Happy Hour

[Adrian David]

Model = NIKON D300
Exposure Time = 1/200"
F Number = F13
Exposure Program = Aperture priority
ISO Speed Ratings = 800
Subject Distance = 0.45m
Metering Mode = CenterWeightedAverage
Flash = Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, return light not detected
Sensing Method = One-chip color area sensor
Exposure Mode = Auto exposure
White Balance = Auto white balance
Focal Length In 35mm Film = 157mm
Lens = nikkor 105.0 mm f/2.8 VR
HH, strobela

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice image, it looks like he has got his hands full! One minor point for me, the area adjacent to the rear right leg on the male is showing some noise.

[christopher galeski]

nice detail in the insects,like the pose and angle,not keen on the BG,the plants or flowers are too bright.thanks.

[bhavya joshi]

Adrian, Lovely moment you captured.. agree with above comments..Try to reduce some noise and about brightness, you can fix with help of software.. but overall nice captured..

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Adrian. A very nice behavior image, well composed, and with enough DOF to get both hoppers sharp. I would agree that running some nr on the background to smooth it out a little will take the image up a notch. The light from your flash (even with your strobella) is a little on the harsh side - a perpetual problem when photographing reflective-bodied insects. Overall, this is nicely done.

[Adrian David]

Thank you very much!
Well....with the grasshoppers, and the light, is a bit tricky....If it is not warm enough, they don't ....get to action........Ideal would be a warm cloudy day with smooth light, but unfortunately this didn't happened 'till now...Without the flash, the light was so harsh, that the shadows were too intense to work with...I really hope that one day I'll get them in a better light...

[Arthur Morris]

There was some clipping in the JPEG. Too bright, and too saturated. Ten seconds in Photoshop yielded this version (with no clipping).

[Arthur Morris]

Now all you need is some NR on the BKGR and possibly a small crop from the top.

[Adrian David]

Thank you very much ,Arthur!
I really appreciate the time you took to edit my photo! I totally agree with you. You're right about the clipping and maybe about the saturation. They were really very colorful, like I've never seen before...

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Adrian, YAW. The hoppers may indeed have been a bit brighter in color but the time to handle that while preventing clipping is during RAW conversion. Everything that I did and tons more is covered in detail in our Digital Basics File which includes my complete workflow along with dozens of great Photoshop tips. And it is simply written and easy to follow.