Hitching a Ride

I was hauling off some weeds and yard stuff out to our little nature dump yesterday. Driving through chest-high grass, this grasshopper decided to hitch a ride. On Saturday, I had put my camera in the truck and left it--just the camera and 18-135mm kit lens. I didn't have my full bag, so this was a lesson in getting a shot with what you have on hand (I would have loved to have used my 70-300 VR to get in closer). Even though this shot is at f5.6, the close-in range lets the compression do its job and limit the depth of field.

I struggled with the crop. I really wanted to leave this guy some space to jump, sort of a kinetic composition. Then I had the unintended reflection that I really felt made the shot unique. Then a little bit of the Rule of Thirds. Then there's my tendency to compose on the right side. Were it not for the reflection, I would have probably put him in the bottom right hand corner and brought in a lot of the out-of-focus green background to give him a grassy place to jump. But I like the reflection, and it just worked out to where I could get him in the top right third of the frame and still convey (I think) some space for him to jump (which he did when I tried to move in for a closer shot.)



EXIF information:

D80+18-135 lens at 135mm
ISO 100
f5.6
1/160 second
aperture priority mode