Balancing act

[Steve Maxson]

Same crab spider, same fly as my previous post, but the spider has repositioned the fly - and doesn't seem to have the slightest problem holding it in this position. 40D, MP-E 65 mm macro, 1/250, f/16, ISO 100, macro twin flash (diffused), hand held. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Steve,
Might be my favorite of the series!!! Love the pollen on the fly. Only minute tweak I can recommend is to perhaps burn the back end/body of the spider......very low opacity to get a hair more seperation. Another outstanding one!!!:cheers::cheers::cheers:

[kostas nianiopoulos]

I love this little killer , super image verry good white on my taste , well done Steve

[Karl Günter Wünsch]

I like this image in general but I think the shadowless illumination doesn't do the subject justice. Shadows cast by the subject - however faint they are - help to bring it to life and IMHO make the difference between a good and a stunning picture... So I would try and make one of the twin flash sub units the main light by reducing the other units output - so that the second unit doesn't completely wipe out the shadow cast by the first.

[Paul Lagasi]

Being fairly new at this..I am amazed at the sharpness and detail...I might look into buying a flash to get higher f-stops for DOF....very well done

[Julie Kenward]

Steve, another excellent image! I think I agree with Karl on the lack of shadow but, at the same time, I still really love the outstanding detail in this. (Roman, how the heck are we going to choose IOTW this week with so many killer images?)

One other thought...might clone over part of that gray area that is between the petals by the flies head. I'd see if cutting it down to a thin thread would look better than having that wide strip of gray there.

You are making me want this lens so bad! NOW STOP IT!!! ;):p;)

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Outstanding! Very nice composition, superb details and excellent exposure.

[Jim Bridges]

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CJ&J%7E1.JIM%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01 %5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:RelyOnVML/> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129279 0;} @font-face {font-family:Georgia; panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129279 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> The exposure and detail on both subjects are awesome...this is the type of image I can stare at for a long time and see so many different things to enjoy about it. <o></o>

[Mike Moats]

Hey Steve, I love all the details, great light, and whites look good. Very well done.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Wow this is a great image, it takes some doing to get this composition and DOF suitably placed with this lens - I take my hat off to you.

[Anita Bower]

Amazing detail. Great shot.