Year of the Cicada

[Badcast]

My front yard is full of these insects. Its the 15 year Cicada hatch. This is the molt stage and I caught this one in good light. I used my 70-300 at 300mm, f/13 1/60s and 400 iso. Its my first try at a close up so any critique is welcome. I think the image is to big but the tiny pic thread said 1600x1000.

Randy

[purplehaze]

Fascinating shot, Randy. As a fellow D90 owner, I am inspired.

[Badcast]

Fascinating shot, Randy. As a fellow D90 owner, I am inspired.

Thanks Janis

[rob marshall]

Excellent shot, Randy. It's amazing that some of these Cicada have a life-cycle of up to 17 years. Well captured.

Did you consider cropping it a bit to lose some of the OOF tree on the left? Like this. It puts more emphasis upon the subject, and also loses some of that bright area at the bottom.

[Badcast]

Excellent shot, Randy. It's amazing that some of these Cicada have a life-cycle of up to 17 years. Well captured.

Did you consider cropping it a bit to lose some of the OOF tree on the left? Like this. It puts more emphasis upon the subject, and also loses some of that bright area at the bottom.

Thanks Rob, the crop really helps. The OOF tree was a distraction. I think I left a little to much on the right also.

Randy

[Geoff F]

Yes I would also consider cropping a little tighter on the right.

This is a pro quality photo of a most interesting stage in the insect's life story so I would like to get the emphasis as close as possible to the action. But without cropping excessively close.

Or to put it another way. How would a nature magazine crop this photo.