Macro IOTW Patrick Sparkman for week ending 4/1/2011- Aphids.....it's whats for dinner

[Roman Kurywczak]

Congratulations Patrick Sparkman for your image "Aphids.....It's whats for Dinner" being chosen as the Macro Image of the Week for the week ending 4/1/2011!!!
It has been constantly windy here, so it has been difficult to get out and shoot the flowers and bugs. But it finally laid down a little and I found a few. This guy was great! He got in several cool poses, and you can see a couple of aphids hiding from him. I believe this is a juvenile assassin bug, but I could be wrong. I did not see him attack the aphids, but it sure would have been neat.

BTW - this guy is only about 1/8" long.

Canon EOS-1D IV, MP-E65, MT-24 diffused set manually, iso400,f16,1/300 sec, Normal Lightroom adjustments, minimal crop, a little Tim Grey dodging/burning on highlights. All comments welcome.

[Steve Maxson]

Congratulations Patrick! Well deserved.

[denise ippolito]

Hey Patrick, Congratulations and very well deserved!! Say hi to Robin

[Patrick Sparkman]

Thanks Roman and Denise, and Robin says hi back.

BTW - My original post incorrectly identified this insect. It is a "Red Bug". Strange name.....not real sure why they gave it that name.

[Brendan Dozier]

Congratulations, Patrick! Awesome image!

[Kerry Perkins]

Great image Patrick, congratulations!

[Indranil Sircar]

Congratulations Patrick! Outstanding macro work!

[Harshad Barve]

Congratulations Patrick