Crying Fly

Superb! You always amaze me with the perfection of these macros.Anna

Just perfect, even so close you could get perfect DOF mister macro master :)

I admire you work this is a great shot excellent detail.

A bit dark or is it my monitor?

Stunning....

MacroMaster is the right word! that's excellent! How can you do Images like that, I am a bit shame-red in my face because of my big stuff...;ö))

Very good Mark!

Perfect macro Mark!!

Saving postage stamp images ... no, just a nice macro. Excellent choice of a lens by the way, superb for this sort of thing. More people should try macro photography.

I'm trying to decide what to think of the horizon's placement. I bet you were too, and I think you put it in the right place. I wonder what your family snapshots look like....

Hi Mark,

The fly itself is amazing, but I'm very uncomfortable with this line in the background. The camera up a little (very little) and pointing down would clearly have been better imo, as it would have solved the line problem without losing anything on the fly itself. Still good, but not one of your best imo. Best regards.

I had trouble with the line, too, but I don't think a higher angle would have been the solution because the camera would have lost sight of the fly's dinner, so I still assert that this angle was Mark's best choice.

Hi, Doug... Disagreed here. As I said, ging a tad (just a tad) higher eould have removed the line to a higher part of the frame or even out of it WITHOUT losing the dinner. And yes, I am sure.:-)

I'm sure Mark would agree with this... It's simply based on perspective laws. Cheers.

Marc, this will not be the first time you are wrong.

I thank you all for the kind words and contructive feedback.

Marc and Doug, I appreciate you making me aware of this horizon line composition issue. This is really just the kind of feedback that I am looking for when posting these images. It helps me to improve. However, I do agree with Doug in that the fly's dinner (as well as the fly eating it) was the main point of interest in the photo. To me, it is a facinating behavior shot that looks good too. A higher angle would have made the details of the dinner even less visable. In fact, I wish I could have gotten a slightly lower angle for this reason (and that may have helped the horizon line issue as well).

As for my family snapshots, they have improved dramatically as I continue to learn about photography through these bug pictures and forum participation.

Thanks again and have a happy holiday season!

The horizon line already having been addressed, I must say that this is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. Great job.

Going lower seems to be a good idea, Mark, but to what extent remains an open question. Leaf level would fail, because the "dinner" is black and wouldn't stand out if it ends on black background. Besides that, I like the green here, and I feel that I'd rather have more green and less black than the contrary in the frame.

Now, Doug...:-)

I wouldn't be the 1st time I'm wrong indeed, but could you maybe explane in what sense I was wrong ?

The reason why I proposed a slightly higher angle is this...

1) If the leaf start exactly in the corner top left or a bit further to the right of the top edge, the line will no longer conflict so much with the main subject. Correct or not ?

2) To achieve this, I think, the camera would just need to be upped by 4 or 5 cm, I think. Right ? If so, the dinner would be exactly as visible as it is now.

So where is my mistake here ? I may well be wrong, but that's what I was thinking when I wrote the above, and therefore I'm nw curious to hear where is the "bug" - no pun here ! :-) - about this suggestion... Cheers.

ha ha. I meant you would be wrong about Mark agreeing with your idea. And I was right! He didn't. So, the issue is not who's right about the bug shot, but who knew what Mark would agree on!

 

You owe me a beer, Pal. You owe Mark one, too, I decided.

And Scott, We can't leave him out.

 

Shall I also buy the fly its next dinner ? :-)))

I'd like to say this was a "beautiful" photo, but that would be lying. How about "amazing" photo? Truly amazing... it's like a weird freaky heinous beast from a horror movie. I wish I hadn't seen this so close-up. And to think this guy has been floundering in my soup and I merely plucked him out and kept on eating. Hold on while I spew... thanks. I feel better now. I give this a 7/7 and please never take a photo like this ever again, ever. As far as what Marc said above, I disagree. Why? Because I want a beer too. Thanks Marc.

The horizon line doesn't bug me (sorry). In fact, I like the way the fly's lovely back hairs protrude into the black background. At first I thought that this might have been a frozen leaf and fly, as that makes them a whole lot easier to shoot. Great pic Mark!

I once did a photo of a fly on a lit lightbulb and I can tell you that a burning fly smells exactly like burning garbage!

Congratulation Mark , it's really an increbile photo. I spent several minutes to admire it..

Excellent macro!

You are what you eat, true at least in this case. One question how are you lighting these shots. They are splendid.

Thanx all for the kind words of praise (and disgust) on this image. It is fun trying to show the beauty in something so disgusting.

Mark T., I have been using a Canon 420ex flash covered with an Omnibounce diffuser and mounted on a Kirk butterfly bracket. Since the setup requires that I be about 1.5 inches from the bug, the lighting can be very difficult and the butterfly bracket has made a big difference by enabling me to put the light were I want it. I am thinking of trying a second slave flash to light up the background one of these days.