Up, up and awayyy!

[Vida van der Walt]

This shot took a lot of patience and many hours of trying. I created a path for the ladybird from a purple petunia flower and worked with a glass door behind me. As soon as I placed the ladybird on the flower it took off running to the edge of the petal and flew towards the light behind me. I then had to catch it again and repeat the process. Sometimes the ladybird stayed on the flower and cleaned it's legs and I just had to wait for it to start it's run-up.
The problem with this method was that I was never sure which area of the edge it would choose for take off and the short working distance and limited dof of my lens made it even worse. The ladybird was returned to my garden after all our hard work. One day when I'm ready for a lot of work I'll try it again and will hopefully get a full head on angle.:)
Canon 5D Mark11; MP E 65mm; MT 24Ex
apert f16; ss1/200; iso 200

[Allen Sparks]

Wow Vida...this is just amazing! I don't see how you catch the little bugs like this - even with all your patience and set up. Incredible stop action (I've tried to catch this myself). Love that it is off the petal when you caught it. I don't have words to describe how great this is!

[Julie Kenward]

Looks like an actor from "A Chorus Line!" Wow, that is incredible and totally made me smile when I opened up the image. I really like how the purple shows through on the left wing...what an amazing image!!!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Just Super Vida! Given the degree of difficulty...even more impressive!

[Steve Maxson]

I can appreciate how difficult this was, Vida. Very impressive image!

[Julie Brown]

Vida, what a hilarious pose! It looks like a character from the movie "A Bug's Life":D
This is just an awesome image:cool:

[Don Lacy]

Vida you amaze me every time you post and image :)

[Vida van der Walt]

Hi Allen, Jules, Roman, Steve, Julie and Don. Thank you all for the great feedback. It is highly appreciated.:)

[Ken Childs]

Another incredible shot!

Vida, you must have the patience of a saint! I might attempt something like this but I doubt if I would ever successfully complete the task before I went crazy!

[Adrian David]

Beautiful details and colors! The pose of the little bug is great too!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Vida, Amazing! Scratching my head trying to figure out how you did this. Wonderful image!

[Charles Wesley]

Vida,

Totally awesome use of color with loads of detail. Stephen Dalton would be proud.
Thanks for sharing...
_________________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL

[Vida van der Walt]

Ken, Adrian, Dave and Charles, thank you all and I'm glad you like it.:)
Dave, it is made easier by the fact that the ladybird will fly towards the light. I sat on the floor of my lounge with most of the light coming from the glass door behind me. The petunia was placed on a little box resting on a side table in front of me. I taped a part of the petal to the little box (placed with the narrow side facing up) for height and to narrow the path the ladybird could run on. I had to be real quick in grabbing my camera and focusing after placing the ladybird on the flower as it ran quite fast before taking off. It often flew off before I even had my camera ready and the fact that my lens is manual focus only made it more difficult. I don't attempt these kind of shots often but sometimes I just have to see if it is possible.:)

[Christopher Miller]

Wow! You never cease to amaze me with your insect photos, Vida! :) Excellent pose and BG. I might prefer a little more space to the right, but that's a very minor point. Very well done!

[Ignacio Yufera]

Hard to add anything new... Technically this is amazing, but the combination of colors makes it truly special. I love the texture of the petal, totally unique. Beautiful.

[Harshad Barve]

This is sooooooper shot Vida , I am loving every pixel of this image

[Myer Bornstein]

Vida another excellent picture I lopve looking at your macro pictures, mine never seem to be as great

[Harold Davis]

incredible, vida!!! awesome work!!!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Amazing Vida, your patience paid off. You should enter this in a contest.

[Vida van der Walt]

Hi Christopher, Ignacio, Harshad, Myer, Harold and Jackie. Thank you for your great feedback. Highly appreciated.:) Jackie, I would love to, but most of the wildlife competitions don't allow editing of the bg and also no photos of a captured subject. In this photo I evened out some of the blemishes and darker spots in the bg and extended a little bit of the petal in the left hand corner. I also removed a couple of tiny flash highlights from the body and that is a big no-no as far as most competitions go.:)

[Mike Moats]

Outstanding image Vida, it takes a lot of time, patience, and skill to pull this off, Congrats!!!

[Vida van der Walt]

Thank you Mike. Always appreciated.:)

[Stu Bowie]

BIF ( bug in flight) It seems there is nothing too big a challenge for you to capture with that lens of yours. This is simply amazing Vida, and I just love the spreadeagled legs. Congrats on an outstanding image.

[Vida van der Walt]

Thank you very much Stu. Highly appreciated.:)