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Carabus auronitens.


Carabus auronitens.
Photo Information
Copyright: Peter Stoeckl (peter_stoeckl) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1738 W: 291 N: 4005] (11530)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2011-07-10
Categories: Insects
Camera: Sony Cybershot DSC HX1
Exposure: f/8, 1/25 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Theme(s): Metallic wonders of nature 2, Pretty - Perfect - Picture [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2011-07-29 1:40
Viewed: 4698
Points: 48
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Carabus auronitens (Fabricius, 1792)

Goldglänzender Laufkäfer
Carabe à reflet cuivré

Body length: 18 – 32mm

Family: Carabidae

It was early in the morning, and still a bit rainy, when a conspicuously shining large ground beetle was crossing our path from the inner valley of Ahornboden into the steep limestone mountains of Karwendel.

Carabus auronitens may be found from May to September in southern Central and Eastern Europe, residing in humid and cool deciduous mountain forests where they may go up above the forestline to elevations of 2500m. The beetles are active at night, and would hide in the bark of trees, under stones, in holes the ground for the rest of the day. That may be the main reason why they are not seen more often.

Being hunters of small animals like snails, worms, insects, they seem to be rapidly on the move all the time they are active – making them a rather difficult target to focus. That may be the main reason why those conspicuously beautiful beetles are not attacked more often by predators – or pictured by photographers.

Even with a compact camera ready at hand, I would not have expected to be able to get a reasonably sharp capture of that brightly shining quickly moving ground beetle. But I gave a short try to stop its motion by placing a foot repeatedly tightly in front of its way. That worked. The beetle stopped moving in hesitation, freezing its pose for a few seconds, enough for a short session of portraits under rather difficult low light conditions.

Location:
Eng-Alm, Ahornboden, Karwendel, at an elevation of 1250m. The area is quite unique in Central Europe for primordial deciduous mountain forests of ancient sycamores (Acer pseudoplatanus).


Literature:
Karl Wilhelm HARDE, František SEVERA: Der Kosmos Käferführer. Die Käfer Mitteleuropas. Stuttgart 1981 (5. Auflage 2006)

The camera:
SONY DSC-HX1, 3456 x 2592 pixels, sRGB, 16mm macro zoom (equivalent 84 mm at full size SLR), F/8, 1/25sec., ISO-200, bias: -0.7, hand held, no flash. 10.07.2010, 06:58.

Postwork: Photoshop CS4, slightly cropped, levels adjusted, selectively resharpened after downsize to web.

Thank you for visiting. Have a good day.
aruntp, jurek1951, Argus, buscape, uleko, maurydv, Miss_Piggy, bungbing, marius-secan, Alex99, anel, KOMSIS, Hormon_Manyer has marked this note useful
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To anel: ... nicht der einzige Naturfotografpeter_stoeckl 1 08-03 02:30
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Critiques [Translate]

wonderfully colored beetle. great sharpness and color rendering. good sharpness. wonderful species. tfs.

Hallo Peter,
Das ist eine wahre Schönheit... hat der tolle Farben. Super entdeckt hast du ihn.
Gruss Georg

WOW! Impressive photo Peter! Excellent POV and composition, very good sharpness and fantastic colours. Interesting and beautiful insect too.
Regards,
Christodoulos

  • Great 
  • lousat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 6595 W: 89 N: 15659] (65489)
  • [2011-07-29 2:40]

Hi Peter,how work well our camera..eeheheh...a magnificent macro where these metallic colors make the difference,a very professional work whit the best sharpness and brightness,very nice landscapes in WS too.Thanks for share,have a nice weekend,Luciano.

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5038 W: 260 N: 15594] (50626)
  • [2011-07-29 3:23]

Hello Peter,
What a fantastic species of Carabus and excellent capture of it with total sharpness and fine natural colours that contrast well with the limestone pebbles. The POV and diagonal composition are great too. The raindrop on the elytra shows well too.
I like your note describing you way of making this beetle stop long enough to be photographed!
Thanks for sharing this beauty,
Have a great weekend,
Ivan

Hallo Peter,
tolle Makroaufnahme von diesem metallic grünen Käfer mit perfekter Schärfe und einem klasse gewählten Aufnahmestandort. Die Farben sind echt wunderschön. Mein Kompliment.
Viele Grüße,
Helmut

Ciao Peter, wonderful beetle with fantastic metallic colors, fine detailsand splendid sharpness, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

Hi Peter

Nice sharp image of a Beetle endowed with fantastic shiny colours.
A fascinating aspect of the water drop on its back is how it acts as a magnifier and accentuates the roughness of its back.

