Scary photo. I HATE needles with a passion. Love the detail, very cool shot.....see what I did there?
Is it shake ?
Brill picture, but made me feel a bit queasy
At a guess i'd say it isn't flare, but a relfection of the surroundings. Could the edges of the needle and drop be reflecting the edge of the soft box?
Don't think so Yes it was shot hand held but with the flash at 1/4 power should have given me over 1/2000 of a sec.
It is clearly NEEDLE sharpIt has a great quality to it - spot on focus too, pin sharp.