Papilio's photo thread

Alltheworld601

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I am so excited for these pictures - I'm getting an Iridopelma recife in the mail today :D :D. Now I feel like I have to go find myself some E. olivacea though ;)
 

Storm76

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Interesting lighting, indeed. Lots of shadows going on there, but it adds more depth? Like it! Hoping you'll get the mites under control...I wouldn't go all out with predatory mites just yet if it's only a single case..
 

papilio

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I am so excited for these pictures - I'm getting an Iridopelma recife in the mail today :D :D. Now I feel like I have to go find myself some E. olivacea though ;)
Thanks so much Alltheworld! :D Have fun, the I. recifes are soooo tiny! :) Very cute. Sadly one of mine arrived with one mite already attached.
Highly recommend the E. olivacea one day if you can swing it, when I saw how gorgeous they already are at this size (true appearance not really visible yet to the naked eye ... if that makes any sense. lol ), it got me pretty excited to imagine how spectacular they'll be when big. :)


Interesting lighting, indeed. Lots of shadows going on there, but it adds more depth? Like it! Hoping you'll get the mites under control...I wouldn't go all out with predatory mites just yet if it's only a single case..
Thanks a lot Jan, glad you like it! :) Lighting is so much fun to experiment with, and I sorely need to come up with more creative ways to set it up for various shots.
It would be a nightmare should there be an outbreak in the collection, so I'm thinking that I might as well get the predatories ... eggs can lie dormant for quite a while in the substrate and may spread simply by using the same tweezers and nudge sticks. :(




A few more lighting experiments, this time with one of my cuddly little M. balfouri slings. Playing with contrasts and lighting levels using a single diffused strobe at ground level.

Again, Id be very interested to hear how these appear on various people's monitors ... too dark? Contrast okay? White balance?
Thanks! :)
 
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concrete

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That little Iridopelma sling is adorable! I think it has just made my wish list. Nice job capturing such a tiny little guy Michael, especially that last shot in the set. It almost has this soft glow to it. The lighting setup with olivacea is interesting. Definitely has more punch to it with the high contrast but I think it might have the same issue I'm having with clipped shadows. I do prefer the high contrast look though. Are you adding colors to your strobes? Balfouri looks a little dark and void of colors on my screen.
 

Storm76

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The Monocentropus looks kinda b/w on my screen, slightly more whitish in a couple of those shots.
 

papilio

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[EDIT] I thought this set needed reprocessing to remove the color cast and soften the tone mapping. