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05/11/2015 08:10:05 AM · #276
Week 20

This one was so much fun to take. Not the best one either for me, I love my insects and spiders. I just wish I knew what kind these guys were.
Hubby and I were sitting on the swing and I looked up and noticed there was over 80 of these little guys crawling up one little tiny web line following there momma out into the world. They went from my swing to where we were sitting, to the gutter then to a electrical wire moving out into the world. Go little ones and eat all those mosquito and gnats! We were so entertained for almost 2hrs watching this, and we laughed at a few spiders who seemed to have been wanting to move faster than a few other spiders who were slower taking their time.. like, hurry up will ya! So it seemed they were pushing them by bumping into them. But for the most case, each spider was spaced just like this.. Siblings.

Just so awesome to watch nature at its best.. just natureawesomeness.

(not dust spots, but baby spiders LOL)

Message edited by author 2015-05-11 08:29:29.
05/11/2015 11:01:25 AM · #277
Originally posted by jgirl57:

Week 20

This one was so much fun to take. Not the best one either for me, I love my insects and spiders. I just wish I knew what kind these guys were.
Hubby and I were sitting on the swing and I looked up and noticed there was over 80 of these little guys crawling up one little tiny web line following there momma out into the world. They went from my swing to where we were sitting, to the gutter then to a electrical wire moving out into the world. Go little ones and eat all those mosquito and gnats! We were so entertained for almost 2hrs watching this, and we laughed at a few spiders who seemed to have been wanting to move faster than a few other spiders who were slower taking their time.. like, hurry up will ya! So it seemed they were pushing them by bumping into them. But for the most case, each spider was spaced just like this.. Siblings.

Just so awesome to watch nature at its best.. just natureawesomeness.

(not dust spots, but baby spiders LOL)


Great story. A rare treat to witness the migration of the baby spiders out into the wide world.

It gave me a sad little smile though, because I remembered discovering that the camera cannot capture what the eye can see, the way the mind perceives it & experiences it. The sadness came when I discovered how the photographers got those wonderful macro shots. Like you, I wondered what I was doing wrong, or could do differently, to get the shot. It turns out macro photography requires much more controlled conditions & models to get the shot. I read about the insects being killed & then superglued in place, set up under studio lights, shot for focus-stacking, etc.

I discovered I cannot do manual focusing for a macro shot unless the subject is stationary & my camera is on a tripod. I set up an experiment with a black cardboard & a straight pin, to find out if & how I could get my camera to auto-focus on the head of a pin. Reading that the camera auto-focuses on the brightest spot & discovering through trial-&-error are 2 different things. I like to do trial-&-error.

I had a lot of fun & I discovered this--we have techniques for PP so that we can get the shot to look like what we saw. Because the camera is a very limited tool--it just captures the light.

05/11/2015 11:10:09 AM · #278
Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by pixelpig:


The crystals sparkle in the light very nicely but of course I can't capture that in a still shot.

Do you think the reflections of the orange crystals on the dark crystals is good or bad?

Lighting and set-up are good, I think the reflections are OK.

I wonder if you could use some additional lights (flashlight, laser pointer?) to light the big crystals from the back and make them look even more transparent.

Also, I wonder if a star filter (or aperture control) might help give you that sparkle ...


Thanks. I was thinking the same thing. But then I had to take down my little studio so I could do the laundry. Now, I'm thinking of moving the studio to the dining room. I'm not giving up, it's a process.
05/11/2015 11:21:19 AM · #279
Originally posted by pixelpig:

Originally posted by jgirl57:

Week 20

This one was so much fun to take. Not the best one either for me, I love my insects and spiders. I just wish I knew what kind these guys were.
Hubby and I were sitting on the swing and I looked up and noticed there was over 80 of these little guys crawling up one little tiny web line following there momma out into the world. They went from my swing to where we were sitting, to the gutter then to a electrical wire moving out into the world. Go little ones and eat all those mosquito and gnats! We were so entertained for almost 2hrs watching this, and we laughed at a few spiders who seemed to have been wanting to move faster than a few other spiders who were slower taking their time.. like, hurry up will ya! So it seemed they were pushing them by bumping into them. But for the most case, each spider was spaced just like this.. Siblings.

Just so awesome to watch nature at its best.. just natureawesomeness.

(not dust spots, but baby spiders LOL)


Great story. A rare treat to witness the migration of the baby spiders out into the wide world.

It gave me a sad little smile though, because I remembered discovering that the camera cannot capture what the eye can see, the way the mind perceives it & experiences it. The sadness came when I discovered how the photographers got those wonderful macro shots. Like you, I wondered what I was doing wrong, or could do differently, to get the shot. It turns out macro photography requires much more controlled conditions & models to get the shot. I read about the insects being killed & then superglued in place, set up under studio lights, shot for focus-stacking, etc.

I discovered I cannot do manual focusing for a macro shot unless the subject is stationary & my camera is on a tripod. I set up an experiment with a black cardboard & a straight pin, to find out if & how I could get my camera to auto-focus on the head of a pin. Reading that the camera auto-focuses on the brightest spot & discovering through trial-&-error are 2 different things. I like to do trial-&-error.

I had a lot of fun & I discovered this--we have techniques for PP so that we can get the shot to look like what we saw. Because the camera is a very limited tool--it just captures the light.



