Well it certainly seems that way when you look up weevils, AKA "snout beetles". Gardeners and farmers don't like them. I found this one in my house so chilled him down a little in the fridge before taking outside to photograph. The chilling did not seem to work that well and I ended up chasing him around some, which is not fun! I guess they are hardy creatures.
I am so impressed with the many fabulous macro images in this forum and I really want to start working on this branch of photography.
I cropped from each side and toned down the bright area at the left.
Date: 3 September, 2012, Time: 1444h
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Nikon 60mm f2.8D macro with 12 and 25mm extension tubes with Novoflex adapter
Program: Manual
ISO 800, 1/50s, f/16 (approx)
Flash: off
Last edited by John Chardine; 09-03-2012 at 06:05 PM.
Hi John, this is a very interesting bug up close that you captured quite well. I like the focal point on the eyes and you executed that precisely. Would have been nice to get the front of the snout sharp but that is a nit since I think squeezing that much DOF while you chased this guy around would be quite tough. I like the straight on head angle too. Well done!
You must have been pretty tight with the extension tubes on and hard to keep up with any movement. Well done. Just a small thing but I might have squared it up with the in focus line prior to cropping if there was room.
I really like the choice of matching color and texture for bg.
A scary looking shot of these cute beetles. Those hairs on the snout look like fangs to me! Very fine focus on the eyes and narrow DOF. A little more to get the whole snout in focus would have been nice but you did well to get this as is imo. I agree with Dave's comment about the focal line in front of the weevil. I'd rotate the image until the line was vertical and this would put the eyes on a leveler plane. Enjoyed looking at this one, TFS.
Let me start by saying that I like the image.....even though I agree with more DOF on the snout........that being said and looking at the specs......you eeked out as much as you could out of natural light! This is the #1, #2, & #3 reason to use flash.......to allow you to freeze movement while hand holding. Using the flash could easily give you 2 stops without being overdone. A great investment is the twin flashes so if you want to play more with macro.....the MT 24 Twin lights (you can make home made diffusers) or a secondary slaved flash should be in your future! This allows you to explore a whole new world and push the DOF to the max! All in all a great effort for a seldom seen creature!
Thanks everyone! I will look at the line of focus on the "perch" and see if moving it improves the image. As I remember it this was the attitude of the beetle as it stood on the curved side of a wooded chair.
Roman- Thanks so much for the flash tip. You are absolutely right and macro flash is something I just haven't delved into yet.
A most hated pest
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