Living On The Edge - (enlarge)

Last summer I spent some time under our Gazebo just as a bad

Thunderstorm was approaching, endeavouring to capture a few

images of what I thought was a Beetle. I later learned that it was a

Firefly. The lighting was getting darker and I struggled to find the

right Shutter Speed and Aperture to give me a good image. I was not

having much luck. I relented and ended up using the Flash.

Hopefully I will do better this summer. The Firefly was clinging to the

edge of a spoon. (your visits and comments are welcomed, kind

regards, Gail {Macro} )

In difficult lighting conditions this kind oh photo can be really tricky. As it happens, the flash hasn't done anything terrible here. Very well captured. I wouldn't have known it was a firefly.

Thank you Ferdinand! It took a bit of searching on the Internet until I finally identified it. Thank you for your pleasant visit!! Much appreciated.!

reproduction of course. i believe it's the females who display.

there are other bugs that mimic the flashes precisely. you know why they do that? to eat the males of course. boy that must be an ugly surprise... best, j

Well the females of all species can be rather

'predatory' in a few circles (???), thankfully it

isn't inherent in all families ;-) I read the 'flashes'

are also used as a defense mechanism to warn that

they aren't that 'tasty' for those who wish to devour!!!

Many thanks for your visit!!! Enjoy what is left of your

weekend!!!! ;-)Gail 

This image is not really great but the lettering should stand out, shows just how small they are. It reads 'STAINLESS CHINA' on the handle of the spoon.

but it isn't the females that lure them to the slaughter.  it's some other bug entirely that learns their codes.  j

This looks a little less sharpened, but is still not real clear.  The subject, the smallness of the insect, is apparent.

Hi Gail,

Great micro and excellent capture!

Best regards, Tina

Hi Gail,

As always...great capture!  I always look forward to seeing what you'll come up with next.  I love the title!

Hope you are doing well!

Sheila Lee

What a great title and I think this is an awesome image.  Bravo!

Hi Gail,

   Wonderful capture with the perfect title & details.  Take care, Patsy

Good eye ... great capture !! I like both photographs ... regards

For an image at or near 1:1 magnification taken handheld under dim lighting, this turned out pretty good. I'm assuming you used the on camera flash? I found they are too harsh when used unmodified. A trick I used before I finally splurged for a hot-shoe mounted flash was to put some sort of homemade diffuser in front of it. I had pretty good results with pieces of milk jug plastic and 1 or 2 individual layers of tissue paper (if you look closely, you'll find Kleenex tissues are actually composed of multiple very thin layers that you can separate fairly easily). I would use one hand to hold/operate the camera and the other to hold the diffuser. That proved very difficult to do while maintaining a steady hand. But it did work.

I find a strong constant light source, like a very strong flashlight or work lights, can work very well. Focusing becomes a lot easier and you can stop down further while maintaining a reasonable exposure time. The only thing is you'll have to play around with the white balance settings to find one that still looks natural. Plus you'll find that insects seem to have an angle of lighting that they are most photogenic at. And it never seems to be from directly above the lens.

It seems very curious about you; you have a new friend. All has been said and even more. Thanks for sharing, Gail.

Hi Gail,

I like the presentation here.

As I told you on the telephone, using F/2.8 or F/4 would have provided a sharper image with more contrast. The DOF is limited anyway, and using F/6.3 only masks what the lens can really develop in details.

If you did shot at 1:1 (life size) then the flash energy was effectively reduced because your final f-ratio is NOT f/6.3, it is F/12.6 because of the magnification factor that always reduced the amount of light reaching the sensor. This is one reason that my Carl Zeiss 50mm F/2 and 100mm F/2 macros are so good, because at 1:1 (life size) I can often shoot in available light because the f-stop becomes F/4.

The effective f-stop is NOT the same as the physical f-stop of the lens, and at maximum aperture setting (like F/2) the lens defines the image better than most other macro lens.

 Bugs are relatively low in reflectively and the spoon was illuminated at a steep angle so that there would not be any issues with return light to the lens.

If you wanted more DOF, then by stepping away from this subject would allow for a new focus position to gain added DOF. However, that is not essential for the scene dynamics presented here.

Warmest Regards, Mike

Lovely capture of this creature. Best regards, Gail

Hi Gail,

Wow! This really brings us into a whole new world...a spoon from a firefly's perspective! Nice detail and presentation. Well done!

Tim

A very nice result, beautifully composed too, Gail!

Thank you each for your very kind  words of critique, always good to hear you have enjoyed a composition. This one looks a bit 'odd' but a member of the 'insect' realm all the same!!!

Glad you enjoyed this one!! The Macro world is challenging for me, but I do enjoy learning!!!

Superb!!! (7)

I'm a bit slow getting to this oen so please forgive me if I repeat anything that has already been said.

I think you have done remarkebly well given the size of this insect!  The spoon handle illustrates this so well, and as for the flash, well hey thats what its there for!

Very well done Gail.

Best Regards

Alf

Yes he was sure small. And given the short time and space I had to capture anything, I really tried to capture SOMETHING!!!

Thankyou Alf,

You always put things in perspective. Hope all is well with you, Gaiil