Tending the Flowers
by Roger Kirchen
These flies were very rewarding subjects to shoot. I was trying to optimize conditions for taking macros using the flash and these flies kept coming back to the flowerheads.
I believe this might be a female House Fly - any help is much appreciated.
However, more likely than exercising their horticultural talent, they were likely simply feeding.
Even though considered icky, these flies show fascinating details and body structure. Hopefully, the perceived ickiness is based, not on their looks, but on the awareness that they can be carriers of 100 or more diseases.
Canon 7D, Sigma 150 f2.8, f/13, ISO 320, 1/100 sec, EX580-II with diffuser. Manual exposure was about -2.5 EV for BG with subject exposed with ETTL-II flash (+1.66 EV), I believe. Handheld. Minor crop.
My aim is to arrive at a flash shooting technique so that the lighting looks as natural as possible. And to use small apertures and low ISOs (next steps).
Thanks for looking. C & Cs are always welcome. Roger.
Comments
7 commentsGreat flash work - Nice job exposing the fly & keep the whites of the flower tamped down.
It's M. domestica alright, but I could never tell male from female..except in the act of course..
But there's this joke if you will bear with me?
"A woman walked into the kitchen to find her
husband stalking around with a fly swatter.
What are you doing? she asked.
'Hunting Flies' he responded.
Oh. Killing any?' she asked.
Yep, three males, two females, he replied. Intrigued, she asked,
How can you tell them apart? He responded, three were on a beer can, two were on the phone
All I know about flies is from books and the internet and acquired very recently. According to these sources, there is a wide space between the eyes of the females, whereas they almost touch in the males. Plus other differences, of course ;-)
Albert Darmo
Canada