Grasshopper on Water Hyaciinth

[Paul Wolf]

Close up of a grasshopper sitting on a leaf of Water Hyacinth. Shot at Trinity River Rookery off I-10 just east of Houston, Texas. C&C welcome and much appreciated, as always.

Canon 20D, 100-400mm @ 400mm, f/10, .3 sec, ISO 100, 580EX flash with Better Beamer. Shot July 2006, 7:30 AM.

[Julie Kenward]

I love the grasshopper, Paul!!! You got excellent DOF and wonderful detail here. I do feel like the amount of plants in the image might be overpowering him a bit - trying to take the spotlight away from the insect. Have you played around with any tighter crops? Also, there is a discolored white spot just to the left of his hind foot - you might clone over that to tone it down a bit.

[Paul Wolf]

Hi, Julie. Thank you for the comments and the suggestion. This is an image for my stock photography sites, hence a great deal of room. But here's a crop. Oh, and I cloned out the grayish spot, too. Thanks! How does this compare?

Paul

[Ed Vatza]

Hi Paul,

Very interesting grasshopper. I agree that the green plants really seem to "busy up" the background. And it may just be me and my unfamiliarity with this grasshopper but it looks a bit oversharpened.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Paul, very good details on the hooper, and I do the the cropped version better.