The Fly with Red Antennae

[Woody Meristem]

This horse fly (species unknown) flew into the car as I was looking at a flower. It was over an inch long with huge eyes which brought to mind the line from Red Riding Hood: "My what large eyes you have." It uses that knife in its mouthparts to slice into mammals' flesh so it can feast on the blood.

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[DRwyoming]

This horse fly (species unknown) flew into the car as I was looking at a flower.

Cool shot Woody. What lens and camera did you use for that? It looks much larger than 1:1 macro.

 

[Woody Meristem]

What lens and camera did you use for that? It looks much larger than 1:1 macro.

That was taken with a Lumix GX85 with the 12-32mm Lumix lens (at 32mm) and 26mm of extension tubes and the camera's flash with a diffuser -- a very simple and inexpensive set-up.

 

[sh1209]

Awesome shot!

 

[Ralph]

G

This horse fly (species unknown) flew into the car as I was looking at a flower. It was over an inch long with huge eyes which brought to mind the line from Red Riding Hood: "My what large eyes you have." It uses that knife in its mouthparts to slice into mammals' flesh so it can feast on the blood.

View attachment 23995

reat capture Woody!

 

[Basil]

Well seen, great capture!

 

[ssheipel]

If Salvador Dali had been a fly! Great shot!

 

[Andrew Lamberson]

That is some serious detail on that image. Great job!

 

[Dan291]

Really nice, Woody.

 

[Bigmo]

Great shot

 

[Woody Meristem]

Thank you one and all. I was really happy that it didn't look at me as a meal.

 

[Yellowboard]

That is a seriously great photo! How did you get it to stay still?

 

[RichF]

Glad it is only an inch long. If it were a foot or more longer, humanity would be in trouble. Great image. Single shot or focus stacked?

 

[Woody Meristem]

Thanks for the kind words.

How did you get it to stay still?

It was really calm when I caught it in a specimen bottle -- fortunately. When I got home it went in the refrigerator for about an hour, something I often do with insects to slow them down long enough for a photograph. Not all insects are slower after refrigeration, some come out of the bottle and fly off instantly; all recover within five minutes (the smaller the insect the quicker the recovery). For some reason most spiders can't take chilling, so I don't ever cool them.

I know some people think it's unethical to chill insects, but I see it differently.

Single shot or focus stacked?

That's a single shot at 1/100 sec, f/20 , ISO 1000 with in camera flash and diffuser.