# Housefly up close and personal



## STM (May 11, 2011)

Who thought such a household pest could be so beautiful close-up?

I used a Nikon D700 and a reversed 55mm f/2.8 AIS Nikkor on a Nikon PB-6 Bellows. Lighting was provided by a homemade tent with strobes from each side and above. Magnification on the sensor was approximately 2.2x. I placed the fly in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to slow it down. I only got about 3 shots before it warmed up enough and flew off.


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## Markw (May 11, 2011)

That's beautiful!  Great focus, wonderful DOF.  I even like the colors (and lack there of.)

Great shot.
Mark


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## Arkanjel Imaging (May 11, 2011)

Great shot Scott.  Welcome to the forum.  Hope to see more :thumbup:


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## 889Media (May 11, 2011)

Great shot! Good job! oh, When I see photos like this, I want to start shooting macros myself...but, lots of new gear the last couple of months - so macro lens is still low priority for a few months.. but soon


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## STM (May 11, 2011)

889Media said:


> Great shot! Good job! oh, When I see photos like this, I want to start shooting macros myself...but, lots of new gear the last couple of months - so macro lens is still low priority for a few months.. but soon



I have a pretty thorough how-to article on macrophotography on my website.......check it out, I hope you find it useful!

Venturing Into the Exciting World of Macrophotography


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## Overread (May 11, 2011)

Really love the lighting you've got on this - the semi-studio setup has really allowed you to get some softness on the lighting that is harder to capture when using a more mobile handheld setup. Looking forward to seeing more from what you can capture.

Also I really like that article you've written - only skimmed over it thus far, but looks like you've put a lot of good info in there about the setup and even the math nearer the end. 

I must say though I'm not generally a fan of the fridge treatment on insects since one can easily overcool them - I prefer either earlier starts or shoots just after coldsnaps (eg quick rainstorms) or keeping an insect in a shaded spot to cool down more naturally.


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## ChrisA (May 12, 2011)

A nice shot you got there.  And like the article.  I take it your outdoor diffuser is homemade ?  What material did you use ?


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## STM (May 12, 2011)

ChrisA said:


> A nice shot you got there. And like the article. I take it your outdoor diffuser is homemade ? What material did you use ?


 
Actually it was purchased. It is a 32" diameter diffuser. It is actually 5 diffusers in 1. The one I use outdoors is made of a translucent white nylon. There are also two sleeves which fit over it, one is black on one side and silver on the other. The second is white on one side and gold on the other. The whole thing folds up into a disk about 10" in diameter. 

I got it on Fleabay. I believe the link below is the one I got. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-32-5-in-1-M...044?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf3c290d4


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## dry3210 (May 12, 2011)

Wouldn't say the fly itself is beautiful but the shot is!


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## Postman158 (May 13, 2011)

Wow, very cool!


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## Judobreaker (May 13, 2011)

STM said:


> 889Media said:
> 
> 
> > Great shot! Good job! oh, When I see photos like this, I want to start shooting macros myself...but, lots of new gear the last couple of months - so macro lens is still low priority for a few months.. but soon
> ...


 

That is one heck of a cool article you have there!
I've been reading up information about macro for a while now as I've been planning to buy some macro equipment for a while, this article helped me loads!

*Drags page to favorites*


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