Hoverfly close up

I am not totally sure about this one, i suppose i like it more than i dislike it but does it really work??

ISO 400, TV 1/200, AV - 29.0 with lens set at 31mm and all 4 macro lenses added

All 4 macro lenses added How big is it once all attached Mark?

The picture looks a lot better once opened large. It works fine to me Mark, I can see clearly what it is.
One little tip with my little knowledge... I know it can be hard sometimes but try and get these little chaps side on. I've found when I tried this it looks good with them holding onto a little stem.

They are 4 screw on closeup/macro lenses......This one :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Polaroid-Mac.../dp/B003UI25LG

All 4 together give you x17mag (x10,x4,x2,x1) For the cost of them they work very well once you get closer to your subject, i personally think so anyway. But on this shot i decided to stand back a little to get more into the image, in this case, part of the conifer.
It was such a windy day as well i did not have long to image the hoverfly before it went, this shot only.
We have very few flowers in the garden that they seem to like as well so they do not usually stay around for long on the small flowers we have, unlike they would with Sunflower or something

Maybe if you cropped closer, and the composition wasn't so centered , it might feel better on the eyes, as it's a little lost in the middle, and it's competing with everything else, it does look a lot better when opened up.

Thank you Suzi
I was debating whether to crop the image before uploading it and i decided not to. I was trawling the net the other day and came across some clips done by one of the national geographic photographers, basically he was going through a few things to improve things when taking photography and processing the images as well. One of the things was cropping an image, saying it is better to keep the image uncropped as when you start cropping it you start losing data in the image and an image can start looking very pixelled. Cropping is something i try and steer clear of as i want to try and preserve most of the data in there but like you said, its a little lost in the middle. It is something i have to work on, composition, i have a habit of putting my target subject dead center and it just does not always look good

New image with slight crop and not so central. Did not want to crop it too much as it has started to become noisy.

I understand what you are saying about cropping, but the composition is much more pleasing. The Fly is no longer lost, and has become the main subject

I do prefer your more recent upload (the crop) - however, I wonder if cropping it so the fly was facing into the photo rather than out might have been a better option? I also prefer the colours in the recent upload - it's a lot more... crisp looking for it.

I think the main thing is, as was mentioned above, getting closer again. Some insects are just too small for some kit to bring out properly so it's not easy. Keep practising, you'll get what you want eventually! I can usually be seen stalking bees for hours outside on a good day, and I might get 2 or 3 shots I like

xx

Thank you Suzi and Laura I will get there Suzi regarding composition, i just usually out of habit i think, center all subjects and never think about what else is around or behind the subject that could spoil or improve the image. What i really need to learn is rule of thirds and concentrate on what the point of interest will be in the photo but also what surrounds it as well.
I had never thought about flipping the image to be honest with you. I did however on the re-edit change the hue slightly and tweaked shadows/highlights slightly to try and bring out a little more detail.
When photographing this yesterday i had gone for a little distance away from the hoverfly to bring a little more into the image instead of just a very close macro shot. And i think the closest the camera auto focused was from about 1 foot away with all the closeup lenses attached and even though the subject is tiny i thought it was a nice size in the image. But as Suzi mentioned on my original image, it was somewhat lost in the middle and there was too much in the image competing with it.
Most of the time when doing closeup and macro shots i have thrown myself in at the deep end and tried to image the smallest of insects but like with all equipment, the camera and the lenses have their limitations. Lighting plays such a big part with macro as well, getting that spot on when you are so close to a subject can be difficult without casting unnatural shadows.
I will improve with practice

Absolutely you will improve! Keep plugging at it - and go after slighter larger subjects for now - that's what I'd do. You might find a few good sized beetles etc around, those always make for interested challenges, trying to capture their iridescence!

xx