Just below the Hover Fly the blurred white section is an assassin spider waiting for a meal.

[Peter Zack]

Not bad, I like the dark background and how the fly is isolated. I would say though that the shot seems a little soft. Was this cropped a fair bit from the original? Or was it hand held? What lens?

[yeatzee]

The IQ just doesn't seem to be there...

A cool thing I've wanted to try with a situation resembling yours is focus stacking two images. One on the main subject (i.e. the hoverfly here) and the other on the predator (spider).

[eaglem]

Not bad, I like the dark background and how the fly is isolated. I would say though that the shot seems a little soft. Was this cropped a fair bit from the original? Or was it hand held? What lens?

It was cropped and all my shots are hand held because I find a tripod cumbersome when chasing insects. I may need to invest in a monopod.

[yeatzee]

shooting handheld should not be the limiting factor. I shoot handheld 99% of the time with macro's...

[Peter Zack]

I realize that macros can be handheld. Many of us use manual focus to shot close up and of course with such limited DOF, you can easily move the camera a bit before taking the shot. With bugs AF is often preferred just because you only have a second or so to get the shot.

{n this case it's probably the cropping that softened the shot a bit.

[yeatzee]

unless my sigma is the exception to the rule, autofocusing on an insect at 1:1 takes much more than second to get right. The only time I use AF is if the subject is absolutely still, and even with my focusing screen I can't quite make out if it is in focus or not (some insects have grid patterns with their compound eyes that make it very difficult to tell the focus.).

[spyglass]

I think that this capture is very decent. With the shallow depth of field limitation associated with macro work I feel that you did very well and have managed to capture the insect as a whole. Discussions regarding focus stacking are like playing the Monday quarterback while never having seen the game. One of the magical aspects to macro work is the sharp focus, highlighting the key feature, and the isolation it offers by the out of focus region by comparison.

Well done, and thanks for sharing,


Spyglass

[Tuner571]

This is not a bad looking shot; I too like the dark background as it does make the hover fly pop out of the photo in a way. However, it is kind of blurry and that is what is hurting it the most. Also, the colors are a little muted and I think if you bumped up the saturation it would look better.

[yeatzee]

How about posting a non cropped version?