Spider Sky Web Dew Droplets Blue Chrome Saggy Satin First

Hey!

Here is an image I am proud of. Mind you, this is my first day with this new image, so my interpretation may change!

This is the first time I have seen a spider web like this! As I wandered around in the heavy dew, jeans soaked, feet numb, ready to go home, I turned around and saw this web.

At first I took shots of it against a dark background but just wasn't getting anything I liked. So I decided to THINK for a moment and decided that I don't see many spider webs against a blue sky. As creation would have it, this one had some blue sky available!

Getting my camera to focus on the web was more difficult than I anticpated. I actually tried something new (for me) to get the picture in focus. I put my camera on high-speed drive and manual focus and front-focused on the web. Then, while pushing the shutter button, I moved the focus through the web, hoping that one of the pictures would be in sharp focus... It worked reasonable well!

Please, C&C & Enjoy!

This is a wonderful shot Ed, I love the background bouquet. I would consider increasing contrast in the mid/upper tone ranges (eg darken mid-tones) to further bring out the web.

- DL

I wonder if the spider is drinking the drops? Or does it get the water from it's prey?

Asher

BTW, What were the shot specifics?

Shot Specifics - good question.

Pentax K10D, ISO 100, 100mm f2.8 @ f8, 1/350 sec

I don't know what spiders do for water! It was down below 50 yesterday morning and he was not moving at first. This shot was taken a few minutes after the sun came over the ridge and so he was just beginning to soak up the warmth and come back to life.

This shot is a modification of my original sky composition. I decided to place the "bokeh elements" a little more symmetrically after viewing the histogram and noticing that how the bokeh was rendering.

I like this shot, Ed. To me, the key word you used in your description is THINK! This is a big part of what enables one to go from taking a snapshot to creating a more powerful image.

I agree with DL's suggestion, to enhance contrast in order to make the web and droplets stand out more. I think a little greater depth of field would work in this image, so in a similar situation in the future, consider going to f/11, f/16 or even f/22.

Thanks for sharing.

Don Cohen said:

THINK! This is a big part of what enables one to go from taking a snapshot to creating a more powerful image.

Click to expand...

Yes!

it is a beautiful shot, Ed, have you tried more sharpening? on the lowres posted version it gives some more power to the web… Should be impressive on the hires…

Don't you have any other shot in the serie where the spider shows all his legs?

Don,

f22? I haven't had much success with image quality on my APS-C sized sensor much over f11? Perhaps it is something else causing the degaradation (camera shake?), so perhaps I need to reevaluate.

I originally had it set to f8 because the background was much closer before I shifted the sky to be the background. I never changed the aperture after that.

Photoshop being a weaker area for me, what might be the best way to achieve some contrast in the midtones with this image? I can work with curves some, but is there a more sophisticated, non-obvious way?

Nicolas,

I did some sharpening but did not amplify for the reduced size posted... If I get some time here over the next week I might take your suggestion and try some of the sharpening methods posted by you and others...

Edward Bussa said:

what might be the best way to achieve some contrast in the midtones with this image?

Click to expand...

Hi Ed
For C2 or 3 (can't remember about PS or CS…) there are many actions to download on the web, but I guess you may give try to the menu Image/highlight and Shadows, turn on "view more options" if not already, disable highlight and shadows (setting values to 0) and push the slider of midtone contrast to your taste (20% should be a good start…)

hope it helps

Edward Bussa said:

...Here is an image I am proud of...

Click to expand...

And rightly so! Well done Ed, I am very glad you've shown us this gem.
Sorry but I've got no critique ATM, I like it as it is.

Cheers,

Edward Bussa said:

Don,

f22? I haven't had much success with image quality on my APS-C sized sensor much over f11? Perhaps it is something else causing the degaradation (camera shake?), so perhaps I need to reevaluate.

I originally had it set to f8 because the background was much closer before I shifted the sky to be the background. I never changed the aperture after that...

Click to expand...

Theoretically at really small apertures you can get "diffraction" effects that will detract from sharpness, but I often use f/16 without problem. You indicate 1/350 second, which should be enough to deal with camera shake (although movement of the web from wind might not be completely frozen at that shutter speed).

Another factor would be if the web wasn't exactly parallel to the plane of your camera's sensor - it would be tough to stop down small enough to compensate for this if the angle was too different. Sometimes, though, it might not be possible do get the web parallel to your sensor, and still get the background that you wanted. Photography is always about compromises

Hi Edward,

Have you rotated this about 45deg ccw? Over this side of the pond, the garden spiders face downwards, ready to abseil out of harm, I guess, and the web normally would droop downwards, not towards se corner. I do like the blue sky treatment.

Best wishes,

Ray

Ray West said:

Hi Edward,

Have you rotated this about 45deg ccw?

Click to expand...

Indeed! Yes, I rotated the camera for composition.

Also, I looked up Asher's question regarding spider's and drinking water from the web - at this link it says that "In the wild, most will drink ... from early morning or evening dew that has condensed on their webs."

Hi Edward,

An interesting link, in particular the last two postings therein.

If you are talking composition, I like the top threads of the web, the even, contrasted dew drops, but I think it works better if it is cropped just below the left hand top bokeh'd area, then blur the rather circular bokeh blob in the bottom lh corner.

Unaware to the spider, I think she has caught us ;-). I've spent some time here, sliding the image around in photoshop, etc.

Why do we have square/straight borders? Does this not restrict composition?

Best wishes,

Ray

Spidey Redux

Instead of playing with contrast, I created a duplicate Overlay blend layer and applied a high-pass filter, radius 10 for sharpening.

Then I resized for posting and used some regular sharpening. Better!




You can even begin to see the hairs sticking out from legs and body