Hawthorn shield bugs

[Jonathan Ashton]

Monopod, Canon 1DX Canon 180mm macro, fill in flash -1.66, ISO 400 1/80 sec f11
I took this shot in the back garden, the leaf is sage.
All C&C welcome.

[Ron Conlon]

I like that the greens of the background, the foreground sage leaf and the shield bugs are similar. The composition is interesting and works, but I wonder how a little more right canvas and less on the top would look--not certain it would be an improvement because that would heavily weight the center.

[John Robinson]

Good techs John butI feel needs a little more "ooomph" !! Perhaps a sliver off the top ?
cheers
John

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jonathan, now I'm back, thought I would swing by after your PM re the 1DX, certainly a great investment and by the look of things cranked up your imagery too. Definitely polls apart compared to the old body and the technology is cracking.

I like the choice of subject and 'perch', awesome BKG, clean & simple so the subjects have no competition. Not sure how much more DoF you would have needed to get all the leaf in focus so to speak, or at least the closest antenna sharp, probably a lot. It's just that soft part in the FG. Adding a couple of channel Curve selections, mid tone and a hint of selective colour adjustments I think perks it up and adds a little more 'depth' compared to the OP, likewise going for perhaps a 16 x 9 crop concentrates the eye. How far you take the adjustments is personal choice.

Enjoy your new purchase, you won't look back, trust me.

TFS
Steve

[Norm Dulak]

Very nice, Jon, as usual. Steve seems to have incorporated John's suggestions in his repost. I think that the crop is arguably better, and that the critters are more vivid. But it might be even better if the blurred foreground area to the right of center at the bottom were sharper. I've taken a shot at that here, although I think that your OP is very nice as you presented it. :S3:

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thank you very much everyone - much appreciated. I was unhappy with the crop, there was a space actually under the leaf but it looked "wrong" so I filled it in with leaf. Yoyr reposts compositions look better, the richer colours/contrast work well too.