Not sure of the ID of this beetle, Buprestid maybe? It is quite small. I found the pollen on the head interesting and so chose this angle. FINALLY, the flowers are blooming here in my corner of the world and I am back outside with my camera. Plenty of snow last month is producing lots of flowers this month!
Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100 f2.8 macro, tripod, 1/400, f7.1, ISO 2000.
The exposure and focus is good. Certain things are beyond your control such as the petal in front of the antenna. A small subject on a comparatively large flower head makes for some awkward decisions regarding how near or far to get the the subject, e.g. how big the beetle and how big do you want the flower and then if you go in close you have to carefully select a small or wide aperture.
Jonathan, I wanted this to be mostly about the interaction of the beetle and the flower; the beetle feeding yet dispersing pollen. That played into the decision to have the beetle small, yet with enough detail to show the pollen on its head.
Ok Nancy I get your drift, in that case I think I would have gone in a little tighter - but that is purely a personal opinion. The reason I suggested tighter is because you indicated the interaction between the beetle and flower as opposed to vice versa, in other words your primary aim is to show the beetle and pollen. I do agree though, that the beetle quite clearly shows this activity in your image.
Hi Nancy. I like the even lighting and you captured excellent detail in the beetle. The pollen grains all over its head are a nice touch and add a lot of interest to the image. Comp is usually somewhat subjective and this seems a bit "in-between" to me. Too close to include the whole flower, but not really tight on the beetle either. There are a bunch of flower parts sticking out of the frame that I find rather distracting. I might suggest cropping a little from the top (to eliminate some of the green background) and also some from the right - trying to end up with the beetle in the ROT position. Just some thoughts for you to consider. Overall, this is nicely done and I think a few tweaks to the comp will take it up a couple notches!
Buprestid beetle (?)
Overall, this is nicely done and I think a few tweaks to the comp will take it up a couple notches!
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