I think it was this one, at least I'm sure he's posted this on a thread.

To me the sky looks a little too vivid, and the ground looks a little lacking in contrast, but it's a nice photo never-the-less.

Sorry to Darkmunk and Argee for taking this thread off topic, but that is something that tends to happen, just like any conversation. Yesterday at work we were talking about chickens, the next instant it had turned to rights of access across my friend's cousin's back garden.

Dan

Was it Ammonyte's one?

Have to say I never feel they look right, unless they're very subtle ones. The colours look to vivid usually, or they have an almost painted look. That's fine if that's the effect you're going for, but I get the impression a lot of the time it's not.

I also remember someone saying once "The scene was lacking contrast so I HDR'd it". I think it's the lack of contrast that I don't like about them generally. Lilly's one in the other current thread looks nice, but to me it doesn't look quite right.

Dan

Yeah well, thanks for wasting a half hour of my day...

Couple of favourites so far:

http://xkcd.com/348/

http://xkcd.com/334/

http://xkcd.com/331/

http://xkcd.com/325/

http://xkcd.com/386/

You get a little comment box up when you hold the mouse over the cartoon too.

Dan

Definitely a ladybird pupa, and quite possibly a Harlequin Ladybird, the pattern looks right for one.

Dan

: What?

Dan

Pretty much have to agree with Hefty.

And when are you going to clean your sensor?!?

Dan

I'll explain it with a couple of shots of my own. If I'm wrong, don't hesitate to say so, I'm not sure how much you've cropped your shot, or the amount you've resized it for display here, that could have a bearing on it.

Anyway, here's a shot of a dragonfly (Downy Emerald):




Which looks okay at this size (reduced to about 50% then cropped). However, if we look at it at 100%, we can see that the hairs around the head are blurred, even though the focus on the face is okay (detail in the eye). This was because it was fairly windy, and the subject moved during the exposure, but the flash froze the movement to give the impression of a sharp image, but the ambient light was enough to record the blurred hairs (and edges to the head):




It's this slight blurring that I think I can see around the head of your hoverfly.

Here's another shot under the same conditions, but I was better at waiting for the wind to drop (please excuse the watermark, oh, and the dust spot upper right ):




and detail at 100%:




As I say, I may be wrong, but that's what it looks like to me, and you did ask for all C&C.

Dan

The first one looks well focused, but there looks to me to be a little ghosting, where the natural light exposure was long enough to record an image which is slightly out of register with the flash exposure. I could be wrong, but that's how it looks to me (especially around the front of the head/antennae).

The second one is great, nicely focused on the wing, good colours, excellent way of dealing with an unco-operative subject (of which you'll find many when doing macro).

Dan

Everyone round Rob's for a party then!

Dan

As far as filters are concerned, I often use a polariser when doing macro.

Bear in mind that 'macro' is a lot more than insects and other bugs. A polariser is often of great benefit when doing plants, toadstools etc.

Dan