Clover Mite

[Patrick Sparkman]

I was trying to get a pleasing composition of this different leaf within some clover, when this Clover Mite ran up, posed for about 2 milliseconds, then took off. These things are tiny, probably 1/2 the size of the head of a pin.

I would really like to get some better shots of them, but they really run around. This guy did not give enough time to get the composition the way really wanted, but I will keep trying.

This is slight crop for composition, basic LR3 Exposure adjustments, and some magic lasso cleanup in CS5.

Canon 5D II, 65 MP-E, MT-24, ISO400, f/16, 1/200 sec, flash power set manually

All comments and critics welcome.

[Anita Bower]

Good for you for having a quick shutter finger to capture this little mite. It adds color and interest to this image. The mite's colors nicely complement the green leaves. Nice composition. I like the little hairs on the interestingly shaped leaves. I also like how the leaves stand out from the dark background.

I wonder if you might slightly lighten the area where the mite is, and selectively sharpen (maybe using unsharp mask) the mite and the in-focus leaf areas. I'd clean up the black spots on the leaves and the white areas near the mite.

Nice!

[Ken Childs]

Hey Patrick, that is one cool little bug! Thinking as a bug geek, the star of the show, IMHO, is the mite so I would crop a lot tighter. I think with a 5D you should be able to go a lot tighter and still have a usable image. Anita's suggestions are good so I lightened this up and gave it a round of high pass sharpening. Here are 2 other crop suggestions. I didn't take the time to remove some of the black and white spots but I also think that would be a good idea.

Next time you see one, grab the clump of plants it's on and put it in the fridge for awhile. Maybe cooling it will slow it down enough to give you time for more shots.

89672

[Anita Bower]

I like both of Ken's resubmissions.

[Chris Korman]

Issues you had understood, I think orienting the strobes lighting on the mite, would have improved the image.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Patrick,
I'll suggest yet a third option as I like the leaves and the light on the mite already covered. I would consider darkening the BG behind the main leaves.....to the same Dark green found in a fe places. This will make the main leaf pop even more. With the additional lightening of the mite.....this will help the overall flow of the comp IMO. Still.....considering how tiny these guys are.....you did very well overall!