Love in the Oregon Grape...OUCH!

[Katherine Enns]

Canon Rebel Xsi
F/8
1/60
ISO 200
100 mm
Hand held, no flash, but a screen was used

This is Chlorochroa on Mahonia aquifolium photographed last Sunday down by our river bank. This plant is very spiny. This member of the stink bug family (Pentatomidae) seems not to mind it. I cropped this quite a bit, too much perhaps, although how can you know, as you cant see what is missing? Comments? Too much mahonia and not enough stink bug?

[Anita Bower]

The colors wow me! Wow! I don't think it is cropped too much. I might crop a bit off the top, which doesn't have a lot going on it it, and add a little to the bottom so as not to cut the black center of the berry in half. I look forward to seeing more of your images.

[Katherine Enns]

Hi Anita, thanks for your kind words. I cropped the lower half of the grape off as its a bit out of focus. My other versions show this... its kind of distracting, and I suppose I could move an IN focus grape over top of it but that is a lot of work and not really "legal"...lol!

[Katherine Enns]

Also, I was trying to stay within Rule of Thirds, except its hard when the darn bugs are all over the map, here.

[Fabs Forns]

I like your repost crop better, Kat. There's some noise visible on the dark part of the BG, you may want to remove it selectively, with the technique you learned for sharpening.
Very colorful image.

[Steve Maxson]

The blues, reds, and greens are very striking, Katherine. The one stink bug is very nicely captured, but I wish the other wasn't partly obscured by the berry. For me, with all the colors and structures in the image, I think there may be too much happening and my eye doesn't know where to stop. :)

[Katherine Enns]

Thanks!! Fabs, I would be able to do that if I had figured it out yet. :) Steve, Bruce came down here with his cam in hand, and just told me its too satd. I am crushed. Just kidding. But I will see what to do with the noise.

[Julie Kenward]

Katherine, this is a very interesting image. I really like the bright, highly saturated colors as they seem very natural and not over done in pp. I like the original image the best because the grapes at the bottom aren't half in/half out. I'd take that original, twist it 90 degrees clockwise and leave the most prominent bug in the upper left corner instead of the lower left...I think he'd drawn your attention better heading up the image rather than down.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Katherine,
I like the second crop better and the colours are just stunning!
Best,
Nicki

[Brandy Katzen]

I like the idea here alot; I'm not crazy about the oversaturated colors though. I grow that plant, and I have stink bugs aplenty, and I know that color isn't correct. Maybe you intend it that way, but for my taste, I'd like a little less exaggeration. Also, just how much DID you crop it? The amount of noise looks like it's a pretty big enlargment. Decreasing the overall saturation might actually make the noise less apparent. Or if you insist on the colors as is, noise reduction in the dark areas could help.
Also, I prefer the second version.

[Katherine Enns]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. As I mentioned this was in my garden. So I just went out and had a look at it in the afternoon sun, the stems holding the fruit are bright red, the fruit is about the same color and the leaves are ok, but the bug might have been a little saturated. As Bruce mentioned to me, and I commented on his comment, above. Re noise, I dont know how much I cropped it but I didnt blow it up. If that makes sense to you. I am an ecotoxicologist not a photographer, so I wouldnt know.

I have a lot to learn about how to process my imagery, and usually post on Eager to Learn.