Dung Beetle

[Nancy Bell]

This is a large dung beetle in a very fresh pile of elephant dung. I photographed this in Botswana, near our hotel, last April. I'm sure any staff watching me poke around in fresh dung and then photograph it told everyone to stay away from the crazy American lady! There were many dung beetles in the dung. They dig very fast and must not like being exposed during this process as when I tried to keep them on the surface they quickly dug back in. I did not see any rolling dung balls while I was there. The freshness of the dung must be important as when I checked the next day they were absolutely no dung beetles. Eventually all the tiny flies also attracted here finally drove me away.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100 f2.8 macro lens, 1/800, f7.1, exp. comp. -1/3, ISO 1000.

Comments & critiques most appreciated.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Well Nancy I don't suppose either of us would fancy eating stale dung - it's just got to be fresh:bg3: nothing less will do!
You have a critically sharp front end and I think you got down good and low, I think the angle is optimal. Easy to say now but I think you needed a smaller aperture and perhaps a little less magnification to increase DOF. Nevertheless this is an interesting and informative image and it is one of those in which my eye roams and yet there is an obvious centre of attention.
Just a suggestion I would consider filling in the top right corner with a bit more fresh dung. I think it's a good shot, I like it.

[MiroslavMaric]

Hi Nancy. Well done shot. I like POV and sharp details of the main subject. And I now they are fast moving bugs so you did a great job. TFS.

Cheers,
Miro

[John Robinson]

Certainly sharp where it counts Nancy. John may have a point about the top left but no big deal.
JohnR

[BenBotha]

I agree with the comments. Tongue in the cheek-a shitty image. :bg3:Those dung beetles are extremely strong-can move weights way above their body weight.
Ben

[Nancy Bell]

Thanks all! The dung beetles are a very interesting group of beetles. They certainly help spread the sh*t around :w3!