Assassine bug with fly !!

[Alfred Forns]

From the Fruit & Spice Park in Miami and assassine bug capturing a fly. Bug was hiding under a leaf and difficult to reach. Light was poor under the leaf but bright all around so flash was needed for capturing. Try taking advantage of the ISO capability of the Mk3.

Comments welcome and much appreciated

Canon 1D Mk3
Sigma 180 macro 1.4X
f 32.0 1/160 sec
ISO 1600
Av 0
Canon twin macro light

[Dave Mills]

Alfred, Unique image and a masterful job capturing it....small nit is I would take out the dark corner on the right.

[Fabs Forns]

My favorite of our assassin series. Love the soft orange BG and the way he's hanging upside down. He will not eat that fly, they just love to kill.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Fantastic moment Al. Excellent details and sharpness on the bodz of the bug.

[Gus Cobos]

I like the capture...well composed and executed...good use of the macro flash...:cool:

[Harold Davis]

that is too cool!! now i know where they get there name.

[Arthur Morris]

When I first looked at the thumbnail I thought that it was a photo of an assinine bug. I could not understand why you would say that about a bug. Then I checked the spelling and found that you do not need an *** to spell it correctly: asinine.

IAC, a cool image. Love the sharpness throughout. And the prey item. When did you make it?

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Artie Thanks Went back to my book and the spelling is actually Assassin without the e at the end !!

btw they are real killers !! The bug will not eat the fly .. just kills it !!! Made the image yesterday !!! Mostly doing them and flies !!!

[Julie Kenward]

Hey, Al, if you want to clean up the BG a little it's pretty easy. Used Jackie S.'s brush method where you use the eye dropper to take a sample of the color and then use the brush tool at 80% to blend away the dark areas. I just buzzed through it really quickly to give you the idea.

[Alfred Forns]

Thanks Jules Neat !!!! :)

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie Thanks Went back to my book and the spelling is actually Assassin without the e at the end !!

btw they are real killers !! The bug will not eat the fly .. just kills it !!! Made the image yesterday !!! Mostly doing them and flies !!!

I mjust noted the extra "e" when I got the Reply notice... That's why I thought asinine :)

[Arthur Morris]

Way to go Julie. Is there a tutorial on that??????????????????????

[Bob Allen]

Re: ...btw they are real killers !! The bug will not eat the fly .. just kills it !!!

Yes, they do eat the fly. In fact, it is feeding in the photo. They have a piercing-sucking mouthpart through which they inject salivary enzymes into the victim, then drink up the result, like you drink a shake through a straw. You can see its mouthpart extended into the victim, between its front legs. That makes the photo all the better!