Spirit of Nature Photography Competition - 1st Place

View all entries click here: Spirit of Nature Photography Competition

Congratulations to Larry Doherty with this image.

Larry tells us about the image -

Photo taken in County Tipperary, Ireland. I take macro photos of insects etc all the time. I like to show the insect life that is under our feet. A lot of people don't even see this part of our wildlife or dismiss it.

These flies were on a sycamore tree trunk. The hardest part was making sure I got the two flies heads in focus. It took about 3 attempts to get the image I wanted.

I used an Olympus Em5 Mark ii camera and the Olympus 60mm macro lens with diffused flash. Flash was the Meike MK320 for micro four thirds.
I use a Lumiquest Softbox attached to the flash and also another DIY diffuser in front of that to get nice soft light.
Because there was nothing directly behind the tree, the flash falloff meant I got a black background which I think works in this image.

Technical details: Handheld. Manual mode, f/11, 1/160 and manual flash adjusted to suit the subjects.
 

1st Place see HERE
2nd Place see HERE
3rd Place see HERE
Highly Commended images see HERE

Are you ready to take your photography to the next level?
Whatever drives your passion for photography, The Society of International Nature and Wildlife Photographers is here to help you take your images to the next level.
Join The Society of International Nature and Wildlife Photographers from just £6.25 a month!