I shot this hoverfly yesterday evening. It was in the shade and I also underexposed by mistake. I went back today to try to get a better shot, but none had such a colorful view of the wings, although I think I found the same individual. Then I reread this excellent article about Wing Interference Patterns: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/forget-butterflies-wasps-and-flies-have-hidden-rainbows-in-their-wings?loggedin=true&rnd=1708098119132
and I realized that I had been a bit lucky to get the dark background yesterday evening, as this had brought out the colors of the wings better than in today’s broad daylight.
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All I can say is focus on the wings, as the rest of the fly is soft for the reasons I’ve explained.
Mike, the iridescence (interference) in the wings is outstanding. The eyes are outstanding also. I think that the slight softness in the body and elsewhere adds a good “painterly” sense.
Fascinating – both the image and the article! This was a difficult capture of a very small subject, and the DOF becomes tiny at macro magnifications. I wonder if a touch less denoise and sharpening would work better? The image as a whole is quite worthy.
Beautifully done! Not only are there interference patterns but also the wing structure acts as a diffraction grating to show the spectrum of the light which heavily in the red end.
My hat’s off to you folks who do these macro shots so well!
-P
Thanks @Bill_Fach@Preston_Birdwell@Diane_Miller@Mark_Seaver - you’ve been kind about the softness here. I hope one day to get a better shot of one of these, but it was a good specimen. @Bill_Fach - I was hoping you’d get your microscope out for this one !
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