A fly, a hopper and a winged ant

[AirBrontosaurus]

Found these guys outside today. I don't really have much of a story to go along with them, except that today is the first day I used my flash with my new rechargeable batteries (I used to just use normal ones but that was getting expensive ;)). Energizer 2500mAh cells really do the trick. The flash cycles in about 2-3 seconds every time. It's great!

My favorite from today. I think I'll call it "Walk the Line":
http://img429.imageshack.us/img429/73/flyingant5vo.jpg

I have definitely had better fly pictures, but this one turned out OK for me:
http://img429.imageshack.us/img429/3654/bestfly2au.jpg

I have tried getting pictures of these guys before, but they are so long that they usually have a good part of them out of focus. I at least got the body this time, but unfortunately cut off one of the legs:
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/1557/longbug4dp.jpg

Finally, a little leaf hopper. Too bad his head is a little out of focus :(. He was, ironically enough, the only one in this series who was not on a leaf. Go figure...:
http://img429.imageshack.us/img429/4860/grasshopper1ll.jpg

Critiques appreciated. Thanks for looking.

[racketman]

Love the textures in the hopper shot but the long legged fly (Cranefly?) was probably the tougher subject. VG
Those batteries recycle faster, last longer and are greener than chucking away sets of Duracells. I have a set for each flash.

[chemicalbro]

very nice shots........ I really like the fly
I use the same power rechargeable batteries (panasonic ones) and the difference between them and normal throwaways is incredible

[Omri Alon]

Great shots :D I love the first one :D

[LordV]

Great series
Brian V.

[Leorooster]

Great shots. #3 is my favorite!

[dazzlebea]

Great series, AB.

The first one, "walk the line" reminds me of someone dragging himself across the hot desert, just before they collapse completely. Very nice!

Also love the third one :)

[Sayer]

Nice shots!

[dpastern]

Nice shots, especially the first one. As to rechargeables, I'm using Nimh Grandcell rechargeables. I'm noticing no lag in cycling of the flash unit, I can pretty much take a shot immediately, one after another. No mercury or lead either, so they're healthy for the environment. Batteries last about a 1000 charges, no memory charge effect, being nimh. Charger is around au $30, the batteries are around au $10 for a pack of 2 (AA). Takes around 10 hours to charge them.

Dave

[AirBrontosaurus]

Thanks for all the encouragement/kind words/advice. I had no idea that rechargeable batteries were so awesome. I only wish I had themsooner. Oh well, live and learn.

I'll keep shooting and continue posting. Thanks again!

[Ido T]

I really liked the third picture, it is excellent...
The first picture is very good but I think a more close F\Stop would have been better' because then the tail of the ant was in focus too.
thr last picture is good but the DOF is too small and the grasshopper colors is similar to the BG color...

Well Done