Robber Fly - Side view
Robber Fly - Side view
Robber Fly - Side view
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Feb, 2014Views
2470
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Awards
Chatter Award
Zenith Award
Featured
Contest Finalist in Flies and Bees Photo Contest
Staff Favorite
Absolute Masterpiece
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Superior Skill
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Magnificent Capture
Jaw Dropping
Genius
One Of A Kind
Great Find
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rank
Categories
mountainman70
February 04, 2014
wow - you must have gotten your new equipment - jeez - looks like it is from outer space
HaliSowle
February 05, 2014
This is totally cool! what a great shot! Super detail on the filaments on the legs and around the eye, and that carapace, the colors and detail are fabulous.
AndreaE
February 07, 2014
WOW oh WOW, Martin!! you can count all the hairs on his chinny chin chin!! Congrats on your well-deserved award!!
PRO
PRO+
PRO+
Platinum
LLOYDWRIGHT
April 17, 2014
i know i'm a little late, but congratulations on you award. it seems with each alien being you take i have a new favourite, so bloody slow down, please!
PRO+
cmorisset
April 18, 2014
Brilliant! Amazing detail. Never realized how "pretty" a fly can look. Bravo!
PRO+
MaryAnne306
February 16, 2015
Wow, this looks like some kind alien space creature! Amazing shot. Congratulations on being a finalist.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken in the Bidjigal Reserve located in Sydney Australia.Time
I took this photo mid morning, bugs are more active in the morning.Lighting
For lighting, I used a set of cheap twin macro flashes (under $100). I made some diffusers out of household items to tone down the light, one flash was on the left of the camera and the other from above.Equipment
I have limited funds for my passion, so I have to do things on the cheap:- Camera : Nikon D5000 Lens : Nikon 18-55mm VR (kit lens) mounted on 68 mm's of Auto extension tubes. Tripod: No Flash : 2 X Yinyan BY-18 on twin flexible arm brackets (very cheap) Other : Home made diffusers for flashes, made with cardboard, vinyl tape, milk bottle plastic and tissues.Inspiration
Mother nature and her diverse and intriguing beauty, is my inspiration. I like to showcase the hidden details that the human eye can't see. The smaller the creature the better.Editing
I did very little post-processing on this image, just a crop for composition and watermarking.In my camera bag
I usually carry around all my equipment, sometimes I will take up to 4 bags, it all depends on the subject I plan on photographing and weather I will be videoing as well. Nothing is worse than finding some amazing creature and not having the correct equipment to capture it.Feedback
The MOST important thing about macro photography is lighting, you need a flash or flashes to get the best results. You want to hit the subject with a lot of light, so you can use a narrow aperture of around f25. This will give you the maximum depth of field possible, even better you can use a fast shutter speed of up 1/200 sec (Max. Sync Speed). With this particular photo I had to use ISO 200 as the BY-18 flash heads are not bright enough to go any lower, however with my newer flash rig (2 x YN-560-III) I have more light and can achieve ISO 100 (the results are much sharper.) For this particular photo I wanted a dark background to highlight the details on the side of the insect, to achieve this you need to use the fastest shutter speed 1/200, if you wanted to show more detail in the background you have to use a slower shutter speed to allow the flashes light to travel further. A final tip for photographing insects is to observe the behavior of the subject before photographing, this way you can identify when they are resting (it is a lot easier to photograph a resting insect.)
