wowowowowowowowow.
this is unimaginably beautiful. i was looking through the highest rated and this one caught my eye like BAM!. it was a really smart macro photograph. amazing! i wish i could vote but i can't =/. if i could i would diff. given you a 10. you're really good. keep it up =]
I love that you can win a blue with pure tongue-in-cheek. That's my kind of humor. And if you're going to be funny, you might as well make a great image too. Congratulations!
I do have one nit-picky question...why the lint on the ladybug? Maybe I'm over-critical, but it keeps catching my eye.
Congratulations. Well deserved, and to be honest I cant believe some people complaining about this has been done before. Pretty much everything has been done before in some way. You brought another dimension to it for me. Well done.
Simply... Amazing. I can't say anything.. other then i love macro, and this shot makes me want to purchase the 100mm... oh yes... only question is... is that lens good for portrait as well?!
Oh boy...
Edit: let me elaborate. I think swiping ideas from previous challenge winners is just lame, even if you enhance it a little by adding a bug or two. So, sorry, no 'unbelievable', 'creative' and 'wonderful' from me:
See normally I'd agree with this sentiment - but after reading the photogs comment it's pretty clear that this shot was taken with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Thus it's really just a very well executed bit of dpc satire.
It must have taken some doing to get both the waterdrop AND the bug to cooperate at the same time.
Congratulations.. I really wanted this shot to ribbon, and I'm so glad it did!
This can't have been easy to do... you've done it amazingly well!! Great job!!!
Oh boy...
Edit: let me elaborate. I think swiping ideas from previous challenge winners is just lame, even if you enhance it a little by adding a bug or two. So, sorry, no 'unbelievable', 'creative' and 'wonderful' from me:
I can guarantee that just about every shot you've ever entered was probably done at some point by someone else at some time too.. This is such a different shot than ericlimons.. that to compare them is slightly ridiculous. Different composition, different colors, different lighting.. so the basic idea is the same.. wow, someone call the plagiarist police. What *is* truly different in the world today? I respect that you personally don't feel that it's a wow inducing photograph, but there was no need to lessen this shot by comparing it to another, and pointing it out in a negative way.
Great shot Falc.. and sorry to "hijack".. but some things just irk me ;)
I clicked on this pic and when it blew up the first thing out of my mouth was "oh, that's INSANE! WOW!" Congrats on such a cool macro-within-a-macro shot! Congrats on your interpretation of a water-droplet macro...I think it's COOL!
: )
Jeannel
Oh boy...
Edit: let me elaborate. I think swiping ideas from previous challenge winners is just lame, even if you enhance it a little by adding a bug or two. So, sorry, no 'unbelievable', 'creative' and 'wonderful' from me:
Hey, that's my photo!
Anyways, WHATEVER!!! This site is about getting knowledge and ideas from each other. He's taken an idea from a photo and greatly expanded upon it.
WOW, what can I say, thanks to you all including yurasocolov. I do appreciate all your comments. The image is not very imaginative, I new there would be lots of bugs, lots of water droplets and lots of flowers and to get points over any of these the winner would have to be brilliant at any one of these. I knew that by combining these themes that there were extra marks to be gained and I had seen something similar a long time back on some other site (can't find it now though). I did really enjoy experimenting with this and building a small 'set' so achieve the effects.
So for those of you who asked about the details here is how:
Equipment:
1 small cardboard box - approx 9inches across.
1 Sheet dark green card for backdrop, applied to inside of box
1 spiral reed pushed through holes in side of box - used spiral reed in order to stop the water droplet running away
1 white/pink/purple daisy like flower - pushed through a hole in back of box
several willing and unwilling ladybirds
1 childs paintbrush - to coax ladybird into walking the plank
1 syringe to add water after each retry
camera - 10D with 100mm f2.8 macro lens
canon ex550 flash with remote trigger
tripod
OK so with the reed and the flower set up I added a drop of water, then pushed/pulled the flower until I got the right amount of blur in the background whilst manually focussing on the water drop.
