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The Fly 31



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A fly grooms itself after drinking from a nearby water drop...notice the babies in her belly?

A fly grooms itself after drinking from a nearby water drop...notice the babies in her belly?
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935

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Awards

People's Choice in Macro World - Macro Live Photo Challenge
Editor's Choice
Peer Award
2001vermont davidjprosser ileanaandreagmezgavinoser NancyFlemingPhotography RDDIIPhotography Natedoggnms aliceforrallies +14
Absolute Masterpiece
RicJoseph RAPJones CABlack ranji Capture-Life MichelleAnnHarrison MarianneAlyce
Top Choice
trisharandall AlanJakarta BLAKSTEEL Inmar murphey
Superb Composition
RickDean BrandonH ojokph doreengisbourne DesignByKathi
Jaw Dropping
charleneburniston Tylisg ArtQ LouisaAnn
Superior Skill
leewright_0459 egorzagourski loveabug55
Great Find
Athena_B
All Star
richardpetersen
Magnificent Capture
JayneBug

Top Ranks

The Textures Of Insects Photo ContestTop 10 rank
The Textures Of Insects Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 2
The Textures Of Insects Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
Miniature Worlds Photo ContestTop 10 rank

Categories


16 Comments | Report
CanadianOutlaw
 
CanadianOutlaw November 19, 2012
Wow, kinda looks like a fly modeled after the Terminator ......looks part machine but very cool, great capture!
Djorn
Djorn December 10, 2012
Thanks! She does have that nice metallic glow about her, and with the red eyes, well...!
ZachRosa
 
ZachRosa November 19, 2012
Wow very cool. Can you add this to my project "Water Drops".
Djorn
Djorn December 10, 2012
Thanks! I did! Thank you, again!
inge_vautrin Platinum
 
inge_vautrin November 19, 2012
Fantastic capture!
Djorn
Djorn December 10, 2012
Thank you!
murphey Ultimate
 
murphey November 20, 2012
Super Capture and macro !
Djorn
Djorn December 10, 2012
Thank you for the very kind comment!
DAPhotography
 
DAPhotography November 24, 2012
Nice close up. Never seen a pregnant fly. Good DOF.
Djorn
Djorn December 10, 2012
Thank you! I had never noticed pregnant flies before, either. And that DOF is all about being parallel to the subject. The term I often use for describing DOF at this level is "width of a flies eye", and that about covers it, as you can almost measure here!
Barbarakeichel
 
Barbarakeichel November 25, 2012
Klasse!
Djorn
Djorn December 10, 2012
Thank you so very much!
JeffreyA
 
JeffreyA November 25, 2012
great macro
Djorn
Djorn December 10, 2012
Thank you!
egorzagourski
 
egorzagourski December 07, 2012
wow
Djorn
Djorn December 10, 2012
That was my initial reaction too! Thanks!
DesignByKathi
 
DesignByKathi February 23, 2013
Wow awesome capture. I voted..
kiranphotofile
 
kiranphotofile March 04, 2013
great capture
FMueller
 
FMueller March 04, 2013
Awesome shot!
MichelleAnnHarrison
 
MichelleAnnHarrison March 09, 2013
Awesome capture so brillantly captured voted
IsabellaD Premium
 
IsabellaD March 10, 2013
Great capture, voted !
ArtQ
 
ArtQ March 15, 2013
fantastic, voted!
jleiweke
 
jleiweke November 06, 2013
Congrats!
VictoriaKCampbell
 
VictoriaKCampbell February 27, 2014
The fly is really interesting. Never really looked at one up close like this. Great shot.
See all

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken in my backyard in Saint George, Vermont.

Time

This photo was taken at 6:19 PM on 6/3/2012.

Lighting

This image was taken using an off camera hand held Pentax AF-540 FGZ flash unit.

Equipment

This image was captured hand held using a Pentax K5 camera, a SMC Pentax DFA 100mm f/2.8 WR macro lens, on 62mm of Jessops' extension tubes, using a handheld Pentax AF-540 FGZ flash unit connected with a flash cord.

Inspiration

I love macro shooting! I had just received a new (used) set of Jessops extension tubes for the Pentax and was enjoying shooting Hover flies and bees, when I happened upon this huge, fat pregnant fly.

Editing

I used Photoshop CS5 to make some contrast adjustments using a curves adjustment layer and a levels adjustment layer with a bit of high pass sharpening.

In my camera bag

I shoot using Pentax gear. I have a Pentax K5 and K3 camera, with lots of old Pentax glass, as well as some new DA and FA lenses.

Feedback

Macro shooting can be quite a challenge. I do all my macro shooting handheld, as I don't seem to have the patience to set up a tripod to capture images of bugs. I set my lens to manual focus, set the lens (focus) for the magnification I want in the final image, and then focus by moving the camera in and out toward the subject. I find that at these magnification, my breathing and heartbeat cause minute vibrations in the camera, so I actually time the release of the shutter to coincide with my breathing, heartbeat and the motion of the camera moving in and out and I press the shutter release as the subject comes into focus. I hold the camera in one hand, while holding the flash unit in the left hand which is connected to the camera using a flash cord. It sounds like a lot of work, but it really is fairly simple, once you get used to the mechanics of it.

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