Zach Matthews
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I agree with Ben’s comments on the quality of your shot.
Briefly, here are some reasons why you’d need different lighting:
(1) Color accuracy. Strobes are pure white and if they are the only source of light, the fly will look the same in the image as it does in real life (assuming a proper white balance is set).
(2) The ability to drain the background of color for laying flies out on top of things. This is how almost all catalog photography is done. If you can find a recent Nautilus ad, it is a copy of an old Marlboro ad. I shot the reels in the photo. The background had to be completely drained so the reels could be floated on top of the shot. (I am still only barely acceptable at this).
(3) Consistent lighting. Shadows grading across the back of a shot look just fine in a single picture, but when you lay six or eight shots next to each other, for instance to show a sequence, those grades repeat in a quilt-like pattern that is distracting and annoying.
(4) Consistent lighting *through* the subject. Shadows from the front obscure image detail in the rear; but if you surround the subject with even light, it will not show any shadows unless you want it to, and you can control where they go.
You make a good point; fly photography is not rocket science and for internet purposes, a desk lamp and a point and shoot is just fine. But for catalog or product or magazine work, you just have to be in control of the light to a greater degree.
Here are some examples:
Note the even lighting all around, so the undersides of the flies remain well-lit.
This one is best viewed on a separate page without any borders (right click, view image in Firefox). That degree of background control wouldn’t be possible without flashes.
Ditto this guy.
Now, conversely and as I mentioned earlier, some of the best fly photography that you can do can be done without any flashes at all. You just need diffuse light, which often occurs on an overcast day in a forest.
HTH,
ZachOh now if they are able to fire remotely Neal may have more ability to handle the black background shot than I thought.
These are looking very good. Now some tips on the world of Macro photography.
(1) Remember, when your subject is only inches from the lens, the equivalent depth of field you might be used to for say f/11 or f/16 is greatly contracted. You didn’t get the entire wooly bugger in focus. Your 60mm Micro-Nikkor (if you got it in?) should be able to handle mechanical apertures down to about f/32 and artificial apertures created by extending the front element all the way to like f/54 (I think that is the highest I have ever seen).
(2) Backgrounds don’t necessarily all need to be the same color, and flies don’t always need to be on a vise. One of my favorite fly backgrounds with good lighting is an all-black sheet, but it will need to be a long way back in order not to catch light from the R1C1 setup. Also, be sure to frame to fill the whole image.