This is the more common Pyrochroa Serraticornis with its characteristic red head, as opposed to the Coccinea which has a black head. Found this specimen close to a small pond by the margins of my local woodland. All shots were taken with a Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro lens mounted on a tripod using natural light.
The early morning sun has a lovely quality that helps to bring out the texture of the leaf, particularly when backlit.
Another against the light shot.
This time I decided to augment the ambient light with a little bit of fill light from the flash. I'm pretty pleased with the results as the flash has helped to sharpen and bring out some detail that would otherwise be lost without sacrificing the soft quality of the ambient background.
There was a slight breeze that made this capture particularly tricky. However, I love the soft quality of natural light and so was determined to risk not using the flash.
