Crab Spider

[Charissa]

http://i45.tinypic.com/20zwhzm.jpg
Taken with Canon 50D, Canon MPE 65mm Lens, F16, ISO 200, ss 250, spot metering.
Cropped a bit, cleaned up some sensor dust spots. Sharpened the image after image resize, with un-sharp mask in PS.
This is a first crab spider photograph for me, and glad i found one. Any comments and help with improving the shot, would be appreciated.:)

[Randy Stout]

Charissa:

Very nicely captured, very cool subject, sharp, effective DOF.
If you have the canvas and it is not to busy, might try a slightly looser crop, spider looks really squeezed in, but it does tend to make it look more hulking and menacing as cropped!

Cheers

Randy

[Allen Sparks]

Wow...what great detail...those eyes staring at you and that mouth! awesome shot. The only thing I would suggest is perhaps lightening the image just a tad (but not much)...sims just a bit dark to me.

[Ken Childs]

Fantastic! I agree with what Allen said and I like the tight crop.

[Vida van der Walt]

Wonderful shot Charissa! Love the head on pose and the burgundy patterns on her body. Excellent detail and I think this darker image is very dramatic.:)

[Kurt Bowman]

Charissa, I am fine with the brightness of the image, but I also agree a little more room would be nice. I would add a lot, but just a tiny bit. Very nice work....love the datail and the head on shot. makes me feel like I am really experiencing this creature.

[Kurtis Diffenbaugh]

Really neat shot Charissa. I would be curious to see a slightly less cropped image but I like this image a lot. The tight framing and lighting adds a sense of power and intimidation to the spider. Looking forward to more shots.

[Julie Kenward]

That is one cool image, Charissa! I agree that the crop could be looser (but also love it as is) and you could bring up the image a little in exposure (or leave it dark as it is) - either the way it is presented or the way others have suggested would both work.

For me, the main thing is that the area beneath the spider is partially showing and partially dark - might try to get the area below him all in that soft green color (including the lower right corner where it's rather pink). Either that or I'd take that same area all the way to black.

I like the upwards angle you have here but also wonder if you had crouched down lower if that face would have been even more menacing! :eek::eek::eek: If you have time with these critters, move around a bit and see what works best.

Very nice image!

[Charissa]

Thanks everyone for the comments, and very nice suggestions. I do have a slightly less cropped image, but this one had a more "in your face intimidating" feeling to it. Points noted, thanks. Julie, i thought about lifting the spider totally, to make a dark BG, but to be honest, my PP skills don,t allow me to do it, and keep it natural, tips would be appreciated. :-))