Ephippiger

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Gérard-64
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Ephippiger

Post by Gérard-64 »

1O5mm Nikkor+Raynox 12dioptries.
Stacked with Helicon

Image
Last edited by Gérard-64 on Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Harold Gough
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Post by Harold Gough »

Delightful colour and texture.

I am seeing a halo effect around the front of the face.

Harold
My images are a medium for sharing some of my experiences: they are not me.

lauriek
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Post by lauriek »

I agree with Harold, the lighting has brought out the textures on this subject beautifully...

AndrewC
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Post by AndrewC »

Nice textures but it might look better if you arranged it looking towards you rather than away ? Also, you could easily remove that halo in PS ....

Andrew

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

Which part is the face!? What's it wearing? :oops:

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

I rather like it this way.

I'm afraid if it were facing the other way, that luscious yellow whatever-it-is would not be so visible.

--Rik

Gérard-64
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Post by Gérard-64 »

Thanks a lot to everybody.
I cannot see the halo on my monitor except if I change the light setting but then the colors become insipid...

AndrewC
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Post by AndrewC »

rjlittlefield wrote:I rather like it this way.

I'm afraid if it were facing the other way, that luscious yellow whatever-it-is would not be so visible.

--Rik
Good point - it needs to be trained to look over its shoulder :)

Andrew

Gérard-64
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Post by Gérard-64 »

Here is the face:

[/b]Image

Planapo
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Post by Planapo »

I like the first photograph very much as it is, so colourful, lush, 3-dimensional and shot from a new, unusual perspective.
What's it wearing?
The green inflated "cape" is the Pronotum, and
that luscious yellow whatever-it-is
are actually the wings, which work as the animal's sound-making/singing-apparatus.

--Betty

edit: And I like the 2nd picture too, very close-up and personal.

Gérard-64
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Post by Gérard-64 »

Thanks Planapo,the common name of this insect here in france is:Horse saddle wearing grasshopper..

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

On the web, this creature is often called the "Saddle-Backed Bushcricket" or "European Bushcricket".

Some papers say it is of scientific interest as a model organism for some kinds of studies.

Betty, thanks for explaining the anatomy. Are we seeing those "wings" in their mature state, no longer functional for flying but highly modified for making sound?

--Rik

Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

Gérard,

Gorgeous lighting (and subject), well done!
I cannot see the halo on my monitor except if I change the light setting but then the colors become insipid...
If you are using Photoshop (and probably some of the other image processing programs) it sometimes helps to add a "Levels" adjustment layer. Make it really extreme, increasing the contrast and lightening the background if it's dark, darkening it if it's a light background. Any "halos" or other such problem areas really become obvious. Retouch the background. When done, just delete the adjustment layer.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Gérard-64 wrote:I cannot see the halo on my monitor except if I change the light setting but then the colors become insipid...
On my monitor at normal settings, the obvious halo is only a small amount, mainly between the palp and the front leg. It would not be noticed by most viewers.

On brightening the image (using the method suggested by Charlie), halos appear at other places, especially along the back. But as you say, by that point the colors are very washed out. Perfectionists like me try to make backgrounds be clean no matter how the levels are adjusted. But to be honest, it probably makes no difference for most purposes.

This is a good type of subject for the depth map algorithms -- intense colors and contrasts with no bristles and not many overlaps. In Helicon Focus, Method B generally gives less halo than Method A. In Zerene Stacker, one would use DMap and set the contrast slider to ignore the black background.

BTW, I agree completely with Charlie -- the image is gorgeous!

--Rik

Harold Gough
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Post by Harold Gough »

Gérard-64 wrote:I cannot see the halo on my monitor except if I change the light setting but then the colors become insipid...
I could on my son's LCD TV/monitor screen, which he sets rather bright for computer games :roll:, but not on my standard PC monitor. I have not noticed this with other images.

Harold
My images are a medium for sharing some of my experiences: they are not me.

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