Passion Fruit flower

First two are shots taken from the same spot. One image result of five stacked shots and the other just normal.

Can you spot the difference and also please let me know which one you think comes out better?

Really appreciate all your comments and critiques on all three images.
Thank you

All images taken with Pentax 100mm Macro

ooooo errrr......they are seriously sharp !

WoW Amin,
Dead sharp how many shots in the stack.

six in the stack, and on the lower one 7 in the stack.
But you haven't still spotted the non stacked one from the two above, surely there ae plenty of signs in there

I would say number 2 is none stack.

DOF gives it away isn't it Tel .
Yes, the benefit of stacking is I opened up till f/8 and to achieve all that focus on the second one I had to stop down at f/22, and it ruins the DOF.

Well spotted .

Gosh I missed doing these macros, good thing I was just walking pass the passion fruit plant in the back garden and spotted the first flower and couldn't resist grabbing my kit and taking these shots.
I tried with my DA*300 from precisely the same spots I took with the 100mm macro and in comparision I can clearly say that they are not close in IQ. I think it would be the same if I attempted with the DA*60-250 also, so from now on I know better . Won't waste my time attempting macros with the 300 or the zoom, having this 100mm macro lens has been absolute joy . Be it smoke, bubbles, droplets, its just been my most used lens

Can someone help me identify this little bug please?
Thank you

Image taken with Pentax 100mm Macro lens, handheld .

Must admit I didn't expect it to come nowhere near this focused. Snapped and thought better forget it. I was chasing it all over the ground and snapped a couple of shots, and this one seems usable

Nice shot Amin,
Part of the Shield Bug Family I think.



No it's not, it's a "Dolycoris baccarum" or common name A Sloe Bug



EDIT: Name..

Thanks Tel

Another one taken handheld, its a hoverfly if I am not mistaken , you see I am learning, fast I hope

Nice shots Amin the top down view(3rd image) is spectacular.Nice one

Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment on the images and help with the id of the bug.

Martin, that one was a stacked one from seven images. I was lucky as there was no breeze today in the back garden, otherwise it wouldn't have worked well.

Got to get a focusing rail to help me with this, but seeing the prices they are going for I think it still doesn't justify me getting one. Unless someone has one who wants to sell it and I could grab a bargain .

Oh Amin . . . you are getting much tooooooooo good at this photography lark.

The Passion Flower images are very well executed. I like all of them and this is why it's called "Passion Flower".

Thanks Peter

I stand corrected, "running to correct the titles before it gets embarrassing"

Appreciate your comment and help in correcting this. Hate when I end up typing something wrong or with wrong spelling.
In my defence I tried to translate it literally from portuguese where the native portuguese speaking people raise eyebrows when we translate literally frome english to portuguese . In Portuguese the fruit is called "maracuja" and the flower just "flor de maracuja" Simple huh?

And I notice also from some literature briefly glanced also that even in english the term for the fruit is maracuja

Amin, it was interesting to note that your shots are of the 'first' flower. We had a pasiflora plant at our other house here in Spain, but I dug it up because it just invaded everything around it. Our 'first' flowers appeared in February. Just shows what a difference the climate makes.

Unfortunately, although the plant produced plenty of fruit, none of it was edible. I guess the edible passion fruit comes from a different strain.

I've never heard of the name maracuja.

Peter,
that is interesting indeed. The one I have in the garden just grows wildly and a year ago I chopped it right down to the ground because it had overgrown into my neighbour's garden jumping over the fence, and suddenly back in September I realised that although the main branch I cut didn't grow back but the tentacles that came off it did exactly the same and entangled totally the grapevine that is just a meter from it. Big mistake planting it so close but I had a chap who was helping me plant stuff a few years ago and he just planted it without me noticing. The grapevine gives a lot of fruits every year so I want to keep it safe so again a few weeks ago I just whacked the pasiflora plant again all tentacles down leaving it all fallen to the ground until I decide what finally to do with it. I like the way it spreads as it remains green with leaves all year long. But for the past few weeks its just been there all branches on the ground covering a bit of the border, and today suddenly walking pass by I saw this shiny nice flower off it, definitely the first one.

I am surprised how the one over there in Spain also doesn't give edible fruits, I would have thought that it was just the climate that made it different fruits and this cold region did not produce sweeter and edible ones. So its different strains that they come in then.

I am not sure if the main land in Portugal the plants give edible fruits but the ones that are grown in the Azores are definitely edible and very very sweet. . But again, the climate in Azores is totally different compared to the mainland, hence the pineapples there are grown and they are very popular and export to many places. Mind you though they cultivate in greenhouses and they commonly call it "abacaxi"