web weaver
by roz

Comment:

Originally posted by streetpigeon: Here's an image that knocked me backwards, so sleek and evocative and powerful. All the human connotations of spiders and their webs inform this presentation, or tale. The depth of field is wonderful. There's a sense of being at the center of the universe, enhanced by the galactic bokeh. The bokeh on the web, striped kind of like fingerprints, is especially becoming. The variety of shapes is subtle and entrancing. The overall feel is of a mandala. Personal favorite of the challenge, the ten. Going into my favorites. If I were to set up a wing of the favorites of the favorites, this would happily reside therein.

hey rich ...
thankyou so much for your fantastic comment ...
i think most people just love the bright and shiny in these sort of challenges .. and dont get me wrong .. they are eye candy for sure ...
for me personally .. i do like things that dont hit you in the face .. that you have to go a bit deeper to see what's going on .. that may take a while to reveal themselves ..
i'm extremely pleased to hear that this was your favourite in the challenge .. and even in the wing of your favourites of favourites .. which i'm assuming is up there .. !! ..
i have tried to find similar spider's webs like this but have failed .. the distance from the ground underneath has to be just so .. and getting the focus on something so tiny is a real challenge ..
i'm going to keep looking tho .. as i want to capture another one similar to this only absolutely perfect .. :)

Cyclone Fence Royalty
by Cuttooth

Comment:
this is my absolute fav in the challenge ..
it's the most stunning photo .. and so beautiful ..
I hope you get the blue ..
I'm not voting yet ..:)

Along these lines..
by IreneM

Comment:
i just HAD to open this ..
as a thumb its so beautiful ..
literally 50 seconds later .. from clicking on the thumb .. i was able to see this full size .. i was counting . !! . ;)
how good you were able to enter this archival photo in this challenge .. and get the blue ..
CONGRATULATIONS .. its so stunning .. the colours .. the shapes .. couldnt be better for the challenge ..
and ps .. i doubt many of us 'old timers' could not see this and think of you ..
anonymity for these amazing IreneM creations has gone out the window .. lol .. xx

web weaver
by roz

Comment:

Originally posted by Neat: EPIC!

and thankyou Anita .. what a great comment to get during voting .. xx

Living mosaic
by P-A-U-L

Comment:
came to see how you and Anita did on this challenge if you'd entered it ..
this is amazing .. btw
I think the challenge description may have confused some ppl .. both in what to enter and how to vote ..
to me this totally fits the challenge and is a wonderful photo to boot ..
now I'll have to Google origins of that really weird saying ..!!..
"Originally, it comes from Old English to bote. As Etymonline explains, in Old English bot meant "'help, relief, advantage; atonement,' literally 'a making better,'" from Proto-Germanic *boto, which is also where the word better comes from. It seems that to boot simply meens in addition."

Check it out
by Neat

Comment:
came to see what you'd put in if anything ..
I love this a lot ..
a very neat image .. in both senses of the word ..!!..

street meets abstract meets shapes ..
excellent bnw ..
you nailed it .. xx

Escape from Bubbleland
by Dennisheckman

Comment:
I have come back to look at this again .. and it just keeps getting better ..
I truly don't understand why this didn't get the blue .. it's just out of this world stunning ..
it really is begging to be printed and hanging in pride of place in your home ..:)

Portrait of a Fruit Fly - 3mm long (1/8th inch) including the wings
by roz

Comment:

Originally posted by Neat: One of your best ever, so,sharp. But I don̢۪t understand how you used three photos though, isn̢۪t that illegal, still maybe I don̢۪t get it the focus stacking thing, never done that before. Congratulations, and I̢۪m not sure how you̢۪re surprised you got the blue lol, are you being humble ;)

hey Anita .. with standard editing you are allowed to focus stack if the photos you use are pretty much the same ..
with insect macro photography the depth of field is so shallow that you can have an eye in focus and something less than 1mm away oof .. depending on your fstop .. but even at say f11 it will still be very shallow .. so moving the camera closer or further away a very small amount .. and taking lots of photos to get various parts of the insect in focus but still retaining the general appearance of the photo .. and then stitching them together in your editing .. that's allowed in standard editing in dpc ..
i manually focus stack in photoshop where i start with one photo .. say the body of the insect .. where the eye may be out of focus .. i'll then bring in another photo with the eye in focus .. and mask off the bits i dont want .. etc etc ..
hope this makes sense .. xx

also .. not humble .. lol .. didnt think a 6.8 would get the blue .. with a free study the blue is usually above 7 i thought .. :)

Message edited by author 2020-06-08 02:30:54.

Busy bee
by P-A-U-L

Comment:
congrats on top ten .. and the hairy eyeballs .. i love that bit of the bee ..
lots of insects have that .. my first experience with hairy eyeballs was a butterfly .. and i was blown away .. i actually entered it in a dpc challenge with the title .. common brown butterfly - i have hairy eyeballs .. lol ..
anyway .. you are so talented at this insect macro photography .. and this is a standout photo ..
i know how difficult bees are to photograph .. constantly moving .. little buggars .. hahaha ..
looking forward to seeing what else you are going to regale us with .. :)

A Side Of Cherries
by grahamgator

Comment:
WOW .. as a thumb it was lovely .. but when it opened up it became AWESOME ..
seriously .. its like a work of art .. loving how you have set this scene up and your editing .. congrats on a great place in the challenge .. :)