I really like photographing flies. Many are quite colourful, and all are fascinating when you see them close-up. And the nice thing is that you don’t need to hunt them—you can get them to come to you. To get the photos below I simply took the carcass of a salmon I had cleaned and put it out in the garden. Then I got my camera ready and waited. Within 10 minutes flies started to arrive and feed. These critters can be pretty wary about letting you (and your camera) get too close. But that changes once they start feeding. So all I had to do was sit there and take pictures (with a cold drink nearby). I just used the on-camera flash for these shots.
It really doesn’t get too much easier than that. I maybe think I should add another rule to my list: whenever possible, follow the “KISS” principle (Keep It Simple Stupid)!
The first photo below is of a blow fly or greenbottle (family Calliphoridae). These are very pretty flies with iridescent green bodies and bright red eyes. The second photo is of a flesh fly (family Sarcophagidae). These critters are characterized by black and gray stripes on the thorax and a chequered abdomen. Both types of fly feed and lay their eggs on carrion.
The technical stuff:
Camera: Olympus E-620 digital SLR
Lens: Zuiko 35mm macro
Settings: manual exposure (F16 @ 1/125 sec)
Lighting: on-camera flash set to maximum power
There are approximately 1500 species of Calliphoridae flies worldwide. The larvae of these flies (maggots) are widely believed to consume only dead meat and not live tissue; and have been used for “maggot therapy” which involves putting live maggots into wounds that are not healing properly. The idea is that the maggots will clean the wound by eating the dead flesh. Hmm…maybe I should have saved these photos for my blog next Halloween!