Green on Green Photo

Photographer’s Note

Green Leaf Weevil, phyllobius maculicornis, if I'm not mistaken. This little chap - I'm pretty sure it *is* a chap - was walking sedately down a blade of grass about 5 mm wide. He himself is about 1 cm long not counting the antennae. The grass blade looks like a motorway compared to him ;-)
This is one of the first photos I've taken with my new set of macro lenses which I picked up last Friday. As I don't have the time ($$.. ;-)) to go and pick up a real macro lens, I have to settle for less. The set comprises +1, +2 and +4 diopter macro lenses, and so far the +2 (with which this was taken) is my favourite. +1 doesn't magnify very much, and with the +4 the DOF range is simply too small.
The photo was taken hand held and using manual focus, as these beetles are too small to catch and hold with the autofocus of the camera.
Treatment: Crop, contrast +10, saturation +10, USM and resize.

eleparc, Jeppe, davecall, Burnham, prlcs, andybrook, mogens-j has marked this note useful

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eleparc (24059) 2004-05-25 4:24

taking macro hand held is really difficult... so congrats for this one... you know equipment is one thing but the photographer is IMO the real master of ceremony... you are doing quite well believe me Bente!
nice shot

Jeppe (18623) 2004-05-25 4:29

Great green capture Bente - I like to watch the reflections on the back of that fine chap :-)

The shadow it cast also excellent to give this mini world extra life - Very well done - even with your lens problems.

Thanks for sharing.

elroyie (2750) 2004-05-25 5:30

Nice macro and good colours, the sharpness is also very good, do you please with the macro extension? Kenko?

henrye (3498) 2004-05-25 5:52

Well done. The different shades of green is great. Very interesting subject!

davecall (575) 2004-05-25 6:38

Hey Bente, I like the way you caught this fella (he's colourful so he must be a fella ;-)) His colours are vivid, the detail is good & it looks like he's on a mission - probably to track down a poor harassed female weevil! Nice work.

Burnham (2426) 2004-05-25 8:09

You macro people never stop amazing me, (I've got to get some real macro equipment). I think I watched this shot for atleast 5 minuttes before commenting. Things i love about this, sharpness is perfect, DOF aswell, detail, shadows from his legs, the shiny metal like thing on his rear end, your note :o), the thousand shades of green and how well nature works in shots like these. Thanks for sharing.

CVTJan (1244) 2004-05-25 8:41

Dear Bente, this is one of the macro shots where dimension is really out of place :) Great contrast of the plant green and the insect green ! Thanks for showing, Yours, Jan

cdewet (0) 2004-05-25 13:34

Green, like in metalic sheen! What a loely critter. Don't these guys have a long probiscis? Not sure of the spelling? Ours are very dull. I might crop just a little on the top, I think it wouls improve the composition. Bente, Try extension rings, they work wonderfully, and some even keeps outofocus

prlcs (63) 2004-05-25 16:48

Très belle macro. La PDC est impeccable, la netteté aussi malgré l'absence de trépied. Chapeau. Du beau travail !

lost (694) 2004-05-26 3:44 [Comment]

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yesterday (9787) 2004-05-26 5:14

Sorry my point fore today is already gone, but Ill be back.

Excellent macro, I cant finde anything wrong, only a little thing, the white spot on the back part low, it cats my eye, and I do thing I would have removed that.

Excellent work.

andybrook (136) 2004-05-26 11:10