Need directions

[Phoenix_Jackson]

I honestly don't know what to ask here. But I was hoping I'd get some guidelines when it comes to composition (yes, yes, I know this has been asked gazillions of times). It's the cropping part that got me wondering about it.

I tried to get it as proper as I could on camera. But having it hand-held (yes, yes, I know it's a "no no" for macro) with the subject and I at the weirdest positions, and very dark (hence the flash... on-board), and somehow I think my camera keeps reverting to 4:3 after each shot (although I repeatedly set it on 1:1), it's just a bit much. So I had to resort to cropping with just a bit of PP tweaking (stopping down exposure compensation in RAW).

Instantly, the rule of thirds came to my mind while I was cropping. But looking at the preview, I'm very much tempted to make it wider for the subject to look like it's walking (although it was really still). To me, it looked really cool. But then I feared I'll be bombarded with the "next time focus on the eyes and use the rule of thirds" lecture. So I resolved with this:



One thing I know is it's sof. But I have 3 similar shots (that I think are better) along with 4 of the SOOC versions currently in front of my flickr stream

So if I may, just simply ask for any advise you could give (I know the rules ask for specific questions but I'm just totally blanked here). This field is quite alien to me and I don't have the proper equipment, but it's starting to get addicting. I just want to know if it's a good secondary field I should look more into (for the sake of daytime shooting as I'm more a night shot person).

Canon EOS 60D with Canon 55-250mm IS and 3 sectioned extension tube (I don't see a name)
Aperture: ? (it says 00)
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/250
Flash on
Flash Exposure Compensation: -1
Spot Metering
Manual mode
WB: Flash (I don't know why it says "manual" on flickr)
Scene: custom

Thank you very much for taking your time on this.

[shocellist]

Did you crop the antennae at all? If you could have the entire thing in the shot, it might look better. To me, the lack of antennae feels like an oversight. Either a looser crop (including antennae) or a very tight crop (where it is obvious that antennae are intentionally left out) might be better.

If you wanted to give the illusion of movement, you'd need more negative space on the right side. Unfortunately, that would push the subject to the middle, which may not work. On the other hand, showing movement might be more powerful than the lack of rule of thirds.

It almost looks like this thing has fur on it! It would be great if you could have focused a bit more on its eye as well because it doesn't look quite as sharp as the well-lit "fur" right behind.

On to your metadata (not related to the shot at all):
I may be mistaken since I don't own an extension tube, but aperture might not "exist" once the tube is attached. Something about a "focus zone" instead of the aperture of the lens.
If you shot in RAW, then your WB would be manual because WB is only applied if you set your preferences to JPEG.

This is a really interesting image, and I love how I have no clue what you're taking a picture of.

[AshNZ]

Also, the focus does not seem to be intentional - it just seems to have happened to focus where it did without you realising. It is notoriously hard to focus on macro though but you should try focussing on the eye.

[Phoenix_Jackson]

Wow! It took a while but I'm glad I got comments. Attached is the crop that I really want, along with the attempt of following the rule of thirds. I remember this was the most contorting position I ever had while shooting. Along it being hand-held, this was the best focus I could have (the rest I took from this POV are all scrap camera shaken). But this wider crop doesn't make it look so much a close-up (doesn't look close enough) is what made me crop it tighter.

Here's the best I could produce from this series:



I was told that 1:1 doesn't refer to the resolution. I immediately assumed that because it's on the camera and also a preset crop option on DPP. I didn't know it was about magnification. I guess I need to read more into it before shooting.

Once again, thank you.