Beetle

[Steve Maxson]

I photographed this odd-looking beetle in Costa Rica. I was struck by the unusual way the elytra (the hardened first pair of wings) are extended to the sides and toward the front of the beetle's body. 1D 4, 100 mm macro, 1/250, f/16, ISO 400, light tent, 2 remotely fired flashes, hand held. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Steve another excellent shot, technically the exposure and detail very good. The light is good but not quite so good as some previous images and whilst the DOF is perfectly "good" or acceptable I get the impression you may have struggled a bit with the antennae (??) Did you possibly apply extra sharpening there, I ask becasue they are matt and the carapace etc is glossy and they are a tad soft. I would not have expected the left rear leg to be in focus but becasue it is OOF and the rest of the image is in focus it does tend to draw my eye a little bit.
Showing my ignorance (beetles of course being insects have 6 legs) I was going to say does this guy only have four legs but I think I can spot the rear right leg under the wing casing.
Purely on a personal viewpoint however it doesn't quite appeal to me anything like as much as your other light tent images. I am not too sure why but I sense it may be because the beetle doesn't appear to be resting on anything. I know this could be said about other images but somehow the thought never crossed my mind, all the others really appealed to me. I hope this doesn't sound too negative becasue it is in fact a fine image, but from my point of view not one of your better images. I am sure I will be in the minority so don't take my comments to heart:w3

[Randy Stout]

Steve:

Somehow it makes me think of a Star Wars creature.

I appreciate the finer points mentioned by Jon. I haven't viewed enough of your series to really compare them, although the mole cricket was very cool.

I do think that having some sense of depth, ground or base to the image is helpful. From a avian viewpoint, I rarely post birds against a straight blue sky anymore, as I miss the sense of depth that a good background provides.

Cheers

Randy

[Dave Leroy]

You certainly pick some interesting looking critters Steve. Interesting comments by Jon, and I went back to have another look at the mole cricket. Although the shadow is not as distinct with the beetle it is there and could be accentuated if you wanted.
I might just remove the one little specular highlight on top of body between the wings.
Nice head turn as well.

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments Jon, Randy, and Dave! Jon makes some interesting and astute points. I, too, prefer these studio shots to have a soft shadow under the subject. This image was taken in a light "tent" (very portable and good for traveling, flashes are outside the tent shooting through diffusion material) vesus a light "box" (what I use when at home, flashes inside the box pointing up to bounce light around inside). There is a subtle, but distinct, difference in the light quality between the two with the light box providing better diffusion and a more distinct shadow. I may have to revise my gear a bit the next time I'm on a trip. :S3: The antennas look a bit soft because they are extending forward - out of the DOF. I cloned some of the OOF edges of the antennas to give them the "appearance" of increased sharpness, but otherwise didn't do any addition sharpening there. And, yup, this guy did have 6 legs - the rear legs are just hidden by the expanded elytra. :S3: