I've always wanted to do this shot after seeing something similar 2 years ago. Now that I look back to the shot that gave me inspiration, I like this one better. ;)
No ladybugs were hurt in the making of this shot...except the four you see which were killed and mounted onto the flower.
Lighting is a window with a simple blue paper background. Post production involves:
Conversion from RAW
Some cloning of petal and bug imperfections.
Multiply layer to darken the center of the flower
Hue/Sat to lighten the petals and make them more yellow
Levels to bring out the red/orange of the bugs
brightness/contrast
Neat Image to remove noise from the blue (still not perfect)
Resize, border, USM
POST: Wow! Thanks guys! I'm happy to have met another 2006 goal of my first 7.5+ image...
Statistics
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I don't think I could purposly kill an insect to take a picture of it. I just doesn't seem right. I know they're just bugs and we kill ants and roaches every day, I think we must draw the line at killing for the sake of a photo.
I remember something when I was a little kid...maybe about 8 years old. I caught one of those big grasshoppers with the red wings. I kept him in a glass aquarium for a few days and sprayed water on him and put fresh grass and flowers in each day.
One day I took him out and put him in a can so I could walk around the neighborhood with him. Some teenagers saw me and asked what I had. I showed them. They had fire crackers and they asked if they could blow him up. I meekly gave them the can...they dropped firecrackers in and killed him.
Later that day my mom asked, "where is your grasshopper?" Not thinking I did anything wrong, I said, "I let some kids blow him up".
My mom gave me a good talking to about animals and why/when we should kill or not kill them. I was punished for a week.
I ended up going to college and earned a BS in Biology. I took many many classes on animals, insects and animal behavior.
Life is not there for us to kill for our pleasure.
In my portfolio you can see a shot of a honeybee I took one night. He was in some kind of stress. He had something on his face he was trying to clean off. He was going to die. I didn't move him but I went and got my cam and took several decent shots of this guy. I used extension tubes, and several different flash settings. Since he was not moving much, I was able to set some white paper in back of him for reflection.
Although the shots came out only "ok", his "sickly" state allowed me to refine my skills. So his death actually contributed to the science of photography as well as the art of photography. All this without the killing of the animal by the scientist/artist.
I left the bee there for nature to take it's course. With many geckos and lizards around, I'm sure it wasn't long before he was out of his misery and dinner for the stronger.
My mom, armed with only an 8th grade education taught me something I carry to this day, 35 years later and nearly ten years after her death.
Now, your photo is nice and I see many different comments. While I don't dare condem you for the killing, I'd rather see photos in the future of true life.
Good job on your ribbons this year. You are a very good photographer.
Congratulations on your Blue. Outside of the great beauty of your image it also proves the disturbing truth that what photography conveys is merely an illusion. Even if the event and image are true, the final conversion is also an illusion. Personally I feel that you are too talented and creative to incorporate extinction, however, your candor deserves credit and so I will enjoy the image in the pretense of the illusion.
Very nice photo and great score. I would have liked to see spots on all the ladybirds but that`s just being picky. I think it`s ok to kill for food or photos but not for fun, apart from snails, i love that crunchy sound :)
How could you???? Hehehhehehehee! No worries Doc. Everyone is allowed their own opinion. Like I said, congrats on the Blue! And Raeann was right! I called it ;)
I think it is inappropriate to kill living creatures for the sole purpose of make a photograph, I think there should be a rule where if you kill a creature to make your photo, that you should be banned for life.
Great colours and love the trail of bugs getting bigger. Like the crisp fine detail in the flower. You're getting a few ribbons these days, well done and congratulations.
Doc I can't tell you how impressed I am with your work lately. Seems the creativity in you is boundless.
Speaking of inspiration... you've made me rethink my next entry. No poodles were harmed... xept of course the four I stapled to the ceiling. Bless you Doc, for everything... :)
Don't worry about the so called animal lovers. You did what it took to get a great image and a big congrats to you. I want to see them complain about the chickens being killed everyday for food. Why does no one complain about that. Either way a good steak is great and cows have to be killed for that.
Anyway not to stray to far congrats on a great image and a well deserved blue.
I saw the same picture done on another site.... In that version the ladybugs had more spots and none at all were harmed.. I like the way you used a Blue Background to enhance the work.
Hmm. and all at the expense of ''the four you see which were killed and mounted onto the flower".
So let me get this straight...you win a blue ribbon by using dead bugs (that you killed) and are quite insensitive about it, I might add, and you create an unrealistic image and add a nice title to it...is that how it's done?
As this photo has that ''WOW'' factor, I don't think any of us will ever see this replicated in real life. I have real mixed feelings about this one.
I really like this as the colors are so strong & compliment each other.....
I also love ladybirds.
I also love this image and now adding it to "my favorites".....
Very nice macro capture and nice addition of the lady bugs. Your focus is crystal clear here and the composition is good, too. I'd like to see a deeper blue on the background for this one, as it would really serve to make the yellow in the flower pop. I think a small curves adjustment would have served to do just that.
It's a great shot, excellent in fact, and I'm scoring it high. I know this may sound like a party pooper comment...but I think the photo would be stronger with just the single, big ladybug on her own.
This is a fantastic shot but I;m quite certain you know this. Sure to ribbon for a myriad of reasons. Here are some of mine: superb composition and deep dof, accurate & telling title (a rarity IMHO here at dpc)and nice contrast of colours. Everything really pops out at you without one object over shadowing the others. Sure to ribbon. Good luck! 10
Like the layout, I bet you stuck thoughs little guys to the flower.
Vivid color and nicely focused. Well saturated the the blue back ground or is it the sky hard to tell but nice.
Not being a member, I can't vote on this shot, but if I could, it would be a definite 10. Fantastic composition, great colour, well spotted with the ladybirds!! Really well done!
This is great...leaves me wondering if those are real ladybugs or something set up by the photographer. Doesn't really matter though because I love the shot. Great color saturation and contrast/complementary colors of the blue sky, yellow flower and red ladybugs.
Wow - greeat details. The complimentary nature of the colors is striking. The perfect positioning of the insects makes me think the bugs are dead ... The set-up and lighting is great -- just seems a tad faked considering the position of the "sky". 7
Nice lighting, great colours, good composition ... technically this is very good. If this had one real ladybug, this would be perfect. (If the bugs are real, than forgive my error.) JMO.
How cute. Interesting take on free study. The blue background adds a nice touch, being the compliment to yellow. I think I'd do some burn along the center and a bit outward to showcase the varaicnes of the flower a smidge more.
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