It's already June 29th and I don't have a shot for the free study marathon so I go outside to take a look around and see a golden garden spider with a web in the shrubs. Great I'll shoot that. Problem is it's right next to the side door which left me with little working room (no tripod space, no direct sunlight and it was windy). I did get some shots off with the green background which looked nice but I wasn't happy with the composition/POV I was able to capture.
As I'm heading back into the house I look up and see another golden garden spider right above me on the side of the roof. This one was a lot bigger and also more accessible although I couldn't get as close to it as I would have liked. The background also was not a nice green foliage color but rather a dull beige with some ugly roof edging to deal with. So I decided to hold a textured poster board directly behind the web and use my remote shutter. This made the web stand out, eliminated the ugly shadows as well as produce a nice texture feel. It could be better and it's probably too illustrative looking for the tradionalists but I like it.
It is however missing some element to give it more drama and scale. I was tempted to fling a bug on the web to create that but I hate killing things and I don't like making something seem like a candid moment when it wasn't. So anyway, I probably threw away points there.
As for the editing, I did a lot of detail work, mainly curves using lots of masks as well as color fine tuning and some dodging/burning. The usual.
*Post*
Thanks for the votes and comments. I haven't had much luck with shots like this before and it seems any time you shoot an insect/spider it has to have that straight out of the camera look so I'm surprised this did as well as it did.
Btw, this is a Golden Garden Spider. The "stitching" is done to make the web stronger. It's interesting in that when they have more of that around the center they will pull on the web squeezing it in, almost as if it's made of out of a bungy cord. When I have time I'll post some more shots.
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I must admit I don't personally care for the border, it blends in so much it's hard to see... but I'm just being picky. :) the image itself is awesome. The colors are so vibrant, and somehow help create a sinister mood. Super, excellent shot!!
Beautiful macro. You're right, you could have used my fly! There is some speculation that the stitched portion of the web is for mammals to see so they might avoid the web. Love the diagonal placement of yours.
The use of the posterboard is, to me, what makes this stand out from the average spider shot. That and your meticulous attention to detail in everything from the exposure through the post processing. A very interesting and well done shot of this gal (I suspect it's a "she"). And I didn't know we had them in Texas - I always shoot the ones that live at my brother's place in California.
I REALLY love this picture and I REALLY hate spiders. Interesting coincidence eh? The composition is perfect. Completely perfect. The colors, and burnt edges are magnificent. That spider is almost pretty (and I can't believe I am saying that!!). I hope this does well. 9
Wonderful capture. Nice angular composition and great colors. Incidently this is my 1000th comment on DPC and i am happy that it came on a nice image like yours
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