Cool Shades

[Patrick Sparkman]

Continuing the "in your face" theme, I found this giant Horsefly outside on the patio. Took him into the house and used my makeshift light box with a 580EXII slaved to my MT-24 with him sitting on a Geranium bloom.

Canon 5DIII, 65 MP-E at about 3X magnification, MT-24 diffused, 580EXIII at -1 2/3 to light the background, 1/200 sec, f16, iso 200, Processed in Lightroom 4, Nik Tonal Contrast and Detail extract on the eyes, and cleaned a few specs on the eyes in CS5 using clone tool and quick mask's.

[christopher galeski]

magic,well done.

[nzmacro]

Excellent details in the compound eyes pat. Love the stripes. Fine ratio as well.

Danny.

[Patrick Sparkman]

Thanks guys.

Danny, sorry to ask, but what does "Fine ratio" mean?

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Patrick. Love the detail in those striped eyes and nice use of the light box to create a very natural looking setting! The red and green really set off the fly's face nicely. Here's a bit of biology that I learned recently while making some light box images of these flies - this is a female - you can quickly tell because there is a space between the eyes. In males, the eyes touch each other in the middle. Also, only females bite. The males feed on flower nectar and their mouthparts are adapted for that feeding method. This is very well done!

[Jonathan Ashton]

A really interesting and unusual shot, it is great to see this detail so close to. the colours in the compound eyes are quite something. I like the composition and the DOF is just fine, a great shot - well done.

[Dave Leroy]

Definitely cool shades. Really well done with a ton of fine detail.

[Jason Stander]

Excellent Patrick... superb detail and exposure... a very striking comp... all around VVWD!

[nzmacro]

Thanks guys.

Danny, sorry to ask, but what does "Fine ratio" mean?

Aww sorry Pat, meant to come back to this one.

Fine ratio. A good reproduction ratio on the sensor......... well over a 1:1 in other words.

All the best Patrick, excellent macro work and shot.

Danny.