Longhorn Beetle

[msol]

Hi all,

This weekend, this little friend crossed my path and he agreed on a photo shoot. A collection of 9 images is available at http://marc-sol.fotopic.net/c217652_1.html, but here I would particularly like to hear your feedback on two of them. (Please click them to get a larger image, since my fotopic links still get resized to 500 pixels.)
All were shot with my G3, with +1+3 diopter mounted in front. Aperture f/8. All were processed in PS (mainly levels and sharpening).

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=5526376&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=5526372&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

[cgratti]

I wonder why they call it a longhorn beetle??


LOL

[bigdave]

Nice shots, the definition of the hairs is quite impressive. I would've thought you'd lose some of that detail shooting jpeg, or did you shoot RAW? Either way... hats off to you!

[Meerkat17]

Impressive images Marc, I like the composition of the first image but also like the detail of the second.

David

[ryuwulf]

I really like the first one. Very nice.

[CyberDyneSystems]

These are wonderfull.. a very photogenic critter :)

[msol]

Thanks for the nice words. In return, I'll add another one from the series. :wink:

Bigdave, I shot them in jpeg (max resolution and superfine compression mode). Actually, I always use that setting and never use RAW. I experimented some with RAW of course, since all the pro's seem to use it and write such interesting workflow articles about it. But to be honest, I couldn't really pinpoint where it improved quality above the finest jpeg. And then shooting jpeg offers me more efficient post processing... But I won't claim to know better than the pros. Perhaps one day I will learn to see the difference and then start using RAW. Anyway, for the hairy details on these photos obviously RAW was not required.
I did of course use PS postprocessing here: levels, sharpening and a little saturation enhancement.

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=5526374&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1