Nine spotted moth...

[Karl Günter Wünsch]

http://www.lithos-mineralien.de/naturescapes/20090617_weissfleck_0103_bp.jpg
Canon 50D, Tokina 100mm f/2.8 Macro @ f/7.1, ISO 400, 1/60, tripod, slight crop. Mariapeel, Brabant, The Netherlands.
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regards
Karl Günter Wünsch

[Richard Lovison]

I like the simplicity of the composition and the amount of detail in the butterfly in spite of the dark hues. Well done. The only suggestion I would offer would be to clone out the fine line (cobweb?) from the butterfly's right wing to the bottom of the image.

[Julie Kenward]

Karl, the first thing I noticed about the image was the composition and I think you really did a lovely job there. What does trouble me is the blocked blacks on the moth. If you look at the histogram you'll see that there is a spike on the left edge, meaning some of your darkest tones were underexposed. I think opening up another 1/3 to 1/2 stop would have let in enough light that your entire moth would have all the detail that is evident on the upper right wing. Remember when shooting a very dark subject like this you might try to use spot metering as well to really nail that exposure.

[Karl Günter Wünsch]

What does trouble me is the blocked blacks on the moth. If you look at the histogram you'll see that there is a spike on the left edge, meaning some of your darkest tones were underexposed. I think opening up another 1/3 to 1/2 stop would have let in enough light that your entire moth would have all the detail that is evident on the upper right wing. Remember when shooting a very dark subject like this you might try to use spot metering as well to really nail that exposure.
Ok, let that be a reminder to me that not all displays are the same in that they can show fine graduations in both extremes of the spectrum :-(
Opening up another 1/3rd stop would have blown the white spots of the butterfly, the black are neiter blocked nor underexposed, I simply maximized contrast in postprocessing as my display manages to show even the fine graduations there. I now am viewing the image on a less capable screen at my workplace and yes it seems a bit on the dark side of things. I'll probably have to reprocess the image tonight...

[Aidan Briggs]

Lovely composition, and I like the grass. For this one though, I think I would prefer a little more DOF. Also as Jules mentioned, the blacks are just a bit blocked, mostly near the head. Also the whole image seem like it could use another round of USM IMO. There is lots of potential here, just needs a little work.

Keep them coming