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Attack


Attack
Photo Information
Copyright: jaap polak (carper) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1973 W: 119 N: 2582] (8439)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-04-17
Categories: Insects
Camera: Canon Powershot Pro1
Exposure: f/3.5, 1/400 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2005-07-15 11:58
Viewed: 3719
Points: 48
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
chrysolina fastuosa
The Coleoptera, or beetles, includes many commonly encountered insects such as ladybird beetles (family Coccinellidae), click beetles (Elateridae), scarabs (Scarabaeidae), and fireflies (Lampyridae). They live throughout the world (except Antarctica), but are most speciose in the tropics.

The oldest beetle fossils are from the Lower Permian (about 265 million years old; Ponomarenko, 1995); since then the group has diversified into many different forms. They range in size from minute featherwing beetles (Ptiliidae), adults of which are as small as 0.3 mm long, to the giant Goliath and Hercules beetles (Scarabaeidae), which can be well over 15 cm. While most species are phytophagous, many are predacious, or fungivores, or are parasitoids. They communicate to one another in many ways, either by use of chemicals (e.g. pheromones), sounds (e.g. stridulation), or by visual means (e.g. fireflies). They live in rainforest canopies, the driest deserts, in lakes, and above treeline on mountains.

In one sense the most unusual property of beetles is not some aspect of their structure or natural history, but their sheer number. There are more known species of Coleoptera than any other group of organisms, with over 350,000 described species. Perhaps the most famous quote about beetles comes from the great population geneticist J.B.S. Haldane, who was asked what might be learned about a Creator by examining the world. His response: "an inordinate fondness for beetles" .

Characteristics
The most distinctive feature of beetles is the hardening of the forewings into elytra; it is from this that they get their formal name (koleos - sheath, pteron - wing). The elytra serve to protect the more delicate hind wings, as well as the dorsal surface of the abdomen, and may have been a key factor allowing them to exploit narrow passageways (for example, in leaf litter and under bark). During flight the forewings are opened enough to allow the hind wings to unfold and function:

Other derived characteristics of beetles are:

hind wings folded under elytra, with reduced venation
hind two thoracic segments (mesothorax+metathorax=pterothorax) broadly connected with abdomen, so that the primary functional units of body are head / prothorax / pterothorax + abdomen, rather than the more typical head / thorax / abdomen of many other insects.
genitalia retracted into abdomen
adult antenna with 11 articles
Beetles are holometabolous insects, normally with adecticous, exarate pupae. Most species have chewing mouthparts. There is a gula present on the undersurface of the head. You can click here for the whole interesting article.

The compostition of this beetle makes the photo with the good dof. Very interesting photo with his F 3.5.
gr. Jaap
Comandante, Fisher, elihesam, Marche, PDP, jhm, Lyanna, TAZ, dew77, sAner, marhowie, deud, red45, Signal-Womb, christophe, gerhardt, sway has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Lyanna: Volgens mij zijn dit echt hele kleine kevertjescarper 1 07-16 12:57
To jhm: hoi Johncarper 1 07-16 03:15
To elihesam: ah Mohammadcarper 1 07-15 13:02
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Critiques [Translate]

Hello Jaap!
Perfect close up.Lighting,vivid colors,clear details,sharpness,POV and composition are excellent.Thanks for sharing.

  • Great 
  • Fisher Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1540 W: 309 N: 2234] (8915)
  • [2005-07-15 12:09]

Hi Jaap,
Excellent shot and well composed.
However, I feel the DOF needs to be around F8 with the point and shoot as it would have the antenae in focus.
A metalic subject is also a dificult one as seen here, so, excellent effort.

Mike

  • Great 
  • livios Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2150 W: 319 N: 4263] (16942)
  • [2005-07-15 12:17]

Jaap, we've got a metallic "monster" here. As for dof, I agree with Mike (Fisher). Besides, maybe, f/8 would have avoided the little overexposure upon the head.

Apart from that, no doubt this a great shot.

I do enjoy composition and pov. Colors are very nice too. Finally, the blurred bg works really great too.

Well done.

Glad to see you here Jaap!
I'm back after a long time in TN,most of problem is time,...

great shot,amazing result and wonderful colors,excellent macro with admirable details,very well used the DOF and nicely worked,Excellent note,too.
Best Regards
M

Hello Jaap!
What a great creature! Fantastic colours and just great composition.

