The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
OK, so it’s not the most natural of settings and yes, I do need to stain the dock, but this gorgeous little beetle sat and let me not only get a few photos, but also some video which I am going to put together shortly. It was preening and bathing and being cute as anything. It was pretty dim when I found it so I used an LED panel to brighten things up and bring up that lovely texture. IRL it’s about 8 mm long.
Specific Feedback
Nothing in particular, mostly just sharing a cute little bug.
Technical Details
Handheld, but with the camera resting on the dock step - LED panel
Lr for basic processing including a little crop, wb adj., texture & clarity, sharpening & denoise, calibration panel to bring up some snap in the colors.
Kris, I am so glad you shared this little guy with us. You really captured nice detains in him, especially in his head/face area. You did a fantastic job with the lighting. It looks like it is the sun setting low. Sure, it would have been real nice if he had posed on something more natural, but I am just glad you got the shot. Love the color of his wings.
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman - I forgot I even had these photos. Forgot about them and that I’m working on a quick dragonfly video so when that’s done I’ll get to a video of this little guy. The body itself is sort of iridescent and fuzzy. It cleaned its feet and antenna and was just so darn cute.
Oh and those aren’t wings - the wings are underneath. All beetles have elytra which are the hard wing coverings. In the video you will see it open the elytra and stretch its wings although they never fully unfold.
Thanks @Jens_Ober - it took me a while to ID the critter and it was remarkably patient. Glad the board as background isn’t too awful. Unlike the insects I fish out of the river, this one wasn’t safe to be moved as it probably would have flown off.
Nice shot with excellent details on the head. The only thing that I wish for in this photo is more DOF. They are fast so stacking is out of the question. Well done…Jim
Thanks @Jim - yes, I wish for a bit more, too, but the compromise had to be made since this little one didn’t stop moving. Just going to start the video project so you’ll see in a while what I mean. Very cute though.
Glad you liked it, @Shirley_Freeman - I’m working on another of a spider wrangling a June bug in her web. The beetle is many times her size and, unfortunately, still alive during the hour or so I filmed the event. It’s a bit gruesome, but it was fascinating the way she’d work on wrapping and disabling it for a bit, then retreat to her lair and rest. So far it’s a bit too long at just under 8 minutes so I might have to cut more.
