This beautiful little Ommatius female caught my eye one miserably hot day last August while I was fruitlessly chasing Holcocephala robbers around a swampy area. She seemed to be relatively unfazed by my presence and was perched atop a secure stick in the shade, so I decided to try for a few shots. After carefully clearing a little spot to sit near her and upon noticing how cooperative she was, I proceeded to spend the next hour watching her hunt. Due to my soft spot for the Holcocephala robbers of this area, I’d largely overlooked these pretty little (~11mm) asilids that occupy the same areas up until this encounter. She was an absolute joy to watch and photograph – leaping from her perch constantly only to reappear at the exact same perch seconds later – each time with a new pierced captive. She was so fast I could never see where she was going, but her lightning quick hunts always seemed to be successful. These Ommatius species must have fantastic vision.
As of writing this, I’m not quite sure which species she is – I’ve read that the only definitive way to identify robbers within this genus is to analyze the genitalia of male specimens. Visually, they all look quite similar to me. Here’s a great page from Herschel Raney with a bit of an introduction to Ommatius robbers: www.hr-rna.com/RNA/Rfly Another thing worth pointing out – the compound eyes were a beautiful deep metallic green to my eyes in the sunlight, but somehow my diffused flash picked up the reddish hue you see in the eyes above and below. Maybe I’ll have to try a combination of natural light and a fill-flash should I attempt to photograph this species again next summer. The image above is a crop from a focus stack of about 6 images taken with the 50mm reversed on a set of extension tubes.
Sorry about the infrequent uploads – I’ve been quite busy lately and after all it is winter here. Currently it’s about 10° F and windy in Oklahoma. If you’re interested in more things Thomas, head on over to my artwork account here: www.flickr.com/panbasket
...or if you’re really bored, I use this account for just documenting vintage illustrations: www.flickr.com/49580580@N02/
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MartinLBring 12 months ago | reply
I saw your instructional video on You Tube and decided to drop in.. I'm looking at the Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro Photo but it's a nearly $1000. On the other hand, I have a 50mm 1.4... Would that suffice to take photos like this, (inverted with extension tubes and a decent flash set up, of course)
Love your work!
Jerrica Raglin 12 months ago | reply
Wonderful!
Caz 71♥ (On hols) 11 months ago | reply
Hi, i am an Art Director for `Howards and Caz`s Gallery` and would be very honoured if you would consider posting your stunning photo into the Gallery.
This Gallery is so different than anything flickr has done before, as it is a tough Gallery to belong to, and now the bar has raised to Platinum level, and only the best will be accepted, and it is my opinion that this wonderful piece here belongs with us ……. I hope you will consider posting your beautiful photo in, as i feel it has the standard required to be a part of this Gallery......Kind regards..Caz (AD)
Forest (GKweb.it) 10 months ago | reply
One of the best macros I have ever seen. Perhaps… the best one…
I will surely follow your photostream from now on!
Claudio von und zu Kopf & Weiden 9 months ago | reply
great mood
PHOTOGRAPHY by TL 9 months ago | reply
grandiose .... just fantastic
Trevor Dennis 6 months ago | reply
Thomas, I am truly in awe or this and all your pictures. Today I turned an old enlarger into a copy stand, and with a Canon 100mm macro lens on a full set of extension rings, I thought I was ready to take some close ups. It took no time at all to realise that I was not going to achieve any sort of magnification with this, so quickly went from deciding to get a set of bellows, to wondering if the lens that I'd taken off the enlarger might work, to finding so much new information about microphotography that was totally new to me.
And when I soak up all this information, and practice practice practice, how am I ever going to get remotely close to results like yours? How do you get that depth of field? How did you light it? How did you see it well enough to even focus in the first place? All retorical questions that I will labour to answer for myself. Meanwhile I'll swing by your stream now and again for inspiration, and hope against hope that I can one day come close to your results.
RLWilsonPhotography 6 months ago | reply
What lens was used? Great shot
Rocketdog29 6 months ago | reply
Great shot.
gailhampshire 6 months ago | reply
Another amazing photo.
ferdinand.velazquez 5 months ago | reply
Bicho
Aiza Castillo-Domingo 5 months ago | reply
absolutely stunning (and quite scary too! haha)
manszar 4 months ago | reply
great shot
Prasanth Gopalakrishnan 4 months ago | reply
Inspiring :), Thanks
zosxavius 4 months ago | reply
wow, another pentaxian. :)
this picture is amazing. these are exactly the kinds of insect pictures I want to try taking. I love the subdued lighting here.
zosxavius 4 months ago | reply
whoah...i just read the description again and realized this was focus stacked. i'm guessing you use some kind of macro rail. I would love to see your setup sometime. The patience needed to get this one picture is quite impressive.
juliorocharc 3 months ago | reply
Show.
steven_and_haley_bach 2 months ago | reply
Stunning work!
Hashmi Photography 2 months ago | reply
Awesome
tonyhalpc 6 weeks ago | reply
Wow!