Katydid

[Steve Maxson]

I found this Katydid (a dead-leaf mimic) in Belize while searching for insects at night in the rainforest. In that climate, broad horizontal leaves, such as the one it is standing on, quickly become a substrate for a variety of mosses and lichens. 1D 4, 100 mm macro, 1/250, f/16, ISO 400, 430 EX II - (off camera, manual mode, diffused), hand held. I removed some flash-generated specular highlights and ran nr on the background. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Randy Stout]

Steve:

The flash work is very nice, subtle, the way it should be. The face almost makes me think of a deer for some reason. I like the bright little 'nodes' along the antenna which helps them standout a bit from the dark BG.

How are you triggering the flash,cord or some wireless solution?

On a bracket of some sort? What type of diffuser?

Cheers

Randy

[Jerry van Dijk]

Nice details captured on an interesting species Steve! I think there is a bit much room on top.

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments Randy and Jerry.

Randy: The flash was triggered by a Cowboy Studio NPT-04 radio trigger. The flash was mounted on a Wimberley Macro Extension Arm (a number of folks in this workshop were having good luck hand holding their off-camera flash - i.e., holding the camera in one hand and the diffused flash in the other). I was using a Westcott Micro Apollo diffuser -very lightweight and portable. Another sturdier and slightly larger (and more expensive) diffuser is the Lastolite Ezybox Speed-lite - which I have since purchased.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Excellent shot Stevem focus is spot on and you did extremely well to get those antennae, the little highlights are amazing!. Not much use now but maybe if there is a next time I would suggest a slower shutter speed to bring up the background a little bit, I am assuming that the flash was effectively providing a fast shutter speed a the gun was on manual. I am wondering if you could possible add a little detail to the fairly large area of OOF leaf bottom right - perhaps you have other images with a bit more of the leaf in focus and you could paste some there? For me the OOF area acts as a bit of a magnet which is a shame because the insect is absolutely superb.

[Allen Sparks]

Beautiful image Steve - love the detail in the katydid and the color contrast with the rest of the image. The curved stem in the BG in front of the katydid catches my eye but I think it would be tough to clone out especially since it intersects with the antennae. A very well done image.

Allen

[Dave Johnson]

Super shot Steve. Subject is sharp. Very subtle flash work which has given us a glimpse of the environment these funky little bugs inhabit which I like alot. Well done, and TFS.

[shane shacaluga]

The insect looks great, lots of detail and every part in focus. If I had to pick a fault it is that the antennae seem to get lost in the dark background. As mentioned, a slower shutterspeed to lighten the background would have worked

[Steve Maxson]

Not much use now but maybe if there is a next time I would suggest a slower shutter speed to bring up the background a little bit, I am assuming that the flash was effectively providing a fast shutter speed a the gun was on manual.

Jon - If I am understanding you correctly, use of a slower shutter speed would bring up the ambient light in the background - a good strategy for daytime flash shots to try to avoid the black. As this was shot at night, there was no ambient light to bring up. Am I missing something here? :S3:

[Roman Kurywczak]

hey Steve,
I like darker BG's.....so OK with that. No one mentioned it.....but the brownish stem near the hind leg in the BG is a bit distracting to me.....so perhaps a tone down a few points or even digital eviction? Easy tweak but all in all a fantastic image!