Commone beetle

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Is this Japanese beetle ?

Techs:
Nikon D300 + Nikkor <del>1005mm</del> 105mm VR micro + tripod
Almost full frame.

Focus stacked from few images. Could not make more images to stack due to its movement.

Critiques welcome.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Kaushik. First off, to answer your question, this is not a Japanese Beetle as those are Scarabs and all scarabs have distinctive antennae - which this one does not. It may be one of the Leaf Beetles (family Chrysomelidae). My reference book states that there are over 1,700 species of those - just in N. America. This is a beautiful specimen with amazing colors - good job on the focus stacking to get the important parts sharp (I need to lean how to do that). Nice lighting and I like the comp showing the leaf edges to give the image context. Well done.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Hey Kaushik,

Nikon 1005 vr micro.....I want one!:D I love this style of focus. Absolutely precise, from foot to antenna tip. The colors and clarity are great. The OOF leaf elements balance very well with the plane of focus. Even the HA is great. I might consider a dash of brightening on the lower portions of the neck and eye, but works quite well as is. Super shot.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Thank you Steve for the information. :)

@Jay: Oops ! I corrected it ! :D

[Dave Mills]

Hi, The lighting is very nice along with the subjects placement,detail and color. I will be a bit contrarian. I don't care for the lower darker leaf and feel it takes away from the beetle.
If this were mine I would crop it out...

[kostas nianiopoulos]

good light , about the lower leaf if u really mind u could clone it out , or add some blur , or smooth it ,but to me is ok i dont mind that much ..

[Paul Lagasi]

Very nice colors and sharpness, very well done. Could someone explain stacking...is it like layering???

[Kaushik Balakumar]

... Could someone explain stacking...is it like layering???

Paul, this wiki links gives you complete info with available stacking software as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_stacking

Hope this helps.

[Ken Childs]

Hi Kaushik, I love the rainbow of colors you captured on this beetle! It's really groovy! :D
I also think the underside of the beetle could use a bit of brightening and like Dave, I feel the dark leaf along the bottom should go. If it covered the entire bottom edge it would balance out the dark along the top but since it doesn't, I find it a bit distracting. It's great as it but a few easy tweaks will take this one up a notch or 2. :)