Stripey

[jaydubyasee]

This character was hiding in my garden so I took a chance at some close-up shots. How did I do ?

[wulf]

How long was it? Looks like the kind of caterpillar I wouldn't want to pick up!

I like the diagonal composition, the colours and the bokeh (ie. charming bluriness of the background). It would be nice if you could get a bit closer and a bit sharper - what camera equipment do you have? If you are at the limits of your physical gear, the picture could probably be polished up a bit more in the digital darkroom.

Also, did you take any angles other than this profile view? Sometimes a different viewpoint can make a great difference and that is pretty much impossible to do out-of-camera.

Wulf

[baseballboy828]

With your existing image, an unsharp mask would help in photoshop or whatever app you own.

[jaydubyasee]

Don't worry Wulf, it was only a couple of inches in length.

I'm an absolute beginner with an Olympus SP500UZ point-and-click. I didn't take any other angles. I did do a bit of playing around in Gimp though as the original was too dark.

baseballboy828 - what's an unsharp mask ?

[aadam_21]

I really like this shot. Like wulf, the diagonal composition is really appealing. I also like how more of the blade of grass is in front of the caterpillar giving the sense of somewhere to go. All in all, good capture. Like said before me, my only suggestion would be a little sharpening.

[baseballboy828]

It's a filter in photoshop for doing sharpening. There may be a similar (even the same name) filter in gimp. It tends to give good sharpening with plenty of control.

[wulf]

Filters | Enhance | Unsharp mask, from memory. If you search for unsharp mask tutorial on Google (or even poke around on this site), you will find plenty of information.

I know, from experience, that having a simple little camera can be frustrating when you start to look at the results people get with better equipment... but I also know that you can do an awful lot with some post-processing (and The Gimp is an excellent tool for that).

Wulf

[jaydubyasee]

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Val1064]

I like this shot and think the suggestions that others gave are wonderful ideas.

[windrider86]

I really like the colors you captured and as Wulf said the lines you created. My only other siggestion would be to clone out the item in the lower corner.