I’m not normally much of a bug photographer, but we had some interesting opportunities in Madagascar that I couldn’t pass up. This appropriately named critter is a Giraffe Weevil. It’s body is roughly the size of our lady bugs. Our knowledgeable guide was able to find these little guys as we were driving along the road in the forest. What he told us was they favor a certain species of plant, and they chew holes in the large leaves- so it was a matter of looking for those hole-filled leaves, and then inspecting the plant to find one. He found a couple for us in this manner.
I didn’t take macro gear with me and used my 100-400mm Nikon Z lens, that can focus very closely. Hand held and since it was moving fast there wasn’t an opportunity to focus-stack. Most of my shots the head was soft! I was happy that I had one decent shot that showed the hole in the leaf as part of the story.
Nikon Z9, 100-400mm at 400mm, 1/400, f/16, ISO1100. Cropped and applied Topaz Denoise, not much else in post.
This round’s discussion is now closed! 7 comments posted
Michael Weatherford
Oh Cindy I really like this kind of photo, and this is a good one IMO. Love the insect photos! Fine as is, but some might think the saturation (or maybe hue) of the leaf color doesn't look natural. I like that you included the hole in the leaf to provide environmental context. I would decrease the contrast a bit, but that's a personal preference. A very interesting insect! Posted: 11/05/2023 17:18:09
Cindy Marple
Thanks for your inputs, Michael. I looked at my iPhone shots of the same setup and the color balance was warmer, the leaf being more yellow-green than blue-green. I'll try playing with it a bit on this image. Posted: 11/15/2023 14:43:05
Bud Ralston
Cindy, it looks great right out of the camera. Thanks for showing us an unusual insect.
Posted: 11/13/2023 16:15:42
Richard Matheny
This is a really strange looking creature. I don't blame you for stopping to take a picture of a bug. You don't see these every day. I can't see anything to change. I think that f16 really helped capture its environment. Very nice Cindy, thanks for posting. Posted: 11/14/2023 23:08:07
Larry Treadwell
Personally, I'm glad you didn't have your macro lens. This is such a different and really strange insect that is needs environmental context. That hole in the leaf is perfect. PSA wants a story, and you delivered one. Never having seen this critter I can't comment on the possible saturation of the reds, but the green look a bit rich to me. Greens seem to always come out too bright simply because there are more green receptive pixels than there are red and blue pixels. Fiddling with the tone might help.
I'm really glad you submitted this. It is different, but a most worthy image. Since the little guy was moving rapidly, you really did a great job capturing this. Posted: 11/15/2023 21:27:59
Cindy Marple
Thanks for the inputs about the greens. I did some image search on Google Images and confirmed the color balance I saw on my phone was more correct- I think I shall never use Auto White Balance again :( Since these guys are attached to one particular plant species that's a reasonable comparison, not looking at different types of leaves. Reprocessed with that correction and a slight reduction in saturation of the greens only. The red looks comparable to the other images I found and I've added no saturation to the image. Posted: 11/15/2023 21:56:47
David Kepley
Cindy, what an unusal bug! My only suggestion would be to reduce the highlights. The leaves are very shiny. I wish that the hole was a uniform dark color like the top 2/3 of it are in your image. Perhaps help it out in PS? Posted: 11/18/2023 16:37:38
