... Any criticisms or things I could have done better?
All animals are beautifull, even spiders :)
Excellent work here sir!
That's a bit sweeping; not even all of us people can be described as beautiful...
... These things are designed ...
Good shooting, Jack. Looks as if leaf photography is somewhat similar to street photography. You gotta get 'em when they're there.
They're great, Jack. It's nice to see you posting again.
Eric
P.S. Yes, they are art!
Oh, boy, so glad you asked!
It was kind of boring the last couple of months, i.e., without getting into fights with you. ;) ;D
So, you want criticism? Are you sure you can handle it? Anyway, here it goes:
Seems that your forum absence did you good. Less time to scribble :P, more time devoted to improving your photography. If my recollection is correct (of your earlier photography), this new series is so much more refined and elegant, your lighting is much softer and natural-looking, your backgrounds much less distracting, with a nicer bokeh (a Canon 180 macro?). Your subject positioning, framing, and choice of colors, all reflect a much stronger sense of esthetics and design than before. So, yes, you managed to turn it from a textbook illustration to a fine art.
Having said that, it mostly refers to the first three examples. The forth one is busier, with more distracting elements.
All in all, good job!
Russians have a saying "there are no ugly women... just not enough vodka" ;D
Hey, John, welcome back!
I like your current set of beasties and colours; maybe a little bit sweet, that last one, but there you go - almost total conversion to sainthood.
Rob C
Really? And there was me thinking it was all down to something called evolution ...
These are really cool! It would be nice to see people’s reactions to these. I bet the way in which they are represented nearly or completely hides the basic creepy reaction that many have to spiders. It’s the kind of work that can alter perspectives for some.
In the Flower Crab Spider, the focus kind of confuses me. The spider is perfect but the petal is out of focus near the observer and in focus in and beyond the back side of the spider. If it were possible, focus stacking would help with this one. Is the spider translucent?
I also like the more complex scene of the Woodland Jumping Spider. The rich textures and color of the flower complement the spider and shows variety in the presentation.
Great work!
another highly regarded stacker is http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconfocus.html
The images are great.
But since you asked for ideas and what could have been done better:
I imagine trying b/w conversions on some of the images could work well.
Cheers
>As a side note, I have been using the "stack" feature in CS5's "scripts" function ... but just downloaded a Zerene Stacker (last night, in fact) which many experienced macro stackers seem to feel is the way to go. So I will be experimenting with this new tool starting today.
another highly regarded stacker is http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconfocus.html
When I compared CS5 stacks with my 1 yr old version of heliconfocus I couldn't see any difference. I've been quite happy with CS5 since. Note please that I don't do a lot of stacking.
Sorry I missed your earlier inquiry re stacking sw. I haven't worked with image stacking sw yet so don't have an answer. But I clicked on the link you provided above but got an error.
Great blog article! Informative, concise and with great illustrations. I look foreword to seeing how the effects of focus stacking becomes added to your work.