Winner Chosen - August 2011 - Admin's choice - Image of the month

[Marko]

Hi members,

In case you are new around here this is where the Admin (me) chooses one excellent photo each month from all the photos nominated by other members during that month in the Member's monthly choice forum.

Just so it's clear, the photo I choose is not necessarily the best one of the month. I've come to realize it's not really logical to pit images from totally different genres against each other. That's why there are categories in photo contests. My goal is to simply choose an excellent photo and talk about why I think it rocks.

This month's choice My Little Friend by Wicked Dark

I chose this image for several reasons:

Sharpness - It's difficult to get this level of sharpness when doing macro work and the sharpness on the crawler here is wonderful and very striking! On the opposite end the background out of focus elements also work well to isolate the primary subject.

Composition - All eyes are on the bug here and this is due to good composition with almost no distractions. The curved part of the crawler is well seen due to the comp and the diagonal branch at right act as a frame and helps keep our eyes on the most important element.

Colour/Lighting - The image busts with colour due to shooting in softer light along with some (likely) processing to enhance the greens.

For all these reasons, this is my choice for image of the month. Since we all have opinions, some members may disagree with my choice. That's cool but THIS thread is not the place for debate over my pick, NOR is it the place to further critique the image. The purpose here is to suggest strong elements in the photo that we may learn from.

Congrats again Wicked Dark for capturing this striking crawler.