The lighting is great, the beetle is very sharp and details are superb. I really like the diagional comp also.
The Tamron 180 is my previous favorite lens, working well for you I see :)
The beetle is sitting on a green leaf but they dont eat live foilage, they eat everything but greens! Sounds like me! I think I remember Rove beetles being the most numerous or the second most numerous of all the bettles.
Hi horacio - I think this is your best macro posting so far! Your composition is spot on here, well seen and taken!!
(The secretions of this critter can be quite toxic to some folk producing a nasty skin reaction).:(
I often take a lot of pictures of my subjects, looking for better angle, light, focus, exposure, etc.
This time, I just walking around early in the morning when I see this very little bug on a leaf... place my tripod, open my backpack, mount the focus rail on the head, mount the camera, connect the remote switch, check the camera settings, shoot 1 picture... and the bug go away! :)
f/stop and shutter speed are: F11 / 0.3 sec. / iso 400
Bug lenght is about 10 mm.
I use also a Manfrotto (Bogen in US) 055 prob tripod; Manfrotto 410 geared head; Manfrotto 454 focus rail, Sigma 1.4 teleconverter + 32 mm of Kenko tubes + Tamron 180 lens. Canon 30D.
A user from a spanish forum don't agree about "riparius" identification. I 'am not an expert, my apologies if I make a mistake. I'm waiting for other confirmations. :)