Stepping upon a raindrop

[Steve Foss]

I was set up to shoot these raindrops because I liked the simplicity of the composition - and then the fly landed.

No doubt it was eyeing me for a future snack of blood, but it was a very cool morning (so I imagine the fly was a bit sluggish) and it didn't seem to care that my lens was inches from it. While I wish it was an insect more attractive to people, say a bottle fly or damselfly, we can't pick and choose what nature throws our way.

Canon 30D, Canon 100 f2.8 macro, iso100, 1/30 at f6.3, tripod, remote shutter release

[Arthur Morris]

Quite nice and I love the BKGR. I might actually prefer it without the fly...

[Julie Kenward]

Well the comp and the BG are perfection. I think the bottom reflection in the waterdrops might be improved if you pulled the light tones up a bit...think it might really make it sparkle! However, it's a lovely mood you created here with the overall darker tones so follow your vision and do what's right for you!

[Steve Foss]

Thanks to both of you for looking and commenting.

Julie, the highlights were just slightly blown in the original capture. So I blended two versions of the same image in PS. In one I used CS2's RAW converter to recover the highlights and expose for them, and in the second I adjusted the exposure slider to expose for the mid and shadow ranges. The blend worked pretty well, but thanks to what you pointed out, I'm going to go back in and see if I can't get a little more highlight detail by zooming in and carefully selecting the drops and using shadows/highlights for slight tweaks. S/H is a blunt tool, but for small changes it works very well.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Fantastic Steve. Liked it all the way.
U've managed to keep the stick with droplets in the single plane of focus - nice. The fly can take a tad more sharpening I feel.

[Steve Foss]

Kaushik, I think you are right on the fly sharpening. I'd already composed the image with the raindrops alone to be parallel to the sensor and all in focus, so I figure at 1/30 sec the fly was moving slightly at the time.

Julie, please excuse me. I believe I misunderstood your post. I now think you meant I should brighten the highlights, while adding detail to them using S/H would darken them slightly. Perhaps some selective S/H and then some more work in levels to brighten them.

[Amy DeStefanis]

I agree it could be a little brighter, but I like it the way it is too, and I like that the fly is there - especially because of his little "foot" (do they have those?) is up on the drop of water. If it weren't, then maybe I'd prefer without him, but that is a nice detail. Then, once you notice him stepping on the drop, yes, I guess you notice that he's not quite as sharp as you'd want.... But still. Nice shot!

:)

Amy D.

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

I like this shot very much indeed, the composition and background are excellent. Only after reading comments did I note the fly could perhaps be a tad sharper. The leg on the raindrop makes the shot special in my opinion, well done.
Jon

[Aristotle Georgiou]

Very nice image, like the composition, Bg and droplets look great.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Steve,
I like your composition. Its well balanced. The water droplets makes it for me...good show...:cool:

[Noel Carboni]

Your caption drew me in and the image did not disappoint!

I love all creatures great and small, and the lowly fly, though he may know he is ugly to us, deserves the occasional nice pose.

WELL done!

-Noel