It's that time of year when flies try to come into the house. A bit of chilling in the refrigerator and then a photo session in my lightbox. I think this is a horse fly, but thought the antennae looked long. Does someone have an ID for this?
I photographed this before I read Steve's suggestion on how to set up my flash for use in the lightbox, so my camera settings are a bit weird.
Canon 5D Mark III, tripod, Canon 100 f2.8 macro, 1/80, f6.3, ISO 1600, macro flash ETTL +1/3 compensation.
FYI: I am leaving this Saturday for 3 weeks in South Africa visiting family in Cape Town and then some quality time with my camera and the wildlife.
Hi Nancy. Beautiful eyes again and good detail within your DOF (I would just wish you had more DOF ). This looks like it might be a Black Soldier Fly (Family Stratiomyidae, Hermetia illucens) or a similar species rather than a Horse Fly. I hope to see some cool images from your Africa trip!
Thanks, Steve. Glad to have an ID. Next time I'll certainly use the settings you have suggested to get more DOF. I'm at airport 1 of 4 for the start of 36 hrs of travel!
The head and eye are good and sharp but the rest of the body quite naturally at this magnification is not. I find the softer edges rather distracting but never the less a very detailed image.