Just Holding On!

[Jay Gould]

This beautiful bug was just holding on while surrounded by avid photographers - ;) :D

"It" did make it back on top - next posting!

Camera: 5D2
Capture date/time: 20 June;11:09am
Light condition: very overcast
Lens: EF 100 Macro f/2.8
Extender: none
Tube: none
Flash/Comp: none
ISO: 200
Exp Prog: Av
Speed: 1/250 sec
Aperture: f/4.5
Exp Comp: 0
Metering: Evaluative
WB: Auto
AF Drive: One Shot
Tripod: yes

All C&Cs gratefully appreciated!

Cheers, Jay

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Jay

I like the exposure and selected f stop Stopping down would have given more dof but brought the bg into play. Beautiful colors and sharp !!

As with most other things we would like to see the face, hope the next one was sharp !!! Also would move the bug back in the frame, best not to center.... a slight crop from the bottom might give more of a sense of motion from the proportion !!! Love that bug !!!

[denise ippolito]

Jay, This guy really pops right out at you!! Colors and details look good-I would evict the bit of bluish-green on bottom right.

[Bill Jobes]

Great colors, Jay ! Perhaps fill flash would have brought out more detail in the head area?

To somewhat mitigate the 'centered' look, I might have cropped the top just above the upper edge of the twig.

Can't wait to see the next post!

[Aidan Briggs]

Adding on the above comments, I would run some NR on the BG. The oof leaf also bugs me.

[Jay Gould]

Also would move the bug back in the frame, best not to center.... a slight crop from the bottom might give more of a sense of motion from the proportion !!!

Al, when posters talk about 100% crop etc, I am not sure how they are measuring. However, in this case the original image was 5616 x 3744; the cropped image is 1222 x 713: it is tiny cut from my original image.

I have posted a low res of the original image for comparison.

The 5D2 with 21mp is amazing in the ability to do a severe crop and still have an acceptable image. The final image isn't going to be printed super large; certainly would work at A3 size in my caravan - no walls for large prints!

Regarding, evicting the bluish-green on the bottom right and running NR, those are PS/Plug-In lessons just around the corner.

This bug was in the center of a bush; an instance where I would have like to have the 180 instead of the 100!

Because you cannot add extenders to the Canon 100, I am going to do some experimenting using tubes to increase working distance while maintaining 1:1.

Also, this might have been a place to use the 500D on my 70-200 to see if I could increase working distance and at the same time fill the frame with more bug and less junk.

Thanks everyone for looking and commenting; it is great to be back on my feet and in the field shooting and learning :D

[Aidan Briggs]

In that case, this held up very well for such a large crop, Jay

[Ed Vatza]

The image holds up well given the pretty severe crop. The colors look good. It is a bit noisy (I don't remember of you ran it through noise reduction or not?). Biggest thing, as mentioned above, is composition. It is not, in my estimation, a good angle for the bug. Would like to see more of him as well as a face.

[Jay Gould]

The image holds up well given the pretty severe crop. The colors look good. It is a bit noisy (I don't remember of you ran it through noise reduction or not?). Biggest thing, as mentioned above, is composition. It is not, in my estimation, a good angle for the bug. Would like to see more of him as well as a face.

Just for you! ;) :D http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=39568

[Julie Kenward]

Jay, now that I see the original file I really think the 70-200mm might have been the way to go. It would have filled more of the frame with the insect and it would have helped to blur that BG even more.