A Fly (Photo must be taken after challenge announcement!)

Challenge #9 in the Take a Natural Photo series. Hosted by xpda.

Challenge has finished

Take a photo of a fly. A house fly, fruit fly, horse fly, robber fly, outback fly -- any member of the Diptera order will be fine. Include more than one fly if you like, but make sure the fly is the subject of the photo.

Show full rules

Announced:

Sunday, 10th June, 2012 (GMT)

Submissions:

Sunday, 17th June, 2012 – Saturday, 23rd June, 2012 (GMT)

Voting:

Sunday, 24th June, 2012 – Saturday, 30th June, 2012 (GMT)

Processing rules:

The photo should use natural colors and limited sharpening -- it should look like what you see with your eyes.
Please do not use HDR, focus stacking, composites, or artificially vivid colors.
No frames, watermarks, or copyright notices.

Capture date rules:

Images must be shot after the announcement date of the challenge.

Additional rules:

Colors and contrast should appear natural and realistic -- no artificially vibrant colors.
Exif data with dates must not be removed from the .jpg file.
Photos not in compliance with the rules will likely be disqualified, depending, of course, on the mood of the host.
Don't take this too seriously.
If you cheat on the date, the fleas of 1000 camels will infest your armpits.
Voting: Vote on the natural content of the photo rather than the artistic merit.
Voting: Please view the photo and don't vote on thumbnails.
Voting: Vote 0.5 only for those photos not in compliance with the rules.
Voting: If you particularly like or dislike a photo, please leave a comment explaining why you like it and/or what could be done to improve it.

Maximum number of entries per user:

Maximum number of entries in challenge:

submission
phase has

ended

42 entries

voting
phase has

ended

782 votes

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Striped Horsefly Portrait

by The Mick

1^st place

3.978

low

high

I believe this is a female Tabanus Lineola. I love the colors of their striped eyes, especially when magnified by the water droplets.

Camera:	Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100
Lens:
Submitted:	Sunday, 17th June, 2012 20:21 (GMT)
Taken:	Thursday, 14th June, 2012
Focal length:	108 mm
Shutter speed:	1/640 sec
Aperture:	F8
ISO:	100
Notes:	Used a macro lens and flash with homemade diffuser. Cropped to 3:2 aspect ratio, then resized for the challenge. Otherwise, just a handheld jpeg from the camera.
Views:	1230
Galleries:	View this photo in The Mick's gallery

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Your complaint (along with the complaints of others regarding this entry) will be reviewed by the challenge owner. Depending upon the nature and applicability of the complaint, the entry may be disqualified. In extreme circumstances the user who submitted the entry may receive a ban from the challenge or series in question.

Reason:

	Violates rules of the challenge
	Spam / Commercial
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	Sexual content / Not family friendly
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Entry comments

Total comments: 26

nice shot

1 upvote

Thank you summicron.

0 upvotes

Hello jaykumarr,
Thank you kindly for the nice words! ;o) When I first got the Raynox, I'll admit it was quite a challenge. But you get better with practice and I've gotten plenty. I still have a lot of throw-aways, but I guess that can be expected. I read your comment below about 150,000 clicks on your FZ-20. That's pretty amazing! I hope mine lasts that long as well. No telling how long it'll go, but there's only one way to find out, right?
Take care,
Mick

0 upvotes

In FZ-100, it is extremely difficult to focus with a macro lens (since manual focus ring is absent). you did a great job.

1 upvote

Great picture!

1 upvote

Hello Werli Francois,
Thanks! I've seen some of your outstanding work, so I really appreciate your comment.
Have a good day!
Mick

0 upvotes

Congratulations on a well-deserved win! Who said flies can't be beautiful? :-)

1 upvote

Thank you very much, RuthC! ;o)
Mick

0 upvotes

Congratulations on your win! Spectacular 'contact lenses'.

1 upvote

Thank you jameshax. I appreciate your comments.
My regards,
Mick

0 upvotes

Wow! Thank you all for the wonderful comments and votes! I am truly honored, especially considering all the great photos in this challenge!

0 upvotes

Can you take a portrait of me, please?

2 upvotes

Hello KonstantinosK,
I'd be glad to take your portrait if you'll fly me out to Macedonia... unless of course, you want to come to North Carolina. ;o)
Take care,
Mick

0 upvotes

It' s just so pretty!! I didn't expect to see "pretty" in this challenge and the reason I ended up voting in this challenge is this particular entry. Fabulous… and beautiful.
congratulations on the win!

1 upvote

Hey Barb,
I really appreciate your kind words! Thank you many times over!
Have a good weekend.
Mick

0 upvotes

Did you freeze the fly before you shot the picture, hence the thawed waterdrops on the fly?

1 upvote

I understand that this is not the case, so I apologise if I have offended or maligned the entrant. It is indeed a beautiful shot.

2 upvotes

I'm not offended in the least. Thanks again, RuthC.
Cheers,
Mick

0 upvotes

Outstanding

1 upvote

Hello ScarletVarlet, (great name BTW),
Thanks for the gracious comment!
Take care,
Mick

0 upvotes

breath taking !!

1 upvote

Hello there Zisun_ahmed,
Thank you so much for the compliment! ;o)
Have a good day!
Mick

0 upvotes

Congratulations for this awesome picture.
How can you use a macro lens with the FZ100? Which macro lens?

1 upvote

Thank you vroy... very nice comment! Sorry, I failed to mention it above, but for this picture, I used a Raynox DCR-250 lens and the Panasonic FZ-100 zoomed in all the way. Although it gives really good magnification, the downside is that the depth of field gets wafer thin the more you zoom in. And I'm sure you probably know this camera's minimum aperture is F8.0 I wish I had more range, but overall I'm very satisfied with this camera. As soon as I wear it out (I have 58,000+ clicks on it), I'll upgrade to an SLR that doesn't have this limitation and one that handles low light conditions as well, as those are the only complaints I can think of with this FZ.
Take care,
Mick

Comment edited 56 seconds after posting

1 upvote

The Mick, you cannot wear out the FZ-100 soon.. my FZ-20 is 150,000 shots done, twice went to coma and recovered by itself and doing fine.

Comment edited 20 seconds after posting

1 upvote

Thanks for your answer about the lens, Mick. I made some research about the Raynox DCR-250 and, my first impression is that it works very well with some bridges but not so good with DSLR. So, before buying a DSLR, maybe you should first try the Raynox on a DSLR.

1 upvote

Total comments: 26

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