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This is such a great predation shot! I love that image is angled from the front so both the robber flies face and its prey are in focus and it looks like the robber fly is staring off into the distance. It gives an eerie yet fascinating and other-worldly look. Thank you for submitting a great image to my contest!
This is a wonderful crisp predation shot. The bright background really makes the subjects stand out and the depth of field is great for this image. Was the background yellow flowers? Would love more detail on where and how you got this photo. Also, would be interesting to see how this picture would look from different angles like from the opposite side where the eye of the robber fly and the eye of the prey would both be prominent. However, I do like that you can see the proboscis in this image.
Wonderful image and great storytelling of how you got the shot! I tend to like more natural backgrounds but the red looks good in this image and I like the it complements the red in the flower. The robber fly looks almost otherworldly and it is super cool that you got an image of it staring straight into the camera.
I love your creativity and the process of how you got this shot! Flies are beautiful and amazing parts of the ecosystem but most people don't think much of them. I love that you took the time to portray this fly in such a beautiful and creative way. I've seen backlit shots of other animals but not many of a fly and especially not any with the sun perfectly behind it.
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Amazing detail of the compound eyes and dewdrops! I love the purple spots on the eye and how the yellow/orange in the eye complements the background. Also so cool that you can see a flower in one of the water drops! Is this a focus stacked image? Would love more details on the story of how you got this shot. Thank for submitting this beautiful image to my competition!
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I like how you positioned the hoverfly on the left side to show more of the flowers stamens. The hoverfly stands out wonderfully against the purple petals and I love the beautiful soft lighting in this image. The only thing I noticed is I can't see the cross-hatching on the compound eye that is typical for flies so I'm not sure if you missed the focus on the eye or the image is cropped in. I notice that you used aperture f/3.5. If you are focus stacking that should be fine but if this was a single shot I recommend increasing the aperture a little (f/5?) which may help with getting more detail in the eye but keeping the dreamy background. Great job overall thank you for submitting!
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Please enter your photos of any species of fly in the order Diptera, which includes insects such as houseflies, mosquitos, hoverflies and craneflies. Please only enter photos of flies, no other insects or flying creatures. There is a lot of mimicry between insects so please make sure the image you are submitting is actually a fly; an easy way to identify a fly from a bee or wasp is flies only have only two wings while bees and wasps have four wings. I am looking forward to seeing your photos of these often under-appreciated insects.
Great photo of a hover fly pollinating. It's great to see a picture of a fly pollinating so people know bees are not the only pollinators! I love the dreamy yellow flowers and the little bits of pollen on the hoverfly's eye. You mentioned that a challenge was to get the eye in focus. Some things that have helped me with freezing the frame/getting focus fast enough is using a flash and diffuser as well as increasing the aperture to f/8 or f/11. I'm not sure what aperture you used for this photo but I think it's a smaller aperture which works for this image because it made the background soft and dreamy and the eye is still in focus.