I found out a few of the people whom I was looking up to for macro photography especially the insects was getting those awesome shots, they told me they were doing just that. I no longer respect them for them for that reason.
I will learn to focus stack on my new computer when I get it soon enough, but I think I will try to invent a moving macro lens that can do that somehow without injuring these creatures.. There has to be a way to get it done without having to remove them from their territories. I know these spiders have been keeping ants from entering my home.
I think I rather have shitty shots like this and being able to witness an awesome nature event instead of trying to destroy it.
The only insects I care to kill are mosquitoes.. LOL

To me, that broke my heart when they gave me the low down of how it was done, A few others were turned off by macro because of it. I know some people hate insects and bugs, but its these bugs, bees, worms, spiders and other creatures that keep us alive.

Your shot is fun!! I love it when that happens

Message edited by author 2015-05-11 11:25:12.
05/11/2015 07:02:12 PM · #280
Week 20:
Still practicing hand-held in low light
Cathedral in Strasbourg, France

05/13/2015 08:48:45 PM · #281
05-Week 1
I went to a "living history" weekend at an old reconstructed military fort north of town the first weekend in May. This young lady was working in the sutler's store. So pretty and the natural window light was very nice; I asked her to pose and she obliged.
05/15/2015 04:32:37 PM · #282

18 - Roadblock
05/16/2015 10:39:19 AM · #283
Week 19 -- House across the street: 




05/16/2015 10:27:50 PM · #284
Week 20 small sensor theme...I may have used the Asahi Super Takumar 28mm f/3.5....playing with both old lenses this week...
05/17/2015 11:28:56 AM · #285
This week is a very busy week! Graduation week and weekend..
Here is my week 21

Did an abstract kinda of thing then I remembered it was supposed to be GREEN, not sure if this would have qualified as one anyway, swimming ropes that was out at the local lake.



Message edited by author 2015-05-17 11:32:11.
05/17/2015 04:21:29 PM · #286

19 - Olive oil
05/18/2015 01:13:42 AM · #287
Well, I did it. I spent about $300 on lights & set up a tabletop studio. Tried out some shots today. The fussing with the lights, the camera tripod, etc., just about did me in.

.

These earrings are not easy to photograph. It felt like I took a BUNCH of shots, but it turned out to be only about 10.
I gave up for the day. Took a quick few shots of this weekend's new bracelet & started turning things off, putting it away.



There was only one small light on, it was side-lighting the earrings, which I had set aside to take the shots of the bracelet.
I liked the side-light. As a reward to myself, I took a quick few handheld shots.



This is much more like what they look like in real life, except of course they're not all in focus. I like that the BG is not lit.

Message edited by author 2015-05-18 08:57:52.
05/18/2015 06:09:14 PM · #288
Originally posted by pixelpig:

I like that the BG is not lit.

Try obliquely backlighting them with small spots against a black or near black background -- I think it will make the colors seem brighter than against the white.
05/24/2015 07:26:13 PM · #289
Week 21...small sensor theme (crop Canon)...



Message edited by author 2015-05-24 19:33:20.
05/24/2015 08:15:55 PM · #290
Week 22

Trying out my macro again with my new speedlight Yongnuo 510EX.. I am not sure exactly the details of this thing yet, need to learn to use it yet, but I used the flash at 1/64 +.07
I was very happy wtih the results and it was on a tripod and with a white diffuser.


Message edited by author 2015-05-24 20:16:29.
05/26/2015 07:00:17 AM · #291
Holding back on weeks 19 and 20 as they relate to current challenges (I'll post retrospectively) , so skipping ahead to week 21...



Taken on a grey day in Scotland but the gardens we visited at Cawdor Castle were full of colour!
05/27/2015 01:23:54 AM · #292
20 - I fly the line

21 - Dandelion

05/27/2015 10:03:34 PM · #293
I've fallen behind on my weekly postings again. I attended a photography workshop near the Columbia River Gorge in early May. It was a terrific experience and I learned a lot! When I got home with 900 images to process (no laptop) my desktop computer decided to go on strike and not allow anything to be uploaded or even open Lightroom. It took a whole week to get the right person to help me remotely and to get the system functioning. Then work went absolutely crazy, my personal life went nuts and all I could do was "ride the wave of chaos". Whew! Glad most of that is behind me now!

So here are two images from my trip to the Columbia River Gorge. We got up at 4:30 AM every day to catch the sunrise and rested in the middle of the day to be able to go out and catch the sunset.... In other words we didn't sleep a whole lot for 4 days, and hiked 2 - 6 miles every day with full camera gear.

05/28/2015 01:51:28 PM · #294
Week 21:
Bologna, Italy - We were enroute from Venice to Cinque Terre and stopped here for lunch.


Week 22:
Castelnovo Ne Monti, Liguria, Italy - Our campsite tonight
Cropped pano Iphone 6 shot
05/31/2015 07:29:58 PM · #295
Combining weeks 20 and 21 ...
Bridge of my bass guitar: 




more variations

Entrance to the Caldecott tunnel:

more variations
05/31/2015 11:33:39 PM · #296
. .

Message edited by author 2015-05-31 23:34:15.
06/02/2015 12:16:43 PM · #297
Week 22-small sensor theme µ4/3's

06/02/2015 02:02:11 PM · #298
Some more waterfall images. This is Latourell Falls in Oregon, a full lenght image and one of the detail at the base of the falls.

06/02/2015 03:05:57 PM · #299
week 22....

our new adoption Feral foster kitten "snickers"



First time outside in the grass
06/04/2015 05:43:25 PM · #300
Week 23:
Grand canal, Venice

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