Gray Hairstreak (Stryman melinus)
by ChrisW123

Comment:
I have to admit to ignorance in terms of butterflies so I will take you by your word is the type.

In terms of composition, if I am going to moan, then I would say that the leaf towards the top right detracts slightly from the butterfly. Naturally I don't have your original image to go by, but I think I would have tried to rotate the image a little bit and re-crop so that it wasn't distracting from the butterfly. It's only a thought, but I briefly tried it in Photoshop and I have to say the butterfly stood out a little bit more, but in terms of use of the area I would have needed more image to work with to see if I could get a really good result. This is just a very minor point, and I'm sure you considered it in your original crop. I also like the fact that the butterfly is not quite in the middle of the picture.

Technically I would say that your image is either spot-on in focus, or as near as makes no difference. The depth of field also appears to be quite good, and from the crispness of the image there appears to be no camera shake to speak of.

On a final note the image appears to have very good balance, and I think that it is yet another one that should do very well.

Blue Eyes
by katlyn

Comment:
He's an interesting little fellow isn't he. I like the composition of this picture, especially the angle at which you have the insect. The insect is also middled in the picture, which obviously makes him the main focus of the image. Your title also draws attention to the eyes of the bug, and it is nice to see that his eyes are quite close to a third to help draw your eyes towards the head of the insect.

On a technical note I would say that you have either had to zoom in a lot to get this image, or that he is a tiny little bit out of focus. It is either that or on this image you are going very slightly soft focus, which if that is a case then I apologise for my previous observation as it works very well in this image. Either way you have a great image.

''Ladybug One, Clear To Land''
by EddyG

Comment:
Very nice from the picture all the way to the title. I like the composition especially as the flower acts as a leading line to draw you straight into the ladybug. The one thing I might be tempted to say is would a slightly darker background have been better, as it appears as though the edges of the ladybug are slightly overexposed due to the white background. I also noticed that you have some slight water drops on this ladybug, leaves me wondering whether or not he was frozen in the freezer for a little while so that you could set up this shot? My apologies if I am doing you an injustice by that observation. The water droplets do add that extra little bit to the image.
Technically I am uncertain as to whether or not you have enough depth of field, as parts of the ladybug are out of focus. The flower appears to be in crisp focus and that is why I am guessing that your depth of field is a little bit too shallow. The aforementioned overexposed edges of the ladybug detract only a tiny little bit.
Great image I wish you well in the challenge.

Interrupting Dinner
by tfaust

Comment:
He he, a lovely picture. I really like the composition of this picture, the darkening upper part of the picture gives it a wonderful flair which is finished off exquisitely by the white border. The location of the insects in the image is also very nice.
Technically I would say that your depth of field is perhaps a tiny bit too shallow, but now I am picking.
You leave me wondering as to where you took this picture as the surface that the insects are on looks very nice and does not detract from the image. I actually took a picture of a butterfly on a grey background that I did not submit because the grey background detracted completely from the butterfly.
This is one of the first pictures that I have looked at, but so far is my favourite -- top draw so far I think you will do very well.

Big Baby Blues
by spiderman

Comment:
Hmm look at the legs on that. I really like this picture, but I have to admit that I don't recognise the insect.
You have achieved a very shallow depth of field, but I feel that your title is trying to draw attention to the eyes, which are slightly out of focus. As the legs are the main feature of the insect that are in focus, personally I feel that your title should have drawn attention to that as opposed to the eyes. Though I can understand why you tried to draw attention to the eyes -- they look wonderful.
In many of my recent insect shots I have found that I get slightly shallower depth of field than I actually wanted, and unfortunately this seems to have struck you on a particularly inconvenient image.
An interesting crop and nice composition. Like the border too.

On The Fence
by ewall53

Comment:
I see that you have the little grasshoppers eye right in the middle of your picture, personally though I would have preferred a slightly bigger image of the grasshopper (zoomed in a little bit more) so that I can see more detail. On a technical note your focus appears fine with a blurry background. Maybe you have a little bit too much fence in the picture, as that too is in focus and due to the size of the grasshopper is a little bit distracting to me.
Overall a very high-quality picture just a little bit too zoomed out for my tastes.

Ticket to the Doghouse
by alanfreed

Comment:
Clever -- I like it :)

Just when you thought you’ve had enough hammers for one week!
by tomlewis1980

Comment:
TomLewis1980 I'm guessing

Hot Cinnamon Doughnuts
by Lustre

Comment:
Don't make me hungry :-)

Bleeding Sun
by CraigD

Comment:
Lovely, did you just get that effect from the clouds? Or did you make it? Either way are very good picture.