Only 3 out of 11

[Woodyg3]

1,2,11.

 

[nikonpup]

#1 i hate bugs.

 

[Lawrence]

#1 i hate bugs.

What about #4?

 

[nikonpup]

just doesn't shout "close up" to me. Best of luck in the competition.

 

[RocketCowboy]

I need your help folks - please!

I have to enter 3 photos in my local club competition and can't decide which three to enter out of the following 11 shots.
Could I ask you to help me decide?

The criteria is pretty broad - "Close-up"

Now close-up is one thing but the photo still needs to be sharp, interesting, have technical merit and tell a story - just like any other photo.

Here are the 11 I have narrowed it down to (in no particular order other than date)

Please give me your top three picks and if you have time your reasons why.

Many thanks in advance.

View attachment 176466





View attachment 176469

View attachment 176470

Here's my pic of three.

 

[RocketCowboy]

#1 i hate bugs.

That makes two of us.

 

[Pretzel]

#1 and #10 are instant faves of the bunch. After that, they all rank pretty close in my eyes, but I tend to lean toward #11. GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[SHAkers718]

I love the leaf and I also like the common fly. Typically not a subject but the details are sharp, the colors subtle and has the bonus of great texture in the foreground and the shadows give nice dimension.

 

[Scott Murray]

Hey @Lawrence I understand your macro has been letting you down well I think you are under editing your shots. Even though this was jpeg and is horribly over sharpened I was able to pull colour out of the eyes etc. Imagine what I can do with a RAW file.

My edited version



Original



I think you are selling yourself short.

 

[Blade Canyon]

If it matters, I've never liked bug pictures even if they demonstrate tremendous technical skill and patience. If there might be someone like me on your club's judging committee...

 

[Lawrence]

Hey @Lawrence I understand your macro has been letting you down well I think you are under editing your shots. Even though this was jpeg and is horribly over sharpened I was able to pull colour out of the eyes etc. Imagine what I can do with a RAW file.

My edited version

View attachment 176738

Original

View attachment 176739

I think you are selling yourself short.

Fine - go ahead, pick on my PP, see if I care.
How do I get the RAW to you? Would love to see what you can do.

 

[RocketCowboy]

How do I get the RAW to you? Would love to see what you can do.

Dropbox, website, ftp ...

 

[Lawrence]

done ^^^^^

 

[Scott Murray]

View attachment 176472

Here is my quick edit of your file.



This is what I changed, I also used 2 Grad filters from top L corner 1/2 way across and bottom R corner half way ish. Also used the brush tool and painted over the spider and brought out the hairs a bit.

 

[Bill16]

I don't know if I'm too late, but I really like the leaf, and with some PP help your jumping spiders would be great choices buddy! Way to go my friend on getting the shots of the spider and the prey so well! Scott is right, your shots are very good there and just need a little PP tweaking! I'm rooting for you my friend!

 

[Lawrence]

That looks great thanks Scott.
I wish I could develop the ability to know what to do in PP so that the image looks good. As you say i tent to oversharpen.

I've just made your alterations on my copy and saved.

 

[Lawrence]

I don't know if I'm too late, but I really like the leaf, and with some PP help your jumping spiders would be great choices buddy! Way to go my friend on getting the shots of the spider and the prey so well! Scott is right, your shots are very good there and just need a little PP tweaking! I'm rooting for you my friend!

Thanks Bill. in the end i went with the leaf, the cranefly (#11) and the snail eating the core.

its not as if there is a $ for a prize or anything so no great shakes - I just stress easily