Love among the spikes

[Steve Maxson]

OK, this is a rather sappy title for two Flower Flies (family Syrphidae) copulating on a Purple Cone Flower. :) A close look will reveal that the female is multi-tasking by feeding on the flower. 40D, MP-E 65 mm, 1/100, f/16, ISO 250, MT-24 twin lites (diffused), hand held. RAW file PP in CS3 - levels, curves, saturation, some cloning to clean up the flower a bit, crop. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Steve, great closeup thats sharp and tells a story. I also like the positioning of the subjects.
I might take out the green corner since it has a tendancy to pull my eye there. I also might take a small bit off the left. Very interesting image!!

[Kaushik Balakumar]

A nice intimate moment Steve. Might clone out the ULC green.

[Ken Childs]

Steve, you're getting some great shots of these guys with that lens! Another one that's sharp in all the right places. If this were mine, I'd probably crop a bit from the left and then clone over the green in the UL and UR corners. The bugs look just a tad dark so bringing them up a touch with SH might also improve this already great looking shot! :cheers:

[kostas nianiopoulos]

good imame , evrything looks ok to me , the guys is well in focus , and sharp as well , well done

[Paul Lagasi]

Really nice close-up, good colors and depth of field..well done

[Allen Sparks]

wonderful clarity and DOF...looks great to me