Cicada exoskeleton begins to disintigrate

[JBW]

I waited for about three weeks after I noticed this exoskeleton clinging to a flower stem.

[Dave Humphries]

Pretty good capture Brian.

Good focus, background and reasonable Depth of Field.

I did wonder whether a little light could have been reflected on to the right hand side of the subject (our left) to provide more shadow detail.

My only other minor suggestion would be to lose a slither off the left hand side, even though its days of movement are over, I'd like to see a little more space in front than behind.

Hope that helps,

[JBW]

Pretty good capture Brian.

Good focus, background and reasonable Depth of Field.

I did wonder whether a little light could have been reflected on to the right hand side of the subject (our left) to provide more shadow detail.

My only other minor suggestion would be to lose a slither off the left hand side, even though its days of movement are over, I'd like to see a little more space in front than behind.

Hope that helps,

Yes it does. Especially the point about t being to centered. When you say light are you referring to added light during the shooting? I do have a flashlight I could use.

[Brownbear]

I agree with Dave, nice focus... also lovely colours and an attractive background that doesn't take away from your subject.

[Dave Humphries]

~ When you say light, are you referring to added light during the shooting?
I do have a flashlight I could use.

Yes Brian - however, I'd be wary of using another light source, as it may not match the colour temperature of the main illumination.

A flashlight/torch may be too warm (i.e. yellow) if it is an old tungsten bulb variety, or too blue if a modern LED variety.
It could also overpower the main light unless held at the correct distance and be too focused and produce a 'bright spot'.

I was thinking, for a subject of this small size, of something as simple as a plain white 5" x 3" record card/postcard to use as a reflector, held to the left of the lens and angled to catch the main light and 'shine' it onto the subject. It doesn't need batteries, is small and light to stuff in the camera bag for use when needed for macro subjects.

Of course there will be exponents for using an off camera flash, or even the on camera flash (in this situation) with suitable negative flash exposure compensation (-FEC) applied as a fill source, but I think at your (and my) current level of experience, it may cause more problems than it solves, whereas the reflector idea is almost guaranteed to give some improvement.

Cheers,

[JBW]

Yes Brian - however, I'd be wary of using another light source, as it may not match the colour temperature of the main illumination.

It may be i am alone in this thought but I doubt it... There are two valuable pluses to joining this group: (1) the tutorials and actual posted pictures (2) not needing to re-invent the wheel. White cards and reflected light are simply things that do not cross this newbies mind.

And of course there is (3) the encouragement to be found even in the harshest of critiques.


Cheers,

[JBW]

I agree with Dave, nice focus... also lovely colours and an attractive background that doesn't take away from your subject.

this time i got lucky with the background and this littkle fellow was not about to fly off

[Brownbear]

Hi Brian,

I forgot to mention another tip someone kindly shared with me and that tip was to place some honey on a piece of glass to attract insects and entice them to stay a while... ie; for a live insect so it doesn't fly off...

I have yet to try it myself but I intend to try it one day.

QUOTE=JBW;346454]this time i got lucky with the background and this littkle fellow was not about to fly off [/QUOTE]

[JBW]

hi brian,

i forgot to mention another tip someone kindly shared with me and that tip was to place some honey on a piece of glass to attract insects and entice them to stay a while... Ie; for a live insect so it doesn't fly off...

Yup honey or fruit slices both work.
I have yet to try it myself but i intend to try it one day.

Quote=jbw;346454]this time i got lucky with the background and this littkle fellow was not about to fly off

[/quote]