Crab Spider on Thistle

[Ken Childs]

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p193/kjchilds/BPN/IMG_3119.jpg

Canon EOS REBEL XT
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Manual mode
1/1250"
F5.6
ISO: 200
Canon 430EX: On, Fired
CS3

I wish that green bud wasn't there in the LRC. A tighter crop just didn't look right so I added a faint vignette to try and darken the edges so the green wasn't so obvious.

[Julie Brown]

Nice detail on the spider Ken. I like your composition, the color of the flower and the blue BG.:)

[Julie Kenward]

I offer an alternative crop for this reason:

I'm assuming the spider is the main reason for the image, correct? If so, why does the flower get so much of the room? Heck, the ugly old stalk got more room in the image than that gorgeous little spider! I've seen your dragonfly and butterfly images and they always show the insect in a predominant position taking up a large portion of the image. Here, though, the spider seems to get a little lost in all that is going on around him. Don't be afraid to get in close, especially with that macro lens! I'm not saying your crop is wrong but I think this one gives you all the good stuff without any of the distractions.

I cloned over the brown at the bottom edge of the flower, the white areas that were near the spider, and some of the larger flower "stamen" (for lack of a better term here) that were directly next to the spider.
I cropped out the stalk and the green on the side because they offered more distractions than advantages to the image IMO.
I left in the spider, the gorgeous purple flower and the neat blue BG that sets everything off.

See what you think...

[Charles Wesley]

Ken,

Very nice environmental portrait IMO. Really nice color and sharpness. Did you use tripod or HH.
Thanks for sharing...
____________________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL

[Adrian David]

Nice capture. I like Julie's crop, better.

[Ken Childs]

I offer an alternative crop for this reason:

I'm assuming the spider is the main reason for the image, correct? If so, why does the flower get so much of the room? Heck, the ugly old stalk got more room in the image than that gorgeous little spider! I've seen your dragonfly and butterfly images and they always show the insect in a predominant position taking up a large portion of the image. Here, though, the spider seems to get a little lost in all that is going on around him. Don't be afraid to get in close, especially with that macro lens! I'm not saying your crop is wrong but I think this one gives you all the good stuff without any of the distractions.

I cloned over the brown at the bottom edge of the flower, the white areas that were near the spider, and some of the larger flower "stamen" (for lack of a better term here) that were directly next to the spider.
I cropped out the stalk and the green on the side because they offered more distractions than advantages to the image IMO.
I left in the spider, the gorgeous purple flower and the neat blue BG that sets everything off.

See what you think...
Jules, I like your version but I like mine too. When I took the shot, I really wasn't thinking of just capturing the spider. I was looking at the whole package. The blue sky completely surrounding the pink flower is what first caught my eye. The spider was the icing on the cake! If it had been possible, I would liked to have shot from a bit higher up so the base of the flower would have been blocked. This thistle was tall so I still would have had sky in the BG but it was too tall to be able to get a higher angle.

Charlie, this was HH which is one of the reasons I shot at 1/1250. A little wind made it even more difficult.

On another note, when replying to a post, I'm unable to see any pictures that are hosted on BPN. Is this normal? I have to open another tab on my browser and navigate to the post to see the shot I'm commenting on.

[Julie Kenward]

Ken, are you using the "go advanced" screen or the "post quick reply"? You should be able to see everything with the post quick version; the go advanced does leave you without an image.

[Markus Jais]

I like both versions. The colors are great and the placement of the spider in the frame works very well for me.
The green bud is a little distracting, but not much, in my opinion.

Markus

[Ken Childs]

Ken, are you using the "go advanced" screen or the "post quick reply"? You should be able to see everything with the post quick version; the go advanced does leave you without an image.
Yes, it's the "go advanced" version. I'm a horrible typist and I tend to leave out important words so I like to preview my posts.

Since these are critique forums and it's hard to critique something you can't see, this seems odd. Has anyone that you know of ever asked if this can be changed so the image shows when doing an advanced reply?

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

IMHO the crop does work by accentuating on the spider, but not from an aesthetic perspective, since the spider is looking down and it is right down at the bottom of the frame. For it to be stronger, it should be placed in the upper right ROT point so it has the image below it and diagonally to look into. But since it was sitting close to the edge of the pink petals the suggested crop would not be as pretty as the stem etc. would be more visible instead of the pretty pinks for the BG. :)

Ken, since you wanted to include the sky too from what I understand, shooting from a slightly lower angle to still place the spider higher in the frame and include some sky probably could have worked. Good work mate.