Himanshu

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3396 W: 172 N: 3310] (10940)
  • [2011-07-29 5:51]

Hello Peter,
What a great discovery and a superb macro of this fabulous beetle that stands out sharply against the white stones. I like the low POV and the way it is facing you. Beautiful colours and well framed too. I enjoyed seeing the beautiful Alpine environment too!
Many thanks and best wishes, Ulla

  • Great 
  • nagraj Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1618 W: 106 N: 3208] (15166)
  • [2011-07-29 6:02]

Hi,
Very beautiful and colorful beetle, excellent image. tfs.
nagraj.v

Hallo Peter,
what a fantastic macro shot of the Carabus auronitens taken from an excellent point of view with impressive details and very beautiful colours, a very pleasant composition with a beautiful setting on polished stones of rain
TFS
Have a good weekend
Ciao Maurizio

hallo Peter
this is a super sharpness picture
great details and beautiful colours
thanks greeting lou

Hallo Peter
What a picture! Bravo my friend, this is outstanding. I cannot say more than this is a PPP - Pretty, perfect, picture. I am seriously jealous. It is just so gorgeous. Photography at its best. Thanks for sharing this wonderful macro filled with such a splendour of colour and glamour. Best regards.
Anna

Hello Peter,
A superb close-up of this colouful insect! excellent sharpness details, point of view and composition are wonderful, beautiful contrast against the background, very well captured,
Thanks for sharing and have a nice weekend,
Best Regards,
Bungbing.

Hello Peter,
Excellent macro capture taken with great details, excellent sharpness and wonderful metalic colours. Beautiful composition too. Well done!
Regards,
Mircea

Hello Peter,
Fantastic macro with superb light and great POV.
Outstanding metallic colors with a lovely raindrop on the back.
Wonderful focus and excellent composition.
Thanks for sharing!
Marius.

  • Great 
  • foozi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 2791 W: 0 N: 6696] (25839)
  • [2011-07-30 6:58]

Hello Peter,
very petty indeed!The metallic green in its shines and reflection really captured the eye. The lone presence among the creamy pebbles really throw this insect into a world of contrast.
What a view, and a great congratulation for a splendid finding and greatcomposition from it.

Regards,
Foozi

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4072 W: 133 N: 7096] (23735)
  • [2011-07-31 9:50]

Hi dear Peter.
Brilliant insect and brilliant shot. Simply amazing combination of colourful extremely sharp image of the beetle and loose of neutrally coloured stones which are looked a bit soft (to pleasure for eyes). Diagonal composition as well as square cropping are the best for the subject. Great job, Bravo.
Alexei.
P.S. My brother has visited Vienna and Austria these days and he is impressed a lot. He was born there and he said that he would like to live in Vienna with great pleasure.

  • Great 
  • anel Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 3053 W: 3 N: 8715] (40574)
  • [2011-08-02 4:17]
  • [+]

Lieber Peter,
Da hast Du ja Glück gehabt, welch perfekte Bildschärfe! Und mit dem kleinen Regentropfen auf dem metallisch grünen Panzer dazu. Ich hab diesen Käfer auch schon gesehen, aber sehr selten. Habe mir die WS Bilder angeschaut. Du warst im Regenwetter unterwärts, scheinbar nicht der einzige Naturfotograf :-). Auch das Hochplateau mit dem Bergahorn ist sehr überraschend. Es gibt etwas ähnliches im Kanton Bern bei Rosenlaui.
Herzlichen Dank auch für Deinen Besuch bei Coridon.
Ich wünsche Dir eine sonnige und angenehme Woche.
Herzlich grüsst
Anne

Superb photo and a beautiful insect. Nicely photographed in its environment. regards yiannis

Precioso trabajo Peter.
Tus fotografías siempre estan llenas de vida, luz y espectacularidad natural.

Un abrazo: J. Ignasi.

  • Great 
  • KOMSIS Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 820 W: 0 N: 2419] (10674)
  • [2011-08-14 12:49]

Hallo Peter,
Metalic fantastic colors and beautiful insects ..
Excellent capture. Sharp details and excellent natural colors.
Best wishes,
Seyfi

amazing Carabus, TFS Ori

Hi Peter,
Beautiful species with fantastic metallic shine - the contrast between the glowing reddish green and the plain grey of the background is breathtaking. Very well composed and exposed image. Congratulations!
Kind regards from Ireland, László

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