What equipment did you use?

@William
This IS an amazing pic! WOW!

Thanks!
It's an old photo and I'm not by the computer now, so I don't have my notes, but it is definitely shot with the old Sigma 150 macro, handheld with flash. Typically I was using a teleconverter, a Raynox close up lens and/or tubes for some extra magnification. Also I was often focus stacking several images for some extra depth of field. I do remember that this was a very lethargic hoverfly so it was much easier to photograph than an active one.

Not to be a party pooper as this is an awesome! shot but it really shouldn't be in the Allium entry as it's front and foremost a hoverfly photo.
I had to elevate your other photo of your blooms for the main thumbnail image because this one got bumped into that spot by all the thumbs up!

Maybe better in the Photography forum or Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum?

I like seeing which flying things visit various plants.

Sue, I fully agree with you that the hoverfly is at the center here. On the other hand we do have the pollination tag as a feature of the database.

We also see some details of the flower itself, including pollen that might be interesting.

However it was years since I uploaded the photo, and of course, if it is no longer suitable for the database, feel free to just remove it.

No, I just thought it was a very recent upload and so just wanted to suggest a place to share it.
I left it because I was able to remove it as the main thumbnail so no harm leaving it.

That's excellent information William, thank you. I just have 1 question. What do you mean by stacking images? I understand how working with F stop, shutter speed and film speed/ISO can increase or decrease depth of field, but what do you mean by stacking? I'm not familiar with that term.

P.S. Lethargic or not a great shot!📸📸📸📸📸

I don't understand this camera stuff, but this explanation was offered in another discussion:

Baja_Costero said: You take a series of images at slightly longer focal distances (automated by the camera) and then use the computer to combine all of the parts that are in focus in each one (presumably decided based largely on contrast) into one final image. In that image (the one I share) any parts that were in focus in any of the starting images end up in focus, and anything that was not in focus on any of those images remains out of focus. Ideally.

This allows you to specify the front and back of what you want in focus, given optimum conditions. It is only as good as the source material.

It allows you to combine extreme focus and detail (on a foreground object) with extreme out of focus blur (the background). For example:

• Zebra Haworthia (Haworthiopsis attenuata)
• Uploaded by Baja_Costero

This post: https://garden.org/thread/view...

Only thing I can add to the info Tiffany quoted regarding focus stacked images, is that my own old school camera, did not allow for automatic focus shifts for the purpose of focus stacking, nor would automatic focusing work at all, at these higher magnification. So focus is all manual and the whole camera rig is moved very slightly to produce different focused slices that later can be combined in the computer. Handheld this is a bit of a hit and miss, so it is always better to try to get at least some 'normal' photos and see any focus stacks as a bonus.

Wow that whole explanation and everything just blew my mind. I kind understand the concept. And I know that doing it handheld is got to be almost impossible or at best extremely difficult. Especially for an old dude like me. I don't really understand the computer part of it. It must be some software. I don't know anything about this. But thank you for the explanation and it's great to see photography like that.