I almost didn’t see this little one, I think it’s a katydid of some sort, on the dandelion. But when I did I had to try and photograph it. I thought it was so cute how it was looking straight at the camera! I loved how it shined like gold! I had a really hard time focusing on it and I know it didn’t turn out as sharp as it could. I needed a shorter lens.
Specific Feedback Requested
Anything, I know it’s not really a macro shot but pretty close up anyway.
Technical Details
Nikon D3400, ISO 100, 300mm(450 equivalent), f6.3, 1/800. Slight adjustments and cropped.
He is a cutie, Vanessa. Love how the soft backdrop with the gentle diagonal lines make the dandelion pop. I don’t know how much you may have cropped this photo, but you could try cropping a bit more will help put more emphasis on the katydid. Very nicely seen.
Vanessa, you have good eyes to have seen this little guy on a dandelion seed head. I like that you used the square crop. To me it is not just the katydid, but the dandelion seed head as well. I agree with @linda_mellor about the soft backdrop with the gentle diagonal lines, it does support the subjects well.
Very nice, Vanessa. It is a unique photo image with a small subject like this on a very dedicate flower. Everything is great so I do not see any changes needed here.
I would say that it qualifies as a closeup for sure, closeup doesn’t have to be taken with a macro lens.
I have a 150-600 coming with a working distance of 22 inches at the wide end and I do intend to use it for closeup work as well as long shots of wildlife and grandkids (at this stage the grandkids are considered wildlife, too
This image looks great at the current DOF in my opinion.
If you did want to get it all in focus at 300mm, 1 stop down in aperture would probably have nailed it all the way through.
There are some good DOF calculators online (in case you weren’t already aware) I’ve found them to be helpful for my stuff.
Personally, I feel that the DOF is perfect for the dandelion and the hopper
I’m not really sure about the ID but those really long antenna look like they belong to the katydid family.
Thank you so much @linda_mellor@Shirley_Freeman@Dean_Salman@Merv for all your feedback on this one, I really appreciate it! I cropped it some more like you suggested Linda, not sure if it works. It was kind of my original idea for it but I also liked the background and dandelion but I like the bug being more prominent too. Any thoughts?
Well you can definitely see the little guy better, @Vanessa_Hill, but I really meant just a very small crop. Maybe a quarter of an inch all around? Or even a half of an inch? With the amount of cropped you’ve done you’ve lost the wonderful background and also the sense and feel of the dandelion, IMHO.
Just a thought, why not both?
Two separate images, one is of the dandelion with a hopper on it, and one is of the hopper on a dandelion.
Have one in one part of the house and the other in another part of the house.
I think they are both strong images that work well on their own and @linda_mellor’s suggestion for just tightening the crop on all sides would work as well in my opinion.
