Snail says Hello...

[John Platt]

Backyard pea destroyer saying hello...

ISO 800
f/11
1/500
105 Micro Nikor 2.8 with 1.7x
Tripod

Cropped, desaturated and sharpened in CS 5

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3383/5797582504_96bf15db37_z.jpg

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey John,
This image has strong sidelight/backlight......which is interesting but I do feel you needed either a bit of fill flash or reflector to open up the shadow side.....just a touch. I am mostly bothered by the brightest area of the sky and the 2 darker leaves on the LH side. If you are OK with such things I would remove them and tone down the brightest area a bit as my eye is drawn a bit to much to that side and away from the subject. Just a few thoughts to keep in mind when you are out in the field.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi John, I'd love to see these guys leaving my garden sooner than later! They ate all my pumpkin seedlings overnight :eek:.
I like the translucency the back/sidelight gives to both the snail and the leaf. I don't mind the dark areas, I think they add to the mood of the image. However, some light on the snails house would have been nice as well. I do feel that there is a bit much empty space above the snail, and I would have wished for a little more room on the left. This would be solved if the leave on the left wasn't there. You may want to try Romans suggestions and remove them. There seems to be some JPEG artifacting around the sky highlight, you may want to check that in your original file.
Out of curiosity: what is your working distance with the 105 mm and the 1.7 TC for an image like this?

[Allen Sparks]

Hi John,
Unique image! I agree with Roman's critique especially about the fill flash to bring out the snail details a tad more.

[John Platt]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I agree with the comments, the original image as shot is not nearly as dark as it appears in this posting. It was PP'd for a local photo club monthly meeting where the theme was silhouettes. While the image was well received, it was DQ'd because it was not considered a true silhouette.

So it is too dark, but not dark enough for what I was attempting.

I got a bad case of --- " if it won't go force it"

The good news is that with one click of the reset button I get to start over!

[Steve Maxson]

hi John. I like the unusual perspective here and you captured the snail in a cool pose. I would tend to agree with Roman regarding the lighting and cloning. Those few changes will make your interesting image even stronger. :S3: Keep them coming.

[John Platt]

Out of curiosity: what is your working distance with the 105 mm and the 1.7 TC for an image like this?

Hi Steve -

Thanks for the feedback, I went back to the garden and looked, I was about 18 inches away. There was no way to use a reflector by myself, the subject was constantly moving and I needed both hands to focus and move the camera.

You wouldn't think that snails were fast unless you were trying to get a shot with a macro lens at magnification.

[Brendan Dozier]

Love the creative angle on this one, John. The side and back lighting are great. Some good suggestions made above to make it stronger.

[Mitch Haimov]

Very nice, John. Would love to see a repost with just a little more light in the shadows and the brightest areas along left edge toned down. I like the rest of the bright sky and would not darken or crop it. Do agree two leaves at left could go. Love the translucency!