Face of a dragon?

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:10 pm

Maybe I've been reading too much fantasy and science fiction, but this face just strikes me as looking like a mythological dragon. Even the eyes are glowing!

I don't recall any of the fantasies mentioning antennae, though -- particularly antennae whose bases are so clearly ball-and-socket joints, with the opening of the socket being a linear slot instead of the traditional round hole!

Any guesses about ID? (Beetleman, you should get this one!

)

--Rik

Canon 300D with Olympus 38mm macro at f/4, stacked at 0.001" focus step, Helicon Focus.

Wim van Egmond · Post by **Wim van Egmond** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 12:26 am

Great picture, I think it is a weevil.

Wim

crocoite · Post by **crocoite** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:14 am

Wim van Egmond wrote:Great picture, I think it is a weevil.

Wim

Nah, it's a wart hog

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:34 am

Wim beat me to it. It is some sort of snout beetle. You cannot mistake a face like that....very nice headshot Rik.

(it does look like a wart hog )

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 9:08 am

Right you are! It's a weevil / snout beetle. These things work over a variety of plants in my garden. Mostly they eat notches in the edges of leaves, but they also have a great fondness for the fruits of strawberries. I get a little grouchy about that, but they never occur in large enough numbers to cause too much trouble, so we just coexist.

I don't know the exact ID. They look a lot like the Broad-nosed Weevils in genus Otiorhynchus as pictured at http://bugguide.net/node/view/7479.

--Rik

Mike B in OKlahoma · Post by **Mike B in OKlahoma** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:18 pm

This is a very interesting shot. I love facial portraits of weird critters!

Wim van Egmond · Post by **Wim van Egmond** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:29 am

Rik, what did I win?

It is a great picture. I am also experimenting with helicon and I also get these faint lines around the subject. What I do now is run the stack a second time but much smoother and with that second image I retouch the parts that have these artefacts.

Indeed, with a layer mask!

Wim

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 10:32 am

Wim van Egmond wrote:Rik, what did I win?

Satisfaction, fame, and my personal congratulations on a job well done!

I know, you were hoping for a new lens, but this intangible awards program is much more sustainable!

It is a great picture. I am also experimenting with helicon and I also get these faint lines around the subject. What I do now is run the stack a second time but much smoother and with that second image I retouch the parts that have these artefacts.

Interesting technique. I'll have to try that. HF 4 Pro has a nice interface for local retouching, but this two-pass approach might solve problems at many depths at once.

Thanks for the compliment and the trick!

--Rik

PeglegOS · Post by **PeglegOS** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:09 am

Looks a bit like my ex mother-in-law.....