Yellow and black longhorn beetle

[Karl Günter Wünsch]

Canon 40D, Tokina 100mm f/2.8 @ f/13, 1/13, Berlebeach mini tripod, MLU, slight crop.

[Ed Vatza]

Hi Karl,

The beetle is cool. With a straight head on image it is very difficult to get the whole beetle in focus even, I see, at f/13. But the head and antennae look sharp. I kinda wish that you were just a little higher above the beetle to give a little better look at the back and markings. The background looks terrific but the flowers look a little hot on my screen. I look forward to seeing more.

[Julie Kenward]

I agree with Ed. The beetle is nicely in focus but the flowers are really too hot. You might want to try calming those down!

[Mike Moats]

Hey Karl, very nice image a nice framing of the critter. I agree with others on the hot flower.

[Robert O'Toole]

Hi Karl

Cool subject and great work, the focus is right on, you didnt clip any important bits and you were able to get 100% of the antenna in the frame.

Good highlight control, whites dont look at all hot on my computer, they all look a bluish light gray. Guess the poster and I are the only PC users here.

If the whites look hot on your computer, take a look down at the bottom of each page on BPN, I can see each square clearly, if you cannot see the first and last boxes clearly you need to calibrate your monitor or change your viewing angle.

Robert

[Robert O'Toole]

Here is a capture so we can see the tones on a calibration scale and what I am referring to in my last post. The whites in the image dont look hot or blown at all.

I would be interested to see how many of the previous posters use a mac or a calibrated monitor.

Robert

[Karl Günter Wünsch]

Here is a capture so we can see the tones on a calibration scale and what I am referring to in my last post. The whites in the image dont look hot or blown at all.

Thanks for coming to the rescue of my monitor calibration :-) as I could not explain to myself what the other posters were complaining about. The histogram looked a smidge hot but no significant clipping and not as much as to ruin the shot to my eyes... Oh by the way I am using GIMP on Linux, no Windows involved :-)
regards
Karl Günter

[Robert O'Toole]

Thanks for coming to the rescue of my monitor calibration :-) as I could not explain to myself what the other posters were complaining about. The histogram looked a smidge hot but no significant clipping and not as much as to ruin the shot to my eyes... Oh by the way I am using GIMP on Linux, no Windows involed :-)
regards
Karl Günter

Glad to help, Dont mention it, that is what I am here for :-)

This happens quite a bit in this world of non calibrated monitors and ICC ignorant programs. I posted an image of a grizzly bear laying in wildflowers last week and almost everyone complained that the grass was too green. I was the only one there and the image looks accurate to me but what can you do in that case?

Robert

[Karl Günter Wünsch]

Glad to help, Dont mention it, that is what I am here for :-)

This happens quite a bit in this world of non calibrated monitors and ICC ignorant programs. I posted an image of a grizzly bear laying in wildflowers last week and almost everyone complained that the grass was too green. I was the only one there and the image looks accurate to me but what can you do in that case?

Nothing, the problem is that everyone has his own expectations on what a colour should look like. For me the main problem often is green as I take many of my pictures on dry chalk meadows on which foliage almost always has an olive tinge - which disagrees with the experiences people in other parts of the world (or even in Germany) have... I thus find myself often tempted to avoid the inevitable discussion by ofsetting my green towards the "common sense" colour tone :-(
regards
Karl Günter

[Keith Kennedy]

Karl,

Like Robert, I am a PC user with a calibrated monitor and the flowers are not hot at all on my monitor and in fact are just as Robert described. It is a terrific image ( I am partial to long horn beetles) especially since both antennae are positioned so nicely which is not alway easy to capture. The background is perfect and you are at 'eye level' with the insect as it sits on top of the flowers--just a great capture! Regarding the color, etc, I would say you could make the image pop a bit more with some additional curves work or use the 'local contast' technique (both Artie and Robert teach this) on the insect's body. Bottom line, an exceptionally nice image.

Keith