Thank you all for your entries, there was a really nice diversity of entries this week. Hopefully you all had fun with this one.
Hopefully no-one is offended by my feedback, it is after all just my opinion and I am by no means an expert, I'm just a passionate hobbyist!
A stunner from you, Alex, great detail and nice contrast, making for a compelling and interesting image choc full of texture.
An interesting high-key image. I'm not quite sure that it has worked as well as it possibly could have. The bee has now blended into the background and the focus seems to be just slightly in front of the bee, with the bee being a tad soft and the flower being crisp. handholding for macro is a real challenge, I know! The slightest movement either way and the focus shifts with you and we're talking fractions of millimetres here.
Another interesting high-key finish, with perfect focus on the eye and some strong contrast, keeping my eye entertained. I think it worked well for you here.
Very strong contrasts of black and white here, AFB. A nice subject in quite harsh light by the looks of it. Did you spot meter off of the hottest part of the petal for this? It looks like the highlights have blown just a touch, but that could just be my perception of it. We had a very interesting discourse about just that in another photographic forum last week actually! Where technically the images weren't blown out, but our eye still perceived it to be.
Wonderfully done, Molly! I really like the dreamy nature of this. Very effective using safety-pins in such a creative manner with that almost non-existent focus! I'm a sucker for B&W, macro and abstracts and you ticked all three boxes in one go!
Lovely focus on the eye, Old's! It's only let down by the positioning, I would have been tempted to go face on with this subject, it's all about the eyes after all and the background is a bit distracting with all those marks over it.
Wonderful conversion to B&W with this creature having such strong form to it. You nailed the focus on the eyes and the front legs too, with good detail there. It looks like it has been eating very well from the pronounced belly!
The nice soft light here has really brought out the dimension of these two caged balls. They are interesting subjects in their own right and they have worked well with the B&W treatment. Good detail and focus on the front ball. I like the shallow focus and staggered size difference accentuating their form nicely.
To me, macro is from small observations like this, right on through to the truly minuscule like what SomeOldGuy can achieve with his microscope setup. So you're all good, Kevin! Nicely spotted and a mini colosseum was my first thought too. Good focus and detail, nice form (or dimension) to it too and nicely placed in its environment
.
I can't remember what your initial entry was now, but this is quite a strong image in its own way. It has an interesting form to it, nice detail and good contrast for the eye to enjoy. I might have been tempted to go a bit more to the right of it, so as to add more dimension to it, rather than having the two seed-heads looking quite so flat.
Really nicely done fella! They are almost like fireworks going off, with wonderful dimension to them and lovely strong contrast to treat the eye! Nicely positioned within the frame, counterbalancing each other like that. Good depth of focus here, with plenty of detail. I could see this blown up large and hanging on a wall.
A nice, low point of view here of this interesting subject. It's a pity it was looking down so much as the face is obscured a little and in shots of creatures, I always feel that eye contact and detail is imperative. I would have played with opening up the blacks and shadows a bit more, to bring out a little more dimension to the head. This moth has very interesting wing shapes, something I haven't seen before.
I know this well, an ex of mine from many moons ago used to eat it by the bucket load and I have to admit, it is rather tasty once you wrap your tastebuds around it! Technically a well achieved image, nice light, well positioned, good stitching from the focus stacking and nice focus throughout the frame as a result. It looks good levitating on the mirror like that, allowing us to peer underneath for yet more detail. I like using reflective surfaces for macro images and now have a collection of various large tiles with all manner of reflective finish to them to use as bases.
And on to the hard part... The judging!
3rd -
@AlexH
2nd -
@MacRy
1st -
@mollyc
So, without further ado, over to you Molly, for the next round!
_DSC4098
DSC02360
