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Thoughts welcome.

It's a Canon PowerShot G3 with a $10 generic closeup lens (+10 diopter rating, from eBay) screwed on the end. It has served me well, although Raynox makes a much higher quality +10 lens for about $50. For most of the pictures I have the cheap lens has done an adequate job :)

Thanks Nancy! Like I said, he was pretty brave. I ended up getting real close, like an inch or two away. Every once in a while you find a bug that'll let you do that. Most won't let you get even a few feet away. I had to be careful not to let my neck strap sway against his wings!

Here's a brave little dragon fly.

Thanks Chris. Yeah 1/1 ratings stink, hah. It's not a big deal though. I just wish they'd take the time to comment if they hate it so much! Then I'd be sure to do the exact same thing next time around just to be stubborn.

Thanks for taking the time to comment, guys.

Always looking for advice. I wish I could have gotten a slightly lower

angle here. Alas, a 58mm filter is, unfortunately, 58mm wide :)

Natural lighting on this one. I was a bit surprised to see blackness

in the background.

Great, an anonymous 1/1 review :) With no comment, naturally!

Gracias, Bertha.

These little guys like to climb long skinny flowers near the creek.

Advice is welcome if you have it.

This is an unusual and attractive look for a bug shot. I love the moody look of the grass and how it contrasts with the focused bug. Cool!

Thanks David, I'm going to totally steal your idea!

Thanks guys, much appreciated. I find it difficult to take flower photos that people like!

Critique away!

Much appreciated Ben, Majid, Aparajith. Ben, that's a good idea about the theme suggestion and the crop. I was approaching it like a buddy shot between the bud and the fly, but now I'm seeing the fly jumping from the high dive. I'll see if I have anything constructive to say about your shots; so far they're much better than mine, hah!

I love the colors and shapes. I like, in particular, how the blade of grass coordinates with the shape of the bug, and how the dew drops do the same for the bug's eyes. More than just a bug shot here!

A tricky situation eh? Revealing the whole flower moves the insect's head away from the center and potentially shifts more focus onto the flower itself (since it contrasts more with the background than the bug does). Not an easy call! Impressive detail on this bug though.

Thanks Christopher, I'm glad you like it. I couldn't think of a title that made use of that wilted petal there....

Critiques welcome!

Thomas, I hope you were not offended by my assumption as to how much work was put into this shot. I think it's nothing to be ashamed of. Heck, if you were falling down, accidentally pressed the shutter, and still came up with this image you shouldn't be ashamed or feel it not worthy of display. I love the way it looks and honestly, I evaluate it 100% on that. When you look at a photograph you should evaluate it for what it is, not for what you think the photographer put into it. I know you still had to work to get this shot; my only point is that you weren't puffing up the clouds yourself, calling over the horizon for more light, and telling the waves to calm down a bit.

 

This is as much art, and as much a photograph, as anything else. But I think, in this case, a lot of the artistic input belongs to nature. Nothing wrong with that!

I'm new to photography so take everything I say with a grain of salt. For me, I don't always care what the photographer is trying to convey as an artist. There are times when I want to see a photographer's creation, but there are many times when I simply want to see what the photographer has captured, pulled straight from the world. In such a case I don't consider it much of a creation at all, merely the creation of a record. This can be done well or can be done poorly. I think it is completely valid and often refreshing.

 

I don't mean to sound too antagonistic, but perhaps we need to get over ourselves and admit that sometimes art just happens. I don't think all photographs should be taken with a painter's mentality, i.e. a painter's desire to create something with style or with a message of some sort. This photograph is a good example. Here is a picture of something I would greatly like to see, and the photographer did a more than adequate job of capturing it for me. There's only mild creativity in the choice of subject and method of capture, but that's completely beside the point in this case.

 

A judge of aesthetics can't and shouldn't always be blind to the subject. The instant I saw this I didn't see patterns and colors, I saw an interesting event taking place, and I felt immersed. That makes it attractive to me. I don't care how good it might look on the wall of my apartment. It's not for decoration. We're not selling perfume here.

 

That said, I wish I could see a more panoramic view of this scene. I don't know if it would help the aesthetics but I'd still like to see it.

Makes perfect sense to me. Thanks David!

Critiques welcome!

Thanks Biliana, I'm glad you like it! I'm happy with the colors too. This fly was very patient with me.