Must have been a hard and concentrated job to prepare the set up and finaly pusch the putton at the right second !
For the relatively long exposeretime you managed to get a very sharp image (even the wings)!
This is a remarkable scientific work and artistic execution Jens ! regards dirk

concerning exposure time i forgot you used a flasch - sorry !

I forgot to mention the flash in the text. I used an off-camera FL-40 with a large diffusor here. I updated the descriptive text now.

Cheers, Jens.

You have a dangerous hobby. Never seen a picture with ED 50-200, EC 14 AND 5 D closeup.
Marvellous composition and contrast. I Like the black backgrond. With kind regards Hans

Thanks for your nice comments.

I know how it feels when you have an idea and it is hard to make it fly (!) ;-)

However, when I got this shot on the screen I can also say that I know how it feels when the ideas do take off. It is well worth to be persistent and try over and over again. Even if you don't get the desired result right away, you will learn a lot in the process.

Keep shooting, your macro shots are always stunning! I can only imagine what will come out of your camera when you get the hang of the in-flight stuff!

Cheers, Jens

Nigel Armes wrote:
> Jens, Absolutely superb! I aspire to get shots with such interest, clarity and sharpness.
> Also the effort to get the shot sounds phenomenal!! I spent the weekend trying to photograph
> insects in flight, but ended up deleting all of them - after seeing this I'm not sure if I'm
> inspired or depressed. Very well done. Regards, Nigel
>

thanks.

The danger here is mostly the risk of falling down. The Hornets are mostly harmless as long as I don't happen to squeeze them.
In the left picture here, you can see my equipment when doing the shots:

Note the harness to attach myself to the ladder when I'm up there. (The sandals are nowadays replaced by rubber shoes that withstand a sting.) In the right picture, you can see me checking the equipment before bringing it to the roof-top. You can see the nesting box with the hornets nest at the top of the ladder.

Just a clarification about the close-up lens: It is a Canon 500D with a focal length of 500 mm which corresponds to 2 Diopters (not 5). A 5 diopters lens would have been too strong for this setup causing severe distortion and wierd images.

Cheers, Jens

Hans Gerlich wrote:
> You have a dangerous hobby. Never seen a picture with ED 50-200, EC 14 AND 5 D closeup.
> Marvellous composition and contrast. I Like the black backgrond. With kind regards Hans
>

Hans Gerlich wrote:
> Marvellous composition and contrast. I Like the black backgrond. With kind regards Hans

You get the black background automatically because the picture actually is underexposed (because the background is out of range for the flash), except for the hornets which receive enough light.

... may leave the bones temporarily but comes back later to crush them. Unfortunately, his stomach doesn't appreciate them as much as his tongue so he rarely gets bones at all.

The FL-40 sits on an Olympus flash cable "CB-05" on a mini ball head which in turn sits at its own arm attached to the front of a long Surefoot lensplate attached to the tripod collar of the lens. That arrangement allows me to rotate the camera to portrait without rotating the flash. Although the flash attachment isn't shown in detail, you may get an impression of it from this photo of the rig:



Sorry, I can't seem to get the link to the photo to work. You may follow this link to see it: http://tinyurl.com/pk79u

Cheers, Jens.

Nigel Armes wrote:
> Jens, Thanks for the insights on how you achieved the shot. How are you fixing the flash to
> your camera, I can't figure it out from the photo? Nice cat by the way, does she always leave
> the bones? Regards, Nigel
>

Hi Jen. Congratulations for your good job with this wonderful macro-shot. Thanks for share with us your techniques. I was again a long trip without internet possibilites, but fortunately I arrived on time to see your nice photo. Best regards, Ricardo