Ok to crop wings?

[Patrick Sparkman]

I took this shot the other evening. I wanted to show the dead flower, and get a little green in photo also. However, the fly was pretty large, so I was forced crop the wing to get the image the way that I wanted. I often do this with birds, but what do you think about cropping insect wings?

Canon 1d IV, 65 MP-E, MR-14 Flash diffused,hand held, framed using Live View right on the ground, iso 200, f16, 1/300

[John Chardine]

Hi Patrick- for me I think it's fine to crop the wings. I like the soft warm light on the subjects. A bit more DoF on the body of the fly would have been great but you were already at f16. The 1D4 works great at higher ISOs so you could have kept the same shutter speed, reduced the aperture and increased the ISO. I would try another crop to put more emphasis on the fly by removing some from the bottom and adding some to the top.

[Ken Childs]

Hey Patrick, you've captured some great golden hues in this shot and that is a very interesting looking bug! As to the crop, I'm a bug geek so I would want to see a crop of mainly just the bug without the wing cropped. If you want a vertical that includes the flower, I'd crop just below the flower and not worry about the including the green because IMHO, the green is a distraction anyway. With either crop, you would want to add some more canvas at the top because the bug is a bit too tight up there. The flower could stand to be toned down some...right now it's too bright and it's pulling my eye away from that cool bug. There are a couple of spots on the right eye...one dark and one light...that should be removed. I think this shot was well done and with a few tweaks, you'll end up with a real winner! :)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Patrick,
I like the look of this but I'm with Ken on the wings here.....mainly because the left one wasn't clipped. An alternative suggestion that may work.....is take the room off the bottom...just above the greenish thing and then proportionally off the right.....making the cut wing more dramatic yet for me strengthening the comp. Following Ken's additional tweaks will only take this to it's proper level. Nicely done overall and the minor tweaks will really make this shine!

[Patrick Sparkman]

Thanks for all of the suggestions! I have modified per, and I do like the stronger crop composition. John, trust me I wish there were more depth of field also. This lens almost demands flash as main light so I could have easily gone to f22 at this ISO so no need to go higher. However, I generally do not go smaller than f16, as you start to lose sharpness due to defraction especially in the eyes.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Patrick. I think it's fine to cut (not clip) insect wings as long as the cut fits well with the overall comp of the image. I think the cut wing is OK in this instance. I like the comp of your repost, the attractive mix of browns, reds, and golds, plus the tweaks you have incorporated. I, too, would wish for a little more DOF, but that's not in the cards with this lens as you are maxed out at f/16. (Just to be clear, the MP-E lens does not stop down farther than f/16 :) ) I agree with you about diffraction - as you move in closer than 1:1 magnification with this lens, diffraction becomes more and more of an issue and you may need to open up your aperture (and lose even more DOF) to achieve the sharpest results. :)

[Arthur Morris]

I like both versions here. The eyes are way cool but that mouth is mind-boggling!