Once this was set the it was a case of ladybird wrangling with the pant brush. I found that they didn't like to pass the water droplet and would either turn round or jump off at that point. I know I had about 7 or 8 bugs and only got 3 or 4 decent shots before I ran out.
I also tried the same shot with a small froglet, but the dof was too short to get his nose and feet in focus, so I went back to the ladybirds. I also had an attempt at a damsel fly version, but he wasn't to sure about signing the model release so I had to let him go.
All done in a very enjoyable afternoon sat in the garden.
Oh boy...
Edit: let me elaborate. I think swiping ideas from previous challenge winners is just lame, even if you enhance it a little by adding a bug or two. So, sorry, no 'unbelievable', 'creative' and 'wonderful' from me:
I do not agree. Hats off to ya! This is a learning community, if we did not try to repeat some aspects of others works then how are we ever to learn? And, it is SO not nice to call someone lame. Some people here need to grow up and stop taking away from the winners the joy they so richly deserve! :) Looks to me like yurasocolov likes to reflect things in droplets of water also:
You were my pick for the Blue - glad you got it! Actually - I picked the top three in the right order to ribbon! Now if I could just shoot a pic good enough to be up there with ya'll
I had a hard time deciding between this and the dragonfly for the blue. I'm glad to see you made it to the top. The other is an impressive macro. Yours is an impressively creative composition!
technically, I really like it. But I wish the bug and flower "popped" out in color and brightness even more. Details though. Clearly a 6+ score average, which to me should always the goal.
Wow! What an accomplishment! Very nice composition, color, detail. I would have cloned out that white hair on the lady bug and the edges of the actual flower are a bit too processed looking - butoverall this is really well done! 8
Wonderful shot ! Personally, I would have cloned out the little white thing that's stuck on the back of the bug (sorry for my very basic english :)). But still an incredible shot !
Hmmm... a twist of green and a spot of red? Ok throw in the daisy for good luck. Just love this image. I wonder how the image would look like if the lady bug was slightly to the left so it doesn't cover the center of the daisy. GREAT image. 10!!!
One of my top three. You caught this at just the right time. Lovely bright green and the flower is an added bonus to what is an excellent photo without it. Great job. 10
This is the best I've seen so far as in subject matter. Wow, the flower is reflected so perfectly and everything in the foreground is so sharp. great depth of field. Great color and composition. I would love to have one of these copies hanging up on my wall. Gorgeous!
I miss these small beatels, We havent seen any since I came from norway. Any way, like the picture, good colors, and the flower in the background, and the reflection in the water drop gives it a nice touch (9)
7 - Yes. I will be back to see how you did this. For me, a little *too* much contrast, perhaps in 'pp', I am not sure. A zoom in would be good, but then I guess you lose the flower(s). Nice shot.
Oh my gosh I love this!! Of course I'm a big ladybug fan!! I love the reflection of the daisy in the drop...the only thing I can nitpit about is it looks like there might be fuzz or someting on the ladybug. I hope you will definitely consider making this print after the contest...because I'm buying!!!!
Nice... the angled line across the image with the ladybug on it would have been enough. But then to throw an interesting OOF, but still recognizable, background into the image is a great idea. And then to focus the OOF background through then "lens" of a drop of water... killer idea! My only complaint is that I was hoping for a little more close-up (closer to macro's 1:1 sizing). Still, I love this image and hope to see it place high! Good luck!
I've seen the water drop done before. I've seen the lady bug on a plant before. I've seen a flower in the background before. But when you put all three of these elements together the way you did, I don't care how many times I see it. A great shot from composition to color, from light to focus. I wish you the best. 10
Wonderful. Without the flower in the water drop I would have seen this as just another bug shot. However, with the waterdrop it has risen to a far higher level. 10
Not very original and I wonder if you gave credit to the person that originally thought of this idea using an ant and a yellow flower. Unless you are the person and this is just a reshoot for the competition. Great execution though.
Three in One Macro
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