On Top of the World

[Julie Kenward]

I was at our botanical garden yesterday for the first day of their butterfly festival. Unfortunately, many of the butterflies and moths that were promised just hadn't quite made it out of their cocoons yet. :( I did find this beetle that I don't believe I've ever run into before and can't find him in my insect book so if anyone can help with an I.D. that would be marvelous.

Canon 40D, EF 100mm f/2.8 macro
f2.8 @ 1/250th, ISO 400 (Taken inside an open weave tent).
Handheld, auto WB, natural light with blue plastic tenting above.
Chose to go with a very wide open aperture so the bug would really pop out against the flowers.
Processed in ACR & CS4; ran noise reduction, surface blur, and a curves adjustment to control how much of the plants were prominent in the final image.

I know some of you won't like that the flowers are cut off on the edges but I cloned them out and it looked totally silly to me after having seen it this way so I left them in. :p

[kostas nianiopoulos]

this is just great , amazing colors u got there , witch makes the image in my opinion really special . Well done !

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Jules, very nice image with lavely pastel teints. I like your positioning of the bug in the frame and the diagonal the flowers make.
The reason you can't find this fellow in your book might be that you have been looking in the wrong section! It's not a beetle but what we call a 'True bug' (order Hemiptera, suborder Heteroptera). Probably something in the Miridae family (Plant bugs).

[Ken Childs]

The colors in this are awesome and the shallow DOF works well here. I don't mind the cutoff flowers in this case. :)

Jules, this is a Milkweed Bug.

[Anita Bower]

I like this a lot! Fantastic colors! The Milkweed Bug stands out nicely and is super sharp. The cut off flowers help frame the image. I also like the limited number of colors in the image. Well done! This image has impact!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jules. Your colorful milkweed bug really pops from the background (just as you intended) of milkweed flowers. Your use of a shallow DOF is very effective here and you have an attractive mix of colors to go with it. Well done.

[Roman Kurywczak]

I agree with everyone above.....while in most cases I don't like cut flowers.....I think your shallow DOF saved you in this case! The milkweed bug is placed great in the frame and works nicely with the colors. I even thought I would recommend flower removal in the URC,,,,but after a bit more looking.....feel it adds balance to the scene. Nicely done!

[Julie Kenward]

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback. Roman, I did the same thing as I don't generally like cut off flowers, either - but in this case the image seemed to need them so I left 'em in. Just goes to show you that rules are sometimes meant to be broken! :cheers:

[Ken Childs]

Just goes to show you that rules are sometimes meant to be broken! :cheers:
There are no rules in photography...just general guidelines. :D

[Paul Lagasi]

What an awesome colored bug...lovely colors on background ...well captured, sharp where it needs to be

[Adrian David]

Nice pastel colors and dreamy mood, in this one.Well done!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice image I like the composition, but for me it is way over-saturated, I took the liberty of desaturating to -23 and added a selective colour layer to give a little pop, for me this was better but I respect you enjoy the vivid colouration.

[Julie Kenward]

Jonathon, feel free to post your version. I'd love to see what yours looks like. I don't usually go quite so vivid but, in fact, I also desaturated some. This was photographed inside an open air tent that had a blue plastic awning over the top so everything took on a deep intense hue so I left it that way. Go ahead...if you have another version, feel free to drop it in here!

[Jonathan Ashton]

OK Jules here goes:

[Anita Bower]

Normally, I would prefer Jonathan's more restrained version. But this particular image, for me, looks best in the original. I think it is because it has a fanciful feel to it.

[Julie Kenward]

I think I like Jon's color saturation but my "lightness' and "contrast". Nicely seen, Jonathon. :)

[Vida van der Walt]

Great image Jules! The little bug is pin sharp and the dof perfect. Great comp and I prefer your original post.:)