Hover Fly

[Mitch Haimov]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7375/9828760923_5932fa991b_o.jpg

This is the same male hover fly as featured in a couple other of my recent threads. Not my favorite, but I like that he is clearly grasping the stamen.

Specs the same as before, except at 4:1 and cropped to square (full height). This is my first time using the Perold wildlife sharpening action (modified to suit the image size specs of BPN). Does cause less funkiness in the eyes than the other approaches I've tried. And the layer mask itself makes an interesting image; thanks for the suggestion, Jonathan.

All comments & critiques always appreciated.

[Diane Miller]

Those eyes are so amazing!!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Mitch. Looks like the new sharpening method really paid off - the detail in those eyes is quite impressive! I also like the rim lighting of the light "hairs" in back of the eyes and the way the pollen grains seem to glow! Very well done!

[Nancy Bell]

Awesome! The details of the eye look fantastic and stand out nicely against that saturated yellow OOF bkgd. The tiny yellow pollen grains are a super detail, as well as some details coming through in the stamen. I would prefer a bit more room on the right and a little less on the left.

[Mitch Haimov]

Thank you all. I think you're right about the crop, Nancy. Futzed a bit while processing and was never really confident of the best positioning. I just reopened the master file and played with it again and found I prefer revised as you describe. Sometimes I see my images more clearly if a walk away for a few days then look at them with fresh eyes; thanks for prompting me to do that in this case.

[Jason Stander]

Excellent Mitch... Super detail and exposure on those beautiful compound eyes... WD!