The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
During a morning walk in the local nature reserve, I saw two-striped grasshoppers jumping in the tall grass. Although most of them were skittish and quickly bounced away as I tried to take their pictures, one little grasshopper stayed put and hid behind a blade of vegetation. I wanted to capture their strong legs on camera, but they kept shifting and positioning themselves opposite my camera, making it difficult to get their whole body in focus.
Specific Feedback
-Composition: do you prefer a more minimal background for insect macros or compositions that show more context or story?
-Impressions of the greens/saturation: I need help with what to do with yellows and greens in the image. SOOC, this one was even more neon. Some of that was corrected by shifting the white balance, and I also shifted the hue and removed saturation in LR.
James, he looks like he is very much interested in you and the camera, keeping an eye on you. They can be very skittish, so you did a great job capturing this little guy, and I love the pose and the diagonal line of grass. The BG works well for me, bringing all attention to the subject. On my monitor, he seems very bright and a bit more yellow than I have seen grasshoppers before. I think more of the details in the hopper would show up better if he were selectively darkened down a touch, and you may find that the color of the grasshopper looks more natural then, if not adjust the greens a bit just on him. It is a fine look at him, and he appears to be peaking around the blade of grass at you, which to me, makes the shot more interesting.
Great shot and an unusual angle. I love the little claws sticking out on the underside of the grass. Great eye contact as well, but the pseudopupils will take care of that no matter what
The light looks a bit harsh and I wonder if it’s direct sunlight and a semi-translucent body that makes it a bit radioactive. As for the background, it looks good to me. There’s a fine line between showing context and having a mess in the background and you’re pretty far from that line here. Personally, I might have cropped in a bit closer, but that’s about all.
No idea how many shot you managed to get off, but If your PS skills are up for a bit of compositing you might search for an image where the leg/knee is sharp and put it in. I think that would take it up a notch, but all in all, it’s a great capture, and sharpness throughout is certainly not mandatory.
Thank you, Shirley, for your detailed feedback! I appreciate your observation about the brightness and color saturation on the grasshopper. I agree that it looks a bit too yellow and bright, and your suggestion to selectively darken it is definitely something I’m going to try.
I also appreciate your words about the grasshopper’s pose and the backdrop. His hiding from me turned out in my favor and allowed me to capture his funny personality, and I’m glad it came through in the photo.
Thank you for your kind words and insightful feedback! I can see what you mean about the lighting looking a bit harsh, it was indeed direct sunlight that might have made the grasshopper’s body seem slightly too vibrant. I’m glad to hear that you liked the background and didn’t find it distracting. Your perspective on the fine line between showing context and having a mess in the background is helpful.
Your suggestion about cropping the image a bit more is interesting, and I’m going to try it out. Also, your idea about using Photoshop for compositing an image where the leg/knee is sharp is probably beyond me, but I’ve been working on improving my handheld focus stacks so I can get more in focus in the field. Cheers!
