Tiny Jumper on a Jalapeno

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL XT
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Manual mode
1/800"
F10
ISO: 200
Canon 430EX: On, Fired
LR & CS3

Like Vida, I love these little monsters!

[Allen Sparks]

Very nice Ken. I really like the dark subject on the red background. really pops. Those eyes are killer too.

[Aidan Briggs]

I do like the great pose and exposure, but would back down on the saturation and sharpness. There are some sharpening artifacts around the catchlights in the eye, and the reds look a little roasted on my monitor. Then again some people might like the reds how they are.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Ken, nice sharp detail on it's cute little face. Like the red BG, really pops. The shallow DOF make the face stand out.

[Julie Kenward]

I do like these little guys and this one certainly has impact! I also think the red is over the top (and the histogram shows the same thing.) Besides that, I find all the little white marks on the flower and the white mark on the back of the spider to be distracting. My eyes keep bouncing from his eyes to that white spot on his back and then get pulled into the area around him.

Good details on the spider and nice placement in the frame - although sticking him back a little further in the ULC would be even better - it would get those big eyes right up into the ROT's position.

[Ken Childs]

I do like the great pose and exposure, but would back down on the saturation and sharpness. There are some sharpening artifacts around the catchlights in the eye, and the reds look a little roasted on my monitor. Then again some people might like the reds how they are.

I seem to have problems with reds. I'd already taken the saturation on the reds down -25 which seemed like a huge amount but after hearing from you and Jules, I compared this to a jalapeno I had in the freezer and it's still too bright. Those halos around the catchlights were part of the original and I probably should have cloned them out. How does the sharpening appear to you on the rest of the image?

I cloned out a bunch of white spots from the pepper but left some of the larger imperfections. I'd tried cloning them out completely but then the pepper looked fake. I'm going to try cloning over them at 50% to see if toning them down a bit helps.

Thanks all for the suggestions. :)

[Aidan Briggs]

Sharpening appears good for the rest of the image. If the halos were in the original, then I would leave them in. I think the sharpening has accentuated them here, and that is why they looked like artifacts to me.

[Charles Wesley]

Ken,

Very nice macro image. Like it alot. Loads of visual impact IMO. You think you have issues with reds...
_________________________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL
http://naturesphotographs.com

[Anita Bower]

I agree with the comments above. The idea of this color combination is excellent. Did the spider suffer from having been on the jalapeno? Did it's little feet get "hot"?

I find reds challenging also. I just photographed some red flowers this afternoon--not sure how well they turned out. The shinniness of the pepper increased the challenge.

:)