Guardian of the Zucinni -

[John Platt]

Found this guy watching over the squash... no Aphids this year!

NIKON 105 Micro w/ TC 1.7ii
1/500th (it was windy)
F/8
+ 1/2 EV - matrix metering
ISO 1600 (really windy)
Tripod

Processed in LR3 & CS5... cropped, desaturated and other adjustments to even out the tones from shooting @ 1600 ISO.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6015/5991950568_9266ce142a_z.jpg

Comments welcome

[John Storjohann]

Hi John;

I love the background, but the foreground is a little distracting to me; I'd like to see a tighter crop, removing some from the bottom, removing the brightest foreground blur, and a little bit from the right hand side. I like the tilt of the head and the almost inquisitive pose!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey John,
Originally I felt like John......but the more I looked at this.....the more I felt the FG had to be there to keep the peeking over look you have captured here. I would try toning down the FG to see if that works but I find myself liking this as is too!

[Bob Miller]

John....I would crop some off the bottom only! Nice shot!

[Julie Kenward]

I'd also take some off the bottom - just slightly above your signature - that would leave enough to give the scale of the insect peeking over while wiping out the more OOF area. If you do decide to keep the crop as is you might try darkening the bottom area to match the rest of the FG so it doesn't draw the eye so strongly from the main focal point.

Very nice pose and great sharpness on the insect!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi John. I like the look of your mantis nymph peeking over the edge of the leaf. It gave you a nice hunting pose, and I like the selective focus on the mantis. It looks like you were quite successful in handling the wind and in cleaning up any noise introduced from using ISO 1600. I could see cropping a little off the bottom, but it's a minor issue for me. Well done.