I can't take too much credit for this. I looked at what scored well in the last Bokeh challenge and went out to emulate it:
I didn't come even close and I wasn't going to submit this as I thought missing the focus on the spider would be very much frowned upon at DPC. Thanks to scarbrd for telling me to enter it.
I went to reshoot as it wasn't until I got this onto the PC that I noticed I'd missed on the focus but when I sprayed the web with water again the spider took off and he never came back!
Editing Steps: Rotate 90 degrees CCW
Flip horizontal
Shadow/Highlight
Neat Image
Levels
Brightness/Contrast
Hue/Saturation
Flatten
Crop
Resize
USM
Border
Save for Web
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Place: 13 out of 216 Avg (all users): 6.2933 Avg (commenters): 7.5385 Avg (participants): 6.3514 Avg (non-participants): 6.2612 Views since voting: 1618 Views during voting: 378 Votes: 208 Comments: 18 Favorites: 1 (view)
This is a very nice shot overall; I really like the "expanding" look (perspective) of the bokeh. And congratulations on your top 15 image!
COMPOSITION: As I said, I really like the composition you chose, the perspective, and the look of the bokeh, is great.
EXPOSURE AND SHARPNESS: Exposure seems to be ok. Contrast is good in the center by the spider and in the sharper areas, but overall, the photo has a bit of a flat look--I think because of the colors. If you had shifted these to more contrasting colors, it might have been more striking. Sharpness and clarity seem ok at this size, but not exceptional.
AESTHETICS: I think the photo has everything going for it in aesthetics (outside of being a shot of a spider which some people fear!). But overall aesthetics don't work for me, despite the great subject, and excellent bokeh. I believe it's the colors--they don't appeal to me (whereas they do in the shot you were emulating). Or it might be the "negative" look (whether created or somehow natural; perhaps indeed it's the colors that say negative to me).
This is of course all subjective opinion! But perhaps it will help you in trying alternative post-processing, or just for the next time you try this!
Ahhh, a glow-in-the-dark spider! Obviously your intent, going by the title :) Good capture. It's hard to tell at this size, but focus seems to be right in front of the spider, not straight on it. The out of focus droplets make for a beautiful frame for this spider. ~7
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