A snail

[Connie Mier]

At least I think this is a snail, never saw one like it before. I am new to macro photography and have only used the macro lens a handful of times. Thought I'd work with it today at Fairchild Tropical Gardens, but wondered over to another park near by and found this very nice scene. Got an angle that offered a very nice bg and light.
Sony a700, Sigma 180mm, handheld, manual focus, eval metering, f5.6, ISO200, 1/320.

PP: some selective sharpening on snail (never realized how tough it is to keep the subject in focus with a handheld macro lens), and just a smidge of cropping on top and right.

Critiques welcomed.
Connie

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Connie, very nice find! The combination of colors is wonderful and you managed to create an excellent background, with the OOF twigs adding to the composition. When photographing such small objects, it might be wise to put them on one of the rule of thirds hotspots, drawing the eye to it (something I learned here!). Hope you don't mind I tweaked your image for an example. Hope to see more of your macro's!

Jerry.

http://i28.tinypic.com/wbx5q8.jpg

[Connie Mier]

Jerry, thank you! I like your repost very much.

[Julie Kenward]

Nice find, Connie and beautifully exposed! Jerry is right, the ROT's position does help. I also think you could have turned the camera a bit and placed the three stems on a diagonal, putting the snail in a ROT's position that way as well. As is, I'd take some off the top of the frame to push the snail further up on the image. Love the OOF background but wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of the main stem in focus, too.

Overall, nicely seen and executed! Watch out, though...macro will get you hooked!

[denise ippolito]

Connie, This is so beautiful! I love the colors and your snail is sharp and interesting. Great BG and I like the crop w/ a sliver off the top.Well done.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Connie, great subjects. I like Jules idea of composing the grass and stems on a diagonal rather then straight up and down. I didn.t mind it in the middle but I also like Jerry's offset version.

[Connie Mier]

Thank you Julie, Denise and Mike, appreciate your feedback and suggestions. and Julie, I'm afraid you are right about macro, it's like discovering an entire new world!
Connie