Take-off

I didn't really have the light for capturing this kind of activity, but when I noticed that this Harlequin seemed to prefer flying to walking in moving from one yarrow flower to another, I thought I'd give it a go. The EXIF data shows the compromises I had to make - shallow depth of field, and a higher ISO than the 7DII can really handle, just to get to 1/800 second - but given all that, I'm not unhappy with the image. I smooshed it a bit (too much, maybe?) in Topaz Sharpen AI to reduce the noise, but otherwise it hasn't had much other than colour correction, and a crop for composition.

R's comment when I showed him the back of the camera was that he didn't remember ever seeing a ladybird with its wings unpacked before, and that in itself makes me glad I bothered to photograph on this one. I must remember to point out to him the next flighty ladybird we happen across - or more probably, the next flying one, because that's usually how I home in on them, as they whirr past me in a blur of red wing cases.

There's a rather cool slow-motion film here of a ladybird unfolding its wings for take-off.