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Bugz walks in and draws his broadsword. This is SHARKTANK . . . I have to be here with intent to slash and burn or leave! I look at this excellent, crummy wooden snake and decide the problem that keeps it from being a really good picture . . . is that it’s molting . . . it’s shedding it’s bark! Bummer! Nothing Robert can do to fix that. [Bugz throws his sword into the sand and sulks away and leaves]
OMG! Lot’s wife looks back at Sodom?
Just our place to plop down our ‘show off’ shots. We ultra-amateurs know that our photo work is riddled with technical professional mistakes . . . but I feel that sometimes the existence of natural background stuff (bokeh?) that the pros disdain and criticize, give validity of an undoctored subject. That’s why I like Throwdown. And lately I strive to do macro photos of living insects. That makes the photography gratifyingly difficult to even get a passable shot.
I’m arriving a little late on the “spider bite” subject, but JFYI, I evidently brushed under some shrubbery here while bug-hunting and had a Brown Recluse fall undetected down my collar. It bit me about an inch from my ‘belly-button’ (I’m thinking it fell to my belt line and then got trapped). That was November 2015. I’m still toting around a purple spot the size of a nickle. Book says it may even last up to two years. But absolutely no pain (as per the articles on Brown Recluse). Big necrotic knot flares up about every month and bursts. Still no pain. I still hunt bugs by being aware of overhanging limbs. Glad it was not Black Widow. Book says they are immediately painful.
FrogD … unlike some I AM a developing Nature Macro-Photographer. I can understand your excitement with this larva. I know about frustrations with living, crawling species that just won’t be still long enough to apply a plan. I’ve had a local craftsman make me an 8-inch square acrylic cube in which I place living insects with the purpose of achieving the often difficult task of getting a ventral view photo. Funny thing, some bugs can’t climb vertical acrylic without slipping . . . most can. I do what I can. I shoot a Nikon D5200 with the 105mm Micro (macro) lens lately. Someday I may rationalize that $5000 worth of fun time photography is still cheaper than a new Bass Boat and move up . . . but until then, I’m limited in funds. My point is that to this time in my pursuit of insect and wild flower macro photography (I’m an old ‘half-vast’ BS Entomologist) I must depend on what nature affords me. The best conditions come with good natural light, stability of the camera, being where your critters are apt to appear, getting comfortable in place and willing to wait for nature to present herself, and knowing the limits of the lens you are using. I am now experimenting with the new Tamron 16-300mm extreme zoom. Definitely not industry recognized as a ‘macro’ lens. But with only a few days experience, I’m extremely happy with such a walk-around talented all-purpose lens. The macros (which come at the 300mm extreme) are near equivalent to my NIKON 105mm Micro lens. Here’s the salient point: for my purposes (non-commercial) combined with the talents of post editing software in my computer . . . I couldn’t be happier with results of both lenses. An 8×12 from the ultra zoom Tamron is indistinguishable from the ‘ultimate’ Nikkor 105mm Micro. How you see what you get is more important to most of us than what professional ‘niche’ perfectionists often analyze. Keep shooting; keep thinking; keep changing; keep enjoying this digital photography. Oh, to qualify in this room I MUST be negative . . . you don’t have enough of the larva displayed to make a good story. It looks like the end that wold be left after you “smushed it” in your flower garden.
Thanks folks. 3pco, I’ve become interested in stacking but at the moment I don’t think I have the software to do it. I edit with picasa. All my Corel stuff is old. Can’t even load Album 6 on this computer. I have to upgrade as I can afford the whole equipment for the subject of photography. Right now I’ve just acquired that TAMRON 16-300. I’m hoping to learn how to use it as a general walk around on our next sightseeing trip. In my niche of photography I can settle for less-than-the-best, but I surely do appreciate ‘the best’ when I see it. Especially in MACRO work.
Not new Tersha. Ladybug (wife) has had it for years. We discovered several years ago that it had a fantastic depth of field at close up when she took a pic of a spider on a screen door. I was merely playing with it again for a day or two. Don’t know why I spend thousands . . . and this little thing does so well. It has 10X zoom. She keeps it in her purse. I keep the batteries charged. She seldom uses it except for grandchildren. But I keep saying, “If mine costs more it MUST be better.” ahem.
Thanks Robert, I’m just learning the shortcomings of this 105mm Macro lens with respect to its depth of field. I’m getting another ‘walk around’ lens soon. Maybe it will do the DOF job better in some situations. Thanks again.
Tersha, does this qualify for Minimalism?
Nikon D5200 / 105mm / 1/16 / ISO 100 / f3.3
Wow, Anonymous, a new view for me. Thanks, I’ll ponder that sharp end focus idea.
Now in this photo there is no environmental bokeh due to the plain infinite sky above it. The extended limb is slightly out of focus deriving from the lens limitations. This should better please those who urge to remove ‘extraneous’ bokeh. To me, then, this becomes more of a ‘framed hang-up’ kitchen picture than a photo with a lesson in nature. Am I wrong?
I sincerely appreciate ALL comments. I can understand nearly every one and its point. I will consider making changes in future posts that employ those theories in order to please more LS members. I do ask some to consider that inclusion of out-of-focus backgrounds (bokeh) is often included in a picture by me to prove natural authenticity; that it is real nature and I was there; that other environment DOES exist around an interesting focus. Maybe many agree that a photo should be an ultra simple single perfect show . . . in my work with nature, I do not. I find that meaningful background out-of-focus lends credibility that the photo is not a fake or post edit creation of any type. Does anyone agree with that view?
Kinda makes me dizzy. Might be better shot with one of the tree trunks directly behind you. I like tree limb artistry but I’m coming more to think that it’s the bare bones skeletons of trees without any leaves that makes the visual better. This very complex. I do dead trees and deciduous trees in winter. Try the shot again in winter. Also try selecting a more simple shot of maybe just the end of one branch that is interesting.
I like it better, Robert. The eye-drawing distraction of the far right unimportant mountain is removed. Now, within its beauty, I still see the mystery of three different effects of gravity. Good shot. Good edit. Good stuff.
I loved the excursion through it all. How in the world did you achieve that upward pulse completely inside a bubble. Amazing!
Bokeh is kinda nice. Shadows seem to derive from two different light sources. Without some object of interest other than pollen, it’s kinda without interest. An ant or bee would brighten the moment . . . else a more complete view of the whole flower might lend an aura of “academics” to the shot. Just sayin.
Great potential. Good subject matter. BUT! It was presented as a “farm scene”. That gate is easily seen as a cattle gate whatwith no crops beyond it. So we need some cattle to perfect the scene. That’s all. Keep it working. Would love to be there.
I agree with Tobie. More top picture needed while the ghost of a long ago walkway is nice. Perfect chance to record a “whole sunset” impression. Too bad.
The vista is simply too large for your story. Crop in from the right side to the next uplift rock. Then the simple lesson becomes apparent . . . there is a solid fixed stone in the foreground symbolizing present fixed stability; a sloping sliding earth toward the Southeast showing major conforming forces of earth shift; but the objecting, non-conformist, obstinate arguing upshot of individualistic rock that thrusts to the Northwest in abject contrariness to the drift of the greater masses. Good story when properly presented. Stand alone and hold fast.
