Hangingfly

[Steve Maxson]

Hangingflies (Order Mecoptera, Family Bittacidae) are easily confused with Crane Flies (Order Diptera), but they have 4 wings instead of 2. Due to their unusual morphology, they are not able to walk "normally" on a flat surface, but rather are specialized to hang from a perch by their front (and sometimes middle) legs. They are slow flying, but predaceous. They capture insect prey with their hind feet and then bring the prey up to their mouth to feed - while hanging. This one was photographed in my lightbox setup. I provided the perch. The background is a print of OOF vegetation. 1D IV, 100 mm macro, 1/160, f/16, ISO 100, 2 remotely fired 430EX flashes, hand held. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Mitch Haimov]

This is quite a character, Steve! Excellent composition and sharpness, interesting behavior (thanks for the mini bio lesson!). This must be a fairly large critter for you to have made this image with the 100 mm and no extension. How did you convince it to pose in your setup?

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very good use of the light box, the composition and DOF is super. He really does look like a crane fly at first but those legs have spines on them presumably to help grasp/seize prey. I think the set up is amazing, I have slight reservation over the background, i.e. it looks like a background to me, I would desaturate the greens a little bit - it makes a real difference:w3

[Nancy Bell]

Wow! This is fantastic! Love all the fine details, the angle of the fly, & the perch with all the lichen. And thank you for the natural history info! Without that I would not appreciate this insect nearly as much. Good point that Jonathan raises about the bkgd. However I like that it is super clean and seems to make the fly glow. Could you post an image of your set-up? I want to make one just like it, as you get fantastic results.

[Norm Dulak]

Very nice Steve! The subject, pose, composition and technical aspects are all excellent. Once again, your lightbox setup has produced a great result. And the background you used makes a warmer, most pleasing image.

[LinzRiverBalmer]

Hehehe, what a cool photo.... Is he doing gymnastics or just pull ups??

thanks for posting, don't know much about insects but looks similar to a mosquito eater, same or related??

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions everyone!

Mitch - This insect is fairly large with a body roughly 2 cm in length. If I remember correctly, I had to put this fellow in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes - after which it posed nicely for several minutes. (It was released shortly thereafter.)

Jon - Good suggestion about the background. I selectively darkened it and reduced the saturation - it does make a difference.

Nancy - Here is a link to a post that describes the basics of my lightbox setup: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/91878-Lady-Beetle-and-lightbox-setup This is by no means the only way to do this. My current setup is 18x18x18 inches and consists of a frame made from small-diameter PVC pipe. Sheets of white printer paper are taped over the left and right sides (it takes 4 sheets to cover a side) and I have sheets of white posterboard for the top and bottom. the back is open. Sheets of printer paper cover most of the front - with an opening to shoot through. (You need the paper on the front to reflect light onto the front side of your subject.) This setup can be easily disassembled and packed in a suitcase. (In fact, I will be taking it to Belize for a macro workshop in a week.) I set my flashes at 1/4 power +/-1/3 stop depending on the subject and I set the flash zoom to 24 mm. This should get you started. :S3:

Linz - You have me stumped. :S3: I have not heard the term "mosquito eater" before - so I don't know whether we are talking about the same critter or not.

[LinzRiverBalmer]

Hi Steve, well I got it from my dad as a little girl, don't hurt that one its a mosquito eater. He's from Minnesota the boundary waters area.

we have them here in New Mexico too, I just googled and it came up as a nickname for the Crane Fly...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly

so related in someway somehow, not sure of the exact species we get here.

[Steve Maxson]

OK. Crane flies look very much like Hangingflies, but the two are actually in different taxonomic Orders - so they really aren't very closely related at all. It's interesting that Crane Flies are sometimes called mosquito eaters - because Cranes Flies do not feed as adults. :S3: Their only purpose is to mate and lay eggs.
Hi Steve, well I got it from my dad as a little girl, don't hurt that one its a mosquito eater. He's from Minnesota the boundary waters area.

we have them here in New Mexico too, I just googled and it came up as a nickname for the Crane Fly...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly

so related in someway somehow, not sure of the exact species we get here.

[Jason Stander]

Love it... so love it... sublime bg, detail, action and perch... what a comical pose... super work as per usual Sir!:w3