Spider in Hyacinth

[David N Smith]

I saw this spider in one of the Hyacinths in my wife's flower garden and thought it would make a neat photo. My question is: How is the composition and how is the focus? To me the focus looks a little soft. Any other critique is welcome as I am new to macro and close-up photography.
Exif:
Camera: Canon XSi
Lens: 18-55mm @ 55mm
Exposure: 1/60 sec @ f/6.3
ISO: 100
Manual Focus, Evaluative metering, Shutter priority

Thanks in advance for any critiques.
Dave

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5102/5670600193_62c6cf5b72_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58554760@N07/5670600193/)

[Mitch Haimov]

Looks like your spider has some prey, David. Cool subject in a great setting! The abdomen seems to be reasonably sharp; you can't expect much DOF using f/6.3 at this magnification. Ideally, you would want the area of sharpest focus on the head (eyes if visible). The number one thing I would change about this image would be to make it a little brighter overall and open up the shadows without introducing noise or strange colors. I don't know how far you can take the ISO on an XSi without noise issues, but using 400 or 800 here would have been helpful--could have exposed more to the right for increased shadow detail and stopped down the aperture for more DOF without lengthening the exposure. The off-center composition is good, but since your subject is facing left, you could have shifted to your left a little to put the subject on the right (looking into rather than out of the frame).

Congrats on identifying the potential of this situation, and welcome to the fun--and challenging--world of macro photography! This image is a good start and can be a great learning experience. I'm sure you'll get more great suggestions in response to this post. Keep it up and keep sharing your results!

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Some fine tips offered by Mitch above. He's pretty much covered everything.

[David N Smith]

Thanks for the suggestions Mitch. I looked at brightening the subject some in LR3 but wanted to see what responses I got for this SOOC. I did crop and could have moved the subject to the right but couldn't figure out which way it was heading. I didn't the prey it had until after I had taken the photo and looked at it on the computer. I will try brightening, recropping and repost this weekend.

Dave

[Steve Maxson]

Hi David and welcome to Macro! You found an interesting subject to photograph! Mitch has pretty well nailed the critique and has given you a number of good suggestions to consider. Macro photography can be addictive and there are an almost infinite number of subjects out there so keep them coming. :S3:

[David N Smith]

Mitch, here is the Hyacinth w/spider brightened and recropped. Is this more what you were suggesting?

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58554760@N07/5677760726/" title="Hyacinth-3 by dvtldav, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5144/5677760726_28978450c1_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="Hyacinth-3"></a>

Dave

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Dave,
Excellent advice given above. Your repost did help but at that DOF and SS......sharpness with that sized subject will be an issue. Study some of the specs of some of the images here and you will start to see a pattern and get some ideas for yourself to try out!

[Mitch Haimov]

Good job on the repost, David. The re-crop and lightening are both improvements, IMO. Much easier to distinguish the predator from its lunch now. That said, you may have gone a bit too far in lightening the midtones and the highlights would be best with no lightening. These controlled adjustments could be accomplished with curves or levels. Good suggestion from Roman. Keep practicing!

[Ken Childs]

David, the critique has already been covered pretty well but I wanted to welcome you to the macro forum! I'm looking forward to more of what you have to offer. :S3: