Great seeing Ron, as this is definitely a closeup. I'm a little bothered about the hotspots below the bug but it acceptable. I wonder if you considered cropping the right half of the flower? It's not really adding to the composition.   Posted: 09/06/2023 16:36:22

Cute bug! Maybe darken the right side of the image and the hot spots on the petal just under the bug. Here is my version using a radial gradient in Camera Raw. I also desaturated the cyan, cloned out the hotspots, and burned the brightest areas. Looking at 100% you got great detail on the bug!   Posted: 09/09/2023 10:16:08

Great catch. He's looking right at us. However, I think this is more effective with a good crop.   Posted: 09/12/2023 15:10:40

It certainly is not rare to see little critters appearing in these kind of shots - in this case it worked out really well. Well seen. Actually I like your composition, showcasing the little guy (gal) in the corner and is a good documentary image. Unfortunately the extreme highlights draw our eyes away from bug big time. Cropping is certainly an option, although it kind of minimizes the size relationship. I took a crack at creating an alternative version. Certainly no better, but just another approach.
  Posted: 09/13/2023 07:48:33

Hi Bob, a super spot and overall the image has a bit of a surreal feel to it. As others mention the hot spots are distracting. A great compliment to your observational skills.   Posted: 09/16/2023 15:47:23

I am impressed with your use of a microscope to get this image. The bright areas bother me because they take us away from the critter. I used Gigapixel to enlarge it and used DeNoise and sharpen and cropped severely to put more emphasis on the subject. I am a novice at processing still, but wanted to see what I could do with it.   Posted: 09/18/2023 13:20:37