A few bugs

[lesno1]

1


2


3

[bje07]

Flash is too present on all shots.
You should be careful the BG (# 1 and especially # 2).

[Geoff F]

I wondered about the first one being the hoverfly Syrphus torvus. The wide black bands on the abdomen are a good clue; then in the Lightbox view I can see some weak eye hair which proves the identification. I seem to be seeing more of this species in recent years, particularly very early and late in the year. Plenty of detail there.

And one of the Harlequin Ladybirds

[lesno1]

Not using flash

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Geoff F]

Not using flash

A little bit of fill flash is my normal practice, Les.

Some shiny creatures will create over exposure hot spots even in shadow conditions and there isn't much which can be done about it; except for some very careful editing work. Flash can help to equalise the variation between highlights and shadows.

Maybe a touch of selectively applied highlight reduction could be applied to the wasp photo, particularly on the left side leaf. What you currently have is probably how things actually appeared when you took that shot.

And perhaps the ladybird could take just a fraction of extra midtone brightness.