INSECTHUNTER

The Robberfly Experience - article contributed by Budi Santoso

I started digital photography in late 2006 as a hobby. I shot anything then. A year later I found that shooting insects was more challenging, especially close up with macro lenses.
Sneaking up near the bugs is an exciting game. Getting close to it without making them fly away is not the end. In very limited time,  efforts to get sharp focus, good composition and lighting have to be achieved, as well. Only when those factors are completely drawn altogether as one,  I would feel the unexplainable excitement. That’s just the beginning of sensational feeling. Similar excitement occurs when the lens successfully reveals the unseen beauty of the insects, especially the eyes.

Initially, my favorite bug was dragonfly. I love its multifaceted eyes. However, later, I found the robber fly (Asilidae Family) by luck.
It was an early morning. As usual, I went out to the park and tried to photograph dragonflies; they might still be asleep. No luck. By chance, I saw bugs which I thought were mating. Slowly I went closer, observed what they were by using my Zuiko Digital 40-150mm + Raynox DCR-250. This is what I got:

(pic 1 Amegilla Q.)

From then on, whenever I shoot, I always try to find a robber fly enjoying its meal. Most interesting experience is when I saw with my own eyes how this creature catches another flying insect in mid air…so quick! I can’t help but be fascinated by their effectiveness of seizing and capturing its preys.

Some say that robber fly does not catch every insects flying close to it. Instead, it observes the potential prey to see if it fits his appetite. When he decides it is suitable, then it flies out quickly and grabs the prey firmly with its long spiny legs, squeezing it tightly against its own body, and at the same time jabbing the strong proboscis into the prey’s back, injecting the neurotoxic saliva to paralyze the prey, then carried the prey back to its perch to enjoy the meal.

From what I’ve observed and captured using my camera, robber fly eats flying bugs like honey bees, moth,  damselfly, beetles, green stinkbug (Nezara viridula), Japanese beetle, slender rice bug, sand wasp (Microbembex sp.).

(pic 2 Eating Sand Wasp)

and the biggest prey which I saw he can eat is :dragonfly!!

(pic 3 Eating dragonfly)

It’s amazing that he can catch a prey which is much longer and bigger!!

Robber flies are cannibal. The female robber fly sometimes rejects the amorous seduction of the male, seizing and eating him instead!

(pic 4 cannibal)

Below is quite interesting scene. On top is a robber fly eating Sand Wasp (Microbembex sp. See picture 2 for the close up shot taken from opposite angle), while a few inches below, a female robber fly cannibalizes the male (pic 4 is the close up shot)

(pic 5 cannibal + sand wasp)

But not all males fail, some guys still have the luck ☺

(pic 6 mating)

Robberfly is not immortal. One Sunday morning, I found a robber fly enjoying his breakfast. After several shots, the rain fell. So I ran into my house. About 10 minutes later, the rain stopped. I ran back to the park to continue my shot. Of course he wasn’t there anymore. Driven by curiosity, I observed every inch of the park when suddenly my eyes caught something moving. It was a spider net. There was a spider just finished spinning the prey into a roll of white silk. Yes, it’s the robber fly still with the prey trapped in a spider web.

(pic 7 trapped by spider)

(pic 8 trapped by spider - crop)

Where to find them
Robber fly can be found where other flying insects are available, such as flower parks (bees/wasps and other flying insects usually come to this place).

How to get close

I can’t describe it better than this article. What I’d like to add is that location (and sometimes: time) plays quite an important role, as well.

The behaviour of insects may differ depends on the location and time. My favorite location is a small park in front of my house. Children usually chase at each other, biking, playing with the parents, etc. This environment makes the insects accustomed to the people and the noisy sound, so they are easier to get close. I said “easier” because it still needs patience and practice to get really close to it.

(Pic 9, In the Park)

My favorite time is from 7 – 9.30 AM because during this period the light is great, not so harsh. However, I sometimes shoot up to around 12:00 as I caught them mating three times at around 11:30 ☺

Camera Setting
I use Olympus E-500, Zuiko Digital 40-150mm lens+ Raynox DCR-250 (close up lens) or Zuiko Digital 50mm F2.0 + Raynox DCR-250 (sometimes without DCR-250 if the object is quite big or I don’t need high magnification)

Frankly, it was quite difficult to use DCR-250 for the first time, but once you accustomed to it, it is very easy to shoot using dedicated macro lens at 1:1 magnification ☺
Here’s what I do when using ZD 40 -150mm + DCR-250

1. Use manual focus. Move the camera back and forth slowly until getting the sharpest focus, then, press the shutter gently.
2. Minimum focal length is around 40-45mm. Shorter than this may create vignetting – edge darkening (just try yourself to find the minimum focal length of your camera).
3. The longer the focal length, the higher the magnification, and the shallower the DoF.
4. As for Aperture, I usually use F5.6 – F13 because this is what I think the best range of my lens. (If I use ZD50mm, I may use it up to F 2.8 and stacked the shots using a CombineZP freeware or CS4 to increase the DOF. Here is an example of stacking result from 10 shots)
5. I always use manual mode to get full control of aperture and speed.
6. Always handhold the camera for better movement.
7. To make the camera steady, I always find something to lean on, either wall, tree, fence, or just anything near me. If not they are not available, I put one or both of my elbows like a tripod (or bipod) either on the ground, my laps, or anywhere.
8. Last but not least: a lot of practices and great patience.

So far, here’s the shot I love the most:

Pic 10 Robberfly@breakfast

Taken with the Olympus E-500, ZD 40 -150mm + DCR-250, F13 1/30 handheld.

As you see from the Exif data, the most challenging part of this shot is steadiness of the camera. Why did I set the speed so low? Because the light was not bright enough while I wanted to have good DoF. It was quite fortunate that the robber fly stayed still so that my effort of lying on the wet grass with both elbows supporting my camera paid off.

Hope you can benefit from this sharing and I appreciate any inputs from all of you.

www.flickr.com/photos/stboed