rjlittlefield wrote:Of course this begs to be asked, "What kind of a container?"
Did you have to make one out of high quality glass, or were you able to buy something suitable, or... ?
--Rik
Dorsal shots relatively easy- see left image. The 3/4'' board and piece of rock (or leaf) is cooled in a table-top bar fridge @ about 2C. Specimen also cooled.
Place fly on rock, cover with UV filter, shoot vertically through glass. A fly will warm-up to its operating temperature in about a minute and will invariably climb up the sides and stay there or walk on the underside of the glass. A gentle tap on the glass will knock it back down. With patience one can get a dorsal shot on the specimen sitting on the rock.
Lateral shots not so easy - right image. Need a cool bug, and cool arena. Flash is fired through the top plastic sheet, foam acts as a decent all-round reflector. Have to work quickly, once fly warms up it usually escapes. I plan to make a similar box but with a drop-down glass front that can be raised to photograph and lowered to prevent escapes.
One way to keep a fly still is to place a small drop of sugar water on the rock, it will soon find it and settle down to feed.
Photographing live flies is a pain, that's why 95% of my fly photos are of voucher specimens.