Mayfly

[Mat Bingham]

Took this a while back I quite like the grasses and the way they lean into the picture. Let me know what you think. Taken with a Canon 50D, 300mm F4 IS lens and 1.4 TC, aperture F7.1 shutter speed 1/400, ISO400

[Ken Childs]

Hi Mat, this mayfly looks great....nice pose with curling abdomen and the front legs extended the way they are. The 2 main problems I see are the blade of grass that is behind the wings and that the tail is cut off. Cloning out that blade of grass looks like it would be tough because it's visible through the wings but it might be worth a try. I know how problematic Mayfly tails can be because they are so thin and long that it's hard to keep them in the frame and still have a nice composition. As it is now, you might consider cropping from the left and right, making this a portrait crop. Since the tail is already cut, I would take more from the right so the bug doesn't end up being centered.

[Mat Bingham]

Thank you for your comments. I agree with you about the blade of grass behind the wing. Not sure I agree with you about the tail. To have the whole tail in the photo would mean the Mayfly would be small in the frame which was not what I wanted. However maybe the Mayfly would have better suited a portrait rather than landscape photo. Thanks again for you comments.

[Jim Bridges]

The detail on the little fly is so nice...I enjoyed seeing this image!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Mat. I love the light, the colors, and the diagonal flow of the grass stems. You also have excellent detail on the mayfly. The stem behind the mayfly is not really bothering me, but I would suggest that you experiment with alternate crops to move the mayfly further from the center of the image. The OOF background is looking a little blotchy - you might try some selective NR there to see if that will smooth it out. Overall, this is very nicely done.

[OvidiuCavasdan]

I like the pose and details on the mayfly. Also good dof covering the subject. Grass stems look good and I like the BG color. The grass stem behind the mayfly is not bothering me much, in real life it is not easy to find subjects in ideal pose and perfect BG/surroundings. Long antenna or tails are indeed problematic. Instead of having the entire tail in the frame and small subject I prefer cutting the tail and the subject bigger in the frame. I like this image.