after the second time.
One other thing-I used the flash on the camera for the second time. It sure did not help that Red-Eye reduction was switched on:idea:. Switched it off. What did help was, that I rembered to leave the petal shaped blinds off the camera- the warning concerning shadows when using flash were repeated over here so often I remebered. And concerning a teleconverter-I had to play Hide and seek with full tele several times-a teleconverter woud probably made it even more difficult. So my only hope is that another Time there will be more light. Maybe removing the UV Filter might get me some extra percentage of light the next time?
Well, will go on hunting until I get a good one.

Cheers,
RealMash

[RealMash]

Hi!

Even a 1/1000 of a Second still seems to be to slow.
Seamolf pointed out to me the Equipment others seem to be using taking Pictures of that beast. Now I have a good understandig why someone might think high power flashes etc. are quite essential things when taking Pictures:sad:. I will be getting a decdent Metz Flash when I come back.

Cheers,
ReaLMash

[bayourebel]

Never seen one like this. Guess it is about as hard to capture a real hummingbird in flight or a bee, but still this is very good.

[RealMash]

Thank you!

I learned to appreciate how hard it must be to take a picture of an hummingbird by trying to get a picture of this lowly insect.

Concerning hummingbirds: This insect is the reason that hummingbird sightings are reported in Germany from time to time ;-) So I guess it must appear quite similar to those when one does not get a closer or a second look on it.

Cheers, and thanks for the opinion,
RealMash

[bayourebel]

Thank you. Do you have hummingbirds in Germany? I thought they were only native to the Americas, and mostly South America, migrating to North America.

[RealMash]

Hi Bayourebel!

That`s just the point-no we don`t.

But those damn insects move like hummingbirds, and do make a humming sound.

That´s why they mistakenly are thought to be hummingbirds and get reported from time to time by casual observers :-) as beeing the sensational hummingbird in germany:lol:.

But I think they are beautifull nonetheless. And now I can estimate how hard it must be to take a picture of an bird of roughly that size and a much faster metabolism-and a keener Brain.

I´m going to go on a short vacation to Gran canaria next week. They do have a bird sanctuary there, and it seems to be of subtropic climate. Hope to get some good bird shots, but have to finish my Project first. Then I´ll have my week off. After two and a half years and five Projects in two countrys (admittedly it was only austria-but, still it`s a diffrent mentaity and hard to learn for a German):-). Hope to get some good Pictures in Gran Canaria, though.

By the way, was it you that showed soem pictures of his awesome horses? didn´t get unnoticed by me, beeing a country boy:-)

Cheers,
RealMash

[seemolf]

Congratulation, Michael!!!

A difficult job of a very fast insect.

Hummingbirds at a feeder are "slow objects" compared to this shy hovercraft!

some words is german...

Hier in S.-H. sind diese Schmetterlinge auf Phlox gesichtet worden. Ich werden aber auch die Sommerflieder kontrollieren - steht beides in meinem Garten. Mein Neid wird Dir bis dahin nachschleichen!!

Have a nice holidayand post some pictures!

Sven

[RealMash]

Hi Seemolf!

Some words inGerman:
Du hattest Recht, da kommt man nur mit einem Blitz weiter!
Und ich schleiche meinerseits Deinen Mondbildern hinterher...so schleicht hier alles im Kreis :lol:. Mein Vater hat die Taubenschwänzchen übrigens mit einer Canon A85 auf einer Blüte festgenagelt-abends, Große Lila Blüte, mit Blitz-und das eine Woche bevor ich uzum Schuß gekommen bin. Das relativiert die Leistung bei mir dann wieder etwas

I Hope to bag some more in Gran Canaria!

Btw. has someone Advice for Places to go and take some Pictures in Gran Can?
Will post them if they do pass my internal QS, which is, I have to admit, somewhat sloppy and easily clouded by pride ;-)

Cheers,
RealMash

[seemolf]

RealMash wrote:

> Some words inGerman:
Du hattest Recht, da kommt man nur mit einem Blitz weiter!
Und ich schleiche meinerseits Deinen Mondbildern hinterher...so schleicht hier alles im Kreis :lol:. Mein Vater hat die Taubenschwänzchen übrigens mit einer Canon A85 auf einer Blüte festgenagelt-abends, Große Lila Blüte, mit Blitz-und das eine Woche bevor ich uzum Schuß gekommen bin. Das relativiert die Leistung bei mir dann wieder etwas

Vielleicht können wir das A85 Bild auch einmal sehen?

My moonshots needed a 10x Converter! Full frame at 6* zoom.....

Shots with stacked telecons are not half as good!


> I Hope to bag some more in Gran Canaria!

> Btw. has someone Advice for Places to go and take some Pictures in Gran Can?


;-) sure: take a ferry to Lanzarote and I will help you....

Sorry, I have never been on Gran Can.

Sven

[RealMash]

Hi Seemolf!

Here for my Humilty Lessons-taken at about eight O clock at some sort of wild Petunia Form (which I gracefully provided by buying several mixed flowers seeds and presenting them as a gift to my Parents (it looked like a good Idea at that time).
All settings at full auto, I cropped and did the same postprocessing I did with my Pictures (but with a severe amount of grumbling, of course).

Cheers,
RealMash