Animals Showcase ⇒ A lovely Bug

[pop511]

Saw this to what I can only describe as a beetle walking on a loose brick in my back yard. The colours absolutely floored me.
So I ran inside and took out my trusty Canon with a 85mm prime.
Attached 36mm and 20mm Kenko lens extenders and went to work, but soon realised that I needed to add the 12mm extender as well.
Being the novice that I am I tried auto focus, but quickly found that manual is better.
So what other errors did I make?
Set aperture too wide. I used between 5 and 8F
I should have kept it above 11F

Size of the beetle 5-7mm
1/2 - 9/16 in

Pictures cropped

Maybe next time I'll get it right!!
Have fun:

[PietFrancke]

nice - I like that first shot especially. Greater DOF is standard, but I kind of like where you have it.

[Psjunkie]

all above my pay grade but I like the shots anyway

[minniev]

I like him, and he is more artistic with only the fore parts in tight focus. When the entire bug is in focus, photos resemble a science textbook. This is better!

[pop511]

Agree Minnie. I could have stuck it with a pin to stop it moving, but it would have shouted out in pain!..

[Duck]

Finding the right field of focus on something this small is very tricky indeed. Like others, I think you found a nice compromise between showing the right amount of detail and creating an artistic presentation. As anyone who has done macro work would understand, a slight breath forward or back during the shutter click will drastically change the image. I think you did a fine job with both these but I'll cast my vote for the first one being the stronger of the two as well.