Hovers in flight

[DaiTheDragon]

Whenever I take Hovers in flight the wings are always blurred. I tried a few shots without flash and using the camera's fastest shutter speed. Here are a couple of my efforts.
Dai.

f4.0 1/8000 sec ISO 1600

f2.8 1/4000 sec ISO 3200

[JRsbugs]

They are good shots Dai!

It's interesting to experiment with different settings, I have slipped into the habit of using the flash as it highlights small insects and the lighting is usually quite poor, even on sunny days not perfect.

Usually I use 1/160 second with f14 in good light, dropping to f13 sometimes and with a little poorer light to 1/125 sec. with f13 or f11 in very shady places, also drop the speed to 1/100 if needed.

When I take pics of moths at night with the outside light on, those on the white door come out dark using 1/160 with f14 but on the bricks it's about right. I found if I drop the speed to 1/100 with f10, and change the EV to +0.7 or +1.0 depending on the moth I get good results on the door. That is using manual, but I have to go to another setting to change the EV and change back to M, when I forget to change back I'm waiting forever for the camera to go off!

This I have tried recently in very shady places as I get a lot of background noise, so using 1/100 with f10 or 11, and EV +0.7 the noise is greatly reduced and I get sharper images, using the flash of course. This I tried yesterday with a 3mm fly with much better results.

I don't think I could try not using the flash in poor light, but might give it a try as you have done with hovers in good light. Some of my hover pics are half OK and the wings are partly frozen occasionally, but still a little blurred. In poor light using 1/125 second with flash still not bad so the differences in settings are intriguing. I should add that I leave the ISO on 400.

Later I should maybe upload some of my pics, now I'm off outside in that semi-dull daylight to use my flash!

Janet

[Toby]

a little blur adds to the effect I think but if you want to freeze wings with flash you need to make sure the flash light is dominant so use smallest aperture and low ISO.

[Ollie]

Very nice Dai and I have never managed one without blurred wings using flash or no flash.

[DaiTheDragon]

This is one I took using flash.
f8 1/250sec ISO 200

[Ollie]

I like that one Dai the blur of the wings, just about equal on both wings gives a great sense of movement.