Recently I had the pleasure of reviewing a couple of post with a solid black background that was added during post processing. The extreme contrast caught my eye, and I wondered if I could capture that solid unencumbered blacker than black background without the assistance of post processing editing? Accepting the challenge, I took a series of shots, and this take is as close as I came to the goal. A little perspective on scale is in order. The blossom is native Blackberry and, at their fullest they are about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. The insect is less than half that. This capture was not by happenstance, I guessed I would need a small subject with a high contrast value and a dark homogenous background. To meet the need I used a macro lens to get really, really close. Enjoy... Bob