Fringe Lily

[Colin Driscoll]

Fringe Lily (Thysanotus tuberosus) with Hover Fly. An eastern Australian bush flower about 2 cm across. Took this a while ago but was reminded of it seeing several in flower this week. I work in the bush and mostly take my Panasonic FZ28 because my Canon gear is too bulky, and I'm meant to be working!

Panasonic FZ28 866 mm eqiv macro setting 1/160 f8 -.33 ev iso 100

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Colin. This is a cool looking flower - and very colorful. Including the fly is a nice touch. You did well getting both the flower and fly in good focus. I think the image could be even stronger with a few tweaks. I think it would benefit from a tighter crop all around - this would reduce some of the distracting background elements. Then you could try to blend the remaining dark and light areas of the background that tend to draw our eye from your subject. You might also consider carefully cloning some of the small spectral highlights in the flower. :)

[Julie Kenward]

Colin, I love the purple color of this flower - it really sets up the hoverfly with a beautiful BG. Is it an overly sunny day or did you have the flash engaged when you took this image? If sunny, then shielding the flower with your body to create a shadow over the plant might have kept it from looking so "flashed". If it was flash then using a flash diffuser might also have helped.

I like the image overall even though the BG is not ideal...it's also not overpowering and considering the angle, that's really good! The fly is detailed and crisp - getting a little bit more face might make the image even stronger next time.

[Ken Childs]

Hey Colin, this is definitely a very cool flower and having a hoverfly on it is a definite bonus!

Steve and Jules have offered some great suggestions that will go a long way in improving this and future shots.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Colin,

I agree with comments already made. Just wanted to pile-in about the cool flower. I like the angle of presentation. Considering the harsh light, I think you did a good job controlling colors. Keep at it............

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Colin,
Can't add to the excellent recomendations above. That is one beutiful flower so you should explore it more often with or without the bug!

[Anita Bower]

What a gorgeous lily! The color is stupendous and I like the addition of the hoverfly.