There’s a green glint in this goldenrod gall fly’s eyes.

Using a flash has a big impact on most shots. For my purposes, it is the most practical way to do handheld field shots (the majority of my shots) without getting a blurry subject. It naturally has other effects, not the least of which are upon the highlights, shadows and colors of both the subject and background. The compound eyes of insects in particular can show stark differences from natural light shots. The goldenrod gall fly pictured above has those magnetic green stripes in its eye, but they may have not shown up as prominently or even at all if the reflecting light had been natural light. Either type of lighting has its merits, of course, and each of us has our own tastes. Even though I mostly use flash, I am not partial to either one from an aesthetic appeal’s perspective. Still working on that morning person thing however (morning being the time to get natural light shots because of the diffuse light and sleepy, stationary bugs); so in the meanwhile, it’s green stripes for and from me.