Bob Crocker  


Future Monarch by Bob Crocker

August 2019 - Future Monarch

About the Image(s)

How: We are allowing our front garden to go natural, including milkweed which we have a lot of this year. Spotted this Monarch caterpillar on one of the milkweeds and followed him around for several days. "He" spent most of the time under the leaves which didn't always make for a good composition. Took this shot at ISO 400, f11 at 1/50 sec, adding a +0.30 exposure composition to bring up the shadows under this larvae a little bit. Shot with my Sony a6500, 90mm 2.8 macro lens, did use a tripod, since I spend a lot time waiting for him to move into a visible location. I did crop this down a little to focus more attention on the head/front of the catipillar; the back end dropped out of focus a little, so I didn't mind cropping that out. Was that a mistake? Added dynamic contrast, white/black adjustment, and sharpening using ON1 to caterpillar itself, and darkened the leaves around him


This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted




 
Great detail in this image, the green leaf as a backdrop to those gorgeous stripes blend well together, Sharpness is excellent throughout,to be honest you could rotate this image to any position and have a perfect shot(or several) Well done   Posted: 08/04/2019 10:41:52
Bob Crocker   Bob Crocker
(Group 57)
Thanks John.   Posted: 08/15/2019 14:11:07



Denise McKay   Denise McKay
(Group 77)
Nice shot Bob. I like the composition with the back portion of the caterpillar going out of the frame. The leaves provide nice leading lines, from a number of directions, that take you right to the colorful caterpillar. Patience paid off to get a really nice photo of this little guy.   Posted: 08/05/2019 06:50:07
Bob Crocker   Bob Crocker
(Group 57)
Thanks Denise, I rotated the image a little in the hopes that the leading would work.   Posted: 08/15/2019 14:13:33



 
Creatures hiding under leaves has been a bane to my insect hunting this year. I like the results of your persistence with this cat. Very life-like image, with really nice color and sharpness.   Posted: 08/13/2019 11:04:26
Bob Crocker   Bob Crocker
(Group 57)
I know, doesn't that just burn 'ya. The good ones are always hiding under the leaves. Thanks Bill.   Posted: 08/15/2019 14:17:57



Carol Sheppard   Carol Sheppard
(Group 95)
What a beauty! The crop, composition and white balance all feel perfect to me. The main subject is sharp, but I would maybe suggest in LR that you do the masking on sharpness so that only the lines of the caterpillar are sharpened a bit more? Great image!   Posted: 08/13/2019 15:19:36
Bob Crocker   Bob Crocker
(Group 57)
Thanks Carol. Kind of a sharpness vignette I guess. I always worry about over sharpening, appreciate your input.   Posted: 08/15/2019 14:21:53