Bonsoir Jaap,
Excellente composition de ce coléoptaire. Les couleurs sont superbement rendues. Avez-vous un objectif spécial pour les macros ?
Merci du partage
Amicalement
Martine

excellent shot Jaap,
Well composed, good detail, stunning colours and sharpness.
Nicely captured, Great POV and shallow DOF works nicely.
Thanks for posting, have a great weekend

  • Great 
  • Luc Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1835 W: 301 N: 4287] (14767)
  • [2005-07-15 22:08]

Hello Japp!
First of all, thank you for your frankness in your critics.

Personal assessment of the photo: very good.
Strong visual impact.
Aptness of the photo for the site: excellent.
Personal assessment of the note: complete.
Thank you very much for sharing.
Have a good weekend!

  • Great 
  • jhm Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 893 W: 0 N: 507] (1853)
  • [2005-07-16 2:44]
  • [+]

Goedemorgen Jaap,
En dat wij met zijn allen nog nooit op de mooie kleuren gelet hebben van een kever, gelukkig doet u dat in onze plaats, om eens een schitterend beeld te tonen, Jaap als u het mijn de vraag zou stellen, welk toestel het beste is dan zou ik het niet weten, beiden produceren excellente beelden, maar het zal wel de man achter te camera zijn nietwaar!
Groeten en prettig weekend,
John.

Good macro, Jaap.
The DOF is little shallow as mention.
But it's well composed, nice colours, good POV and good details.
Well done, my friend.

Hoi Jaap,

Wat mooi! Volgens mij zijn dit echt hele kleine kevertjes toch? Knap dat je het zo in beeld hebt weten te brengen. Ik denk dat ik 'm zelf, zoals de anderen zeiden, met een iets kleinere aperture zou hebben geschoten, maar als ik zo je note lees, was deze DOF juist de bedoeling. If so, mooi geschoten!
Ik vond de note ook erg handig, ik heb er weer een heleboel bijgeleerd.

  • Great 
  • TAZ Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2241 W: 47 N: 3167] (10926)
  • [2005-07-16 4:12]

Beautiful and interesting shot for this superb metalic insect ! Composition and colors are very good ! Thanks for sharing Jaap.

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4432 W: 248 N: 4028] (13270)
  • [2005-07-16 6:43]

Hello Jaap!
Wonderful razor sharp macro.Colors,details,POV and framing are perfect.TFS..:-)

  • Great 
  • sAner Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1455 W: 74 N: 1426] (4750)
  • [2005-07-16 7:14]

Hi Jaap,

Dit is erg dichtbij zeg! Hoe krijg je dat toch voor elkaar zonder dat die insecten wegrennen? :) Ik vind wel dat de DOF wat 'shallow' is, 3.5 is naar mijn mening echt iets te weinig. Prachtige kleuren en goede compositie. Well done & TFS!

Regards,
Pieter

Nice macro Jaap! This is well composed with a great POV. Good details and you've shown the difficult metallic colors well..Great shot!

  • Great 
  • deud Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 438 W: 11 N: 534] (2540)
  • [2005-07-16 8:53]

nice macro! very colorful bug! great composition. tfs

  • Great 
  • red45 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2636 W: 74 N: 9091] (31094)
  • [2005-07-16 12:31]

Superb close-up of this little monster Jaap! Details are amazing, same as all these metallic shinning surfaces. Great job!

Hello jaap, exellent photo. Colourful bug. Great Macro. Good job.

  • Great 
  • PDP Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor [C: 2821 W: 344 N: 3779] (11769)
  • [2005-07-16 16:15]

Hi Jaap, veyr nice shot. good composition and a very nice POV for this leaf beetle. The colours is great. I do think the focus is a little soft. Well done.

Nice macro Jaap revealing amazing metallic colours. Its maybe for my liking a little over saturated and yes the focus is a soft. Very interesting shot however with excellent note. Well done.

Hi Jaap
Sharpness: 5/5
Color: 5/5 great metallic color
DOF: 4/5
POV: 5/5
Excellent shot, details and
TFS
In a friendly way Christophe

WOW! Jaap, what have you got here for us. Interesting subject.

Composition/placement: ****
Exposure: ***
Focus/sharpness: ***
DOF: ***
POV: ****
Impact: ****

Overall: ****

*Acceptable, **Average, ***Good, ****Great, *****Outstanding

  • Great 
  • sway Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 305 W: 85 N: 319] (1276)
  • [2005-07-24 23:07]

I love the way you have captured this insects metallic armour.!
Great macro.
Nice POV.

What a wonderful beetle! Great colours.
I guess the DOF could have been greater and the focus slightly more towards the head, but I've never done a successful macro, so who am I to criticize?!
These faults, don't spoil it, though, the pearlescent shell really makes this shot great!
TFS!
Andy

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