Mopane Worm

[Pieter Lotter]

For those of you who don't know - it is edible and is a delicacy in southern Africa.
Comments and crits welcome.

Canon EOS40D
Lens: Canon EF 38-75
f5.7
ISO 400
1/250

[Ken Watkins]

I cannot say I have ever seen an image of this before, very colourful.

They are not this colourful when cooked, my sister in law ate them in Namibia:eek::eek:

[Pierre Smith]

Hi Pieter. Sorry but luckily i still do have money for a t-bone :S3:
Interesting image, colourfull and sharp

[Dumay de Boulle]

Nice color and detail...I have to admit I have eaten them and they can keep there delicacy :c3:

[Morkel Erasmus]

yep - doesn't taste nice enough for me to classify it as a "delicacy"...
now crocodile meat...that is another story! :bg3::w3
(let's get to the photo before we start a vegetarian/meat-eaters brawl :t3)

They sure are colourful. Nice detail here and I like the composition Pieter. It seems that most of the whites on the "neck/head" have been "blown"...might be worth doing some recovery in RAW

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Pieter, Nice composition, sharp, colours are good and the half eaten leaves tell the story.

I'll leave the delicacy for you.

[Pieter Lotter]

Ken, Pierre, Dumay, Pieter - thank you for your comments.
Morkel - thank you - maybe I should stick to less "delicate" subjects in future.....

[Harshad Barve]

Wow , one cool species and VWD here
TFS

[Hilary Hann]

What a colourful creature. Like the image a lot although it would have been cool to have one with the mouth actually munching as well.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Pieter and welcome, nice to see something different being posted.

If you are shooting stuff like this you can have greater control over the BG, as you can move things out from camera view before taking the shot ie the stem at the rear of the worm, bottom RH corner etc so you have a cleaner BG and this in turn helps tp 'separate' your subject. I would also give this a CCW rotation so the stem is horizontal and run some Noise Reduction over the BG. If you are doing more of this and the location permits, then a tripod will certainly help in terms of both steadying your camera avoiding any camera shake and easier to make your composition.

Certainly a colourful subject and take your word on how it tastes, look forward to seeing more soon. :S3:

TFS
Steve

[Pieter Lotter]

Thank you Harshad
Hilary - thank you - next time will take more time over the pics
Steve - many thanks for your good advice. This pic was taken on the spur of the moment at our campsite in the Kruger National Park. I was very surprised to see this worm as it was outside of their normal season.

Pieter

[Steve Kaluski]

Pieter, always take advantage of the moment, the other bits can always follow if you have time, just enjoy. :S3: