Galapagos Caterpillar and Frass

[Chantelle Voss]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4083/5051362649_9a43e0c355.jpg

Sorry, still new to the game! Let me know if you need any other info.

Canon EOS Rebel XS Digital SLR Camera with Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS lens
Digital zoom with macro setting
Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands in March

Should I cut out part of the background? Or does this add to the focus on the caterpillar?


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Edited by Steve Maxson - Sorry: only members are allowed a signature line.

[Tom Redd]

Welcome Chantelle, I am pretty new here as well. Interesting subject. I am not sure about "cutting out the background" I might crop in closer to the subject to minimize the background. That may be what you mean. Also, I might have decreased the depth of field by adjusting the aperture, if possible. Colorful guy! Thank you for sharing.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Chantelle, You have a very interesting subject and in order to give it impact you would have needed to get closer. Backrounds are very important in this type of image and should be free of distractions.
In the future please post your shooting specs so we can better analyze what you did....

[Ken Childs]

Hi Chantelle, most of the basic guidelines for posting can be found here. http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?53927-Posting-Instructions-and-Guidelines

You don't need to list every little bit of info but the more we have, the better job we can do with our critiques.

This looks like a really cool subject! Dave is right about getting in closer but I'm not sure how close you can get with the lens you were using. A larger aperture than the one you used would have captured the caterpillar and would have blurred the background, which is needed to focus attention on the main subject. Here's a very quick edit I did in Photoshop to give you an idea of what to shoot for. It looks a bit fake and that's because I was working on the small file but it's really just to help you visualize. There were a few bright spots in the upper right and upper left areas that I toned down by cloning over them with a soft brush at a low opacity.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Chantelle. You have an interesting subject, good sharpness, and good exposure. Please note that you can post images up to 1024 pixels on the horizontal side - a larger image will help us give you more meaningful comments. :) The light areas in the background are rather distracting. A tighter crop and some cloning, as suggested by Ken, would be an improvement. Another option you might have tried in the field, if possible (I realize there are tight restrictions on what you can do in the Galapagos), would be to shoot from a higher perspective - in effect looking down on the caterpillar just enough to eliminate those bright spots. Tom and Ken also make good suggestions about adjusting the aperture to get a shallower DOF. Keep them coming. :)

[Chantelle Voss]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Unfortunately, I don't really remember the specs. for the photograph. I will fool around with my camera tonight to see if I remember the specifics.

Ken - thanks for the edit! I like the contrast between the background and subject.

[Julie Kenward]

Chantelle, if you use Photoshop you can pull up the camera settings in Bridge very easily. If you use PS and need help learning how to do that, let us know!