Often wondered about trying to shoot these with manual flash as I think it's the pre-flash that disturbs them in TTL mode (I've got lots of shots of just the bottom of their feet)
Very pretty shot. Love the curve of the OOF leaf - it really creates a beautiful comp. BTW - I am shooting exclsively in all manual mode (flash included) unti l can get the hang of bracketing. You'll find the buttons on the back of your flash pretty intuitive with regard to getting it into manual mode and to +/- the exposure time - but only having one go at getting the exposure right manually would (I think) be tough
These flies do tend to be jumpy around the flash but they land straight back on the leaf in question usually. In fact, they usually land facing me in perfect position but by the time I've focussed they've turned their backs !
Easy enough though, just fire off another shot and they take off and land again.
I actually found the user manual for my flash tonight completely by accident so I'll have a poper read this time and have a mess about with it.
Andy
PS - off to Mossman Gorge tomorrow on my day off. who knows what will turn up !
I agree that it's the pre-flash that spooks them. I, too, have a whole sequence of shots with either nothing in the frame or at least with the fly way up in the air It took me a while to figure out what was happening. They tend to land in the same place, so at first, you'd just swear that they must be little vampires and while you can see them with the eye, they just can't be photographed!
You can use the FEL (flash exposure lock) to fire the pre-flash early and lock in the exposure. Then let the critter land, focus and compose again, and then take the shot and it'll be just like manual flash because you won't have that pre-flash spooking the fly.
In the end, though, manual is probably easier since you can set it right and then shoot multiple shots at that setting.
