Macros from this morning

[Marie Hass]

Taken with my 70-200 f2.8 and my closeup lens.

Petunia "Blackberry"



Do I need a tighter crop?

Sweatbee on Cosmos



Do I leave the crop in #2 as is? Would a different aspect ratio be better?

Please comment, critique.

Marie

[csa mt]

#1 would benefit from a tighter crop, in my opinion. #2 I really like as is!

[Geoff F]

I think I would crop a little from the top and left side of the second image.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Marie I think a tighter crop would be better for #1 and a square crop might work fine for #2.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Marie,

For me No 1 does not work even with a tighter crop.

Now for No 2 you have caused yourself a problem. You have an excellent bee capture and an very good flower capture, two images in one

If you undertake a square crop you put the flower central, but, if you crop some from the bottom and a bit from the right although the bee will be more central you retain that nice sweep of the petal lines going down to the left bottom corner.

Whatever, it's a great image.

Grahame

[Marie Hass]

Grahame, could you explain what it is you do not liike about #1? I value your opinion.

Thanks, Geoff! I figured a bug would get you looking closer. Lols.

Binnur, I value your comments. I will try out your suggestion.

Csa mt, thank you for commenting. I am game to try out your crop suggestion.

Marie

[DanK]

#1 doesn't work for me either. There is very little detail, and very little in focus. #2 is an excellent capture. It's a hoverfly of some sort (check the eyes and antennae, which are both fly-like). not a sweat bee. Normally, insect shots tend to look better if there is empty space in front rather than behind. I would crop off a lot of the petals on the left. That would make the fly left-of-center, with the center of the flower providing space in front of it.

[Stagecoach]

Grahame, could you explain what it is you do not liike about #1? I value your opinion.
Marie

Sorry Marie I should have expanded on my comment.

The area within the scene which is most in focus forms a very minor part of the total image. I also find myself wondering what part is supposed to be in focus, to me it should be the water drops but the sharpest is the part to the left.

The remaining outer area of the flower gives little or no indication of what it is whereas if we look at the flower in No 2 we have a very small amount of petal which is clearly defined and that which is well out of focus does not matter because we already know what it is.

Hope that explains my thinking but let's not forget that is only my view

Grahame

[JBW]

Taken with my 70-200 f2.8 and my closeup lens.

Petunia "Blackberry"



your first shot has me wondering what I am looking at. perhaps a slightly lighter background? The second shot could work well with an 8x10 crop. But as was pointed out it is a superb shot no matter how you crop it.

Do I need a tighter crop?

Sweatbee on Cosmos



Do I leave the crop in #2 as is? Would a different aspect ratio be better?

Please comment, critique.

Marie

[Marie Hass]

Thanks, Grahame and Dan for the explanation.

Marie.

[Shadowman]

Nice, #1 the bee is a bit centered but the diagonals created by the flower petals gives the image lots of energy.

[IzzieK]

# 1 has a mood and mystery built into it -- if you crop this, the look will be very different since the focus is just there and also not much on the water drops.

Number 2 is colourful and I tend to agree with Dan in this, not that I am ignoring your comment, Grahame...(I will never think of going against you...) but I can see more sense in Dan's thinking this time around.

[ajohnw]

Pass on 1 but playing around in the lightbox 2 looks better to me with the left side cropped so that the flower centre is at around a 1/3. Height wise I think it's ok.

Some of this is probably down to making the insect a larger proportion of the whole image.

John
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[wilgk]

I found myself not really knowing where to focus my attention in the first, I don't have any suggestions, but it just didn't grab me.
The second on the other hand i found really lovely and jolly well done, not easy at all to get everything focused together. I think all the elements work perfectly as you have framed them.