Waterside Snail (wide-angle)

Here's another from my early morning wide-angle session a couple of weeks ago, haven't had a chance to try it again since.

Taken with a Canon 40D with Tokina 10-17mm fisheye at 17mm. F16, 1/250, ISO 320.

Here's a 1000 pixel version.

All C+C welcomed.

Matt

Hi Matt, it' s a fine result showing some good effects. I think the image maybe would have been more balanced with the snail in the left side.

I like the concept of this shot, but find the lighting a bit disconcerting - there are no shadows to speak of. Did you use flash as well as sunlight, or a reflector?

It's great for getting detail, but makes for an unnatural shot.

If it was a flash, I'd try cuttung down the power to give a fill-in effect rather than flooding it. If a reflector, try it a bit further away.

This is just down to personal taste, and I do like the idea. The lighting on your recent post of a butterfly was, in my opinion, better.

Loved the first wide angle you did, and love this like the habitat shown, lovely shot Matt

thanks for the comments, yes I used a reflector here as I did in the first shot. I had no choice as the lens was literally about an inch from the snail and hence blocking the light. I probably did bounce too much light here though.

Matt

Hi Matt

I think this would have worked better if the snail had been climbing a live/green stalk as in reality I doubt that it would climb a dead twig as it would know there would be no meal at the end!

David

Hi David,

I certainly didn't move the snail! This was as I found it, so it was climbing a dead stalk (don't ask me why!). It was because it was climbing the stalk that I spotted it and thought it would make a nice photo (although not everyone would seem to agree ).

Matt

Don't be disheartened - it is a nice photo.

It has been said many times that the number of viewers does not collate to the number of replies.

It is always good to see something a little out of the ordinary in terms of shots. It doesn't always work, but it is still good to see people trying to stretch the boundaries. If we didn't experiment with different things it would be a very dull website (and world). Keep 'em coming.

Hi Matt,

I love wide angle wildlife images as it seems to be rarely done these days! All telephoto or marco!

I like your thinking when you shoot this image!

He probably was climbing to the top for a better view!

Well I think it's a great shot. I find snails in all sorts of unlikely places. There was even one in my granddaughter's bedroom resting in the angle between wall and ceiling. It had probably crawled through the open window at some point. Keep on pushing those bounderies. It beats beautiful but boring butterflies anyday IMHO.

Its good Matt... I do feel that the lighter left hand side tends to keep the eye on that side of the image a little bit too long so would be happy to lose a bit of that, I like the reflected light on the snail as it has kept some direction to it but reveals the textures within your subject.

many thanks for the further comments

Matt

Very nice work Matt and I don't mind the 'perch' at all as I too have seen them on many objects obviously not just food items.. Really like this style of work. Very inspiring.

Brett

Super shot Matt. Nice to see the surrounding environment.

Lee