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Hi there,

Went over to the Langwarring Flora & Fauna Reserve this afternoon with intentions to shoot birds...

... While I was waiting for better light I thought I'd look for some macros. Here's the first one I've managed to process.

D70 + 68mm Extension + Sigma 180 + SB800 + Lumiquest Softbox


Comments and suggestions appreciated. Especially with regards to composition.

Paul

P.S. Any ideas to an actual ID on this hopper?

P.P.S. I didn't manage to get any bird shots

Paul - a great shot. Composition is really only applicable when the subject is relatively stable - like a house In the macro environment of bug photography you get what you can when you can and your pic proves what great pics can result.

I think it's a sunburned grass hopper.

Great shot & great colour

This is great. Nice colour saturation.
J

As far as macros go, that's brilliant. Well done getting that one.

Thanks for the positive comments guys

Was feeling a bummed out about not getting any decent bird shots (...just can't seem to get darn close enough!!).... Glad the evening's shooting wasn't a total loss

Paul

Hi Paul,
I know it's a little OT but I was wondering how you processed the border?
Cheers,
Griffo.

Great shot. Love the Christmas colours.

Hi Paul
I think I'd have to say that this is one of the best macro photos I've seen you post here. The DOF is magnificent, the colours really pop out of the screen at you and you are obviously becoming more and more comfortable with that style of photography.

Well done !

One possible suggestion of something to try, and this might only come down to personal taste, is the scene could have been rotated about 30 degrees counter-clockwise, so the "hopper" was introduced into the shot from the left side, instead of the top. Again, this might only be my preference and may not look or suit better than what you have posted. It would be interesting to see the comparison though.

Keep up the great work. I always enjoy looking at your images and watching your artform grow. Hopefully one day we can both get to a mini-meet in Melbourne and you can give me some tips

Thanks everyone,

The only thing I would have liked is to have the front eye a little sharper... maybe I could find another shot I took of the same insect with a sharp eye and blend the two together.... maybe when I get a little more time

As for the border... I've created an action for that. I put it on my site for a while but since the re-design I haven't put it back up yet.

You can try and download it here:

http://www.australiandigitalphotography ... orders.atn


... but for a basic instrction... I just use "Canvas size" a couple of times (once to create a white frame of equal widths on each side.... second to add white space to the bottom of the image and third to add the black border on all sides.

Paul