To piggyback off of yesterday’s scarab beetle and its challenging shiny surfaces, I have another scarab beetle, a rose chafer species. Hopefully the difference between the two is readily apparent in this photo: one is smooth and glassy, the other is fuzzy and wuzzy. The little, smooth hairs (kind of like a short-haired dog) do not reflect light in harsh bursts. The flash shows up on the eye and especially the back leg, but nothing like on the other beetle. That’s something I can live with. The reflection on the grass and the white on the leaf in the background are probably bigger problems as far as distracting elements (and you can throw in a slightly unparallel focal plane to subject). All in all, this beetle was a less challenging subject; it lacked the highly-reflective surface, and as the ultimate bug photographer’s bonus, it didn’t move around much at all.
BugPhoto.net 
Catch lights in the eyes are a good thing. The other issues might just as well have come from the ambient light. Sometimes it’s magnified by flash. I was surprised today when I looked at an insect I was hooting to see the specular highlights were not from the flash but from other reflections. Regards,
The background white spots were more of a composition issue, I should say. The leaves of the plant behind the shot were white and green, so…that’s nature. The light on the grass – which now that I notice/remember is not actually grass but a fairly common plant that grows up on other plants almost like a vine – the light reflecting there is only on the top segment of the stem. I’m guessing the angle accounts for the difference. It’s probably not too bad; my train of thought is there and I am OCD-ing a bit as I tend to do. :)
Can you mute, change or otherwise alter the area in Gimp? That’s one solution. I have a street photo of woman that is quite nice except for the ad behind here and I am working on a solution to censor it. Same idea its a highlight that could use toning down. Easier said than done :)
I’m guessing it is possible in GIMP. For a free program, it is pretty powerful. Not as good as PS, though if the GIMP folk pull off the 3.0 release, I hear it’s supposed to bridge a lot of the gap. Computer stuff, it’s tough for me; I like it a lot and admire people who excel in whatever the field, but I have a low threshold for troubleshooting. It’s like how math went for me: I went from Algebra to Calculus and my blood pressure went from low to high. :D
On Tue, Sep 17, 2013 at 5:43 PM, BugPhoto.net