Early Signs of Autumn

[Norm Dulak]

Nikon D300, tripod mounted
AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 IF-ED Nano Crystal Coat lens
Matrix Metering + 1.67
ISO equivalent 250
Manual; f/22 @ 1/80 sec

In this crazy year of macro snow, rain and temperatures in the mid-atlantic region, I thought it was time to do some macro photography. Spotting some maturing butterfly milkweed plants in our conservation area, I assumed the prone position, belly-walked until I captured all of the delicate side-oats gramma at the top of the image, manually focused the camera and set it to f/22, and varied the shutter speed to achieve correct exposure.

What do you think of the result?

Norm

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Norm,
Well....you've got a lot going on in this image.....while you 've done a decent job exposure wise.....I don't feel that all the elements are quite coming together. This may have been one of those times that a very shallow DOF would have worked better.....minimizing the BG grasses and Isolating the focus on the milkweed. For macro photography to be effective.....generally, less is more......isolating elements. This would fall more into the landscape....evironmental scene IMO. Even the sea oats....which I find very interesting....the way they arc over the milkweed....would have benefitted from the shallower DOF by isolating them from the BG. Next time out try varying the DOF and hopefully you will see what I am trying to convey.

[Norm Dulak]

For macro photography to be effective.....generally, less is more......isolating elements. This would fall more into the landscape....evironmental scene IMO. Even the sea oats....which I find very interesting....the way they arc over the milkweed....would have benefitted from the shallower DOF by isolating them from the BG. Next time out try varying the DOF and hopefully you will see what I am trying to convey.

Interesting points Roman. Thanks!

Tomorrow we'll visit Longwood Gardens, where I'll be able to find more easily isolated subjects.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I full y agree with Roman's critique, and I see you do too. I do like the golden colours emerging from the green vegetation - signs of autumn for sure!

Had you noticed the black and red insect??

[Ken Childs]

I full y agree with Roman's critique, and I see you do too. I do like the golden colours emerging from the green vegetation - signs of autumn for sure!

Had you noticed the black and red insect??
I also agree with Roman.

Considering the plant, I'm betting that insect is a species of Milkweed Bug

[Julie Kenward]

Norm, a good critique by Roman but one other thing...maybe try to move the milkweed so it's not quite so centered next time. I find my eye is going straight to the milkweed and staying there despite all the other stuff that's going on in the BG. Good exposure here but the light has a bit of a harshness to it. Maybe capturing this earlier or later in the day would have helped.

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments. This was my first foray into this area of photography, and I made several mistakes that you have pointed out.

The first mistake was to call the image macro in the first place. It really is an environmental close up photo. More importantly, there were some substantial, fairly thick structures both in the milkweed plant itself and in front of it. That made opening up the lens to minimize undesired structures through blurring difficult.

But your comments have been very helpful. And I'm pleased that some of you spotted the little insect!:)

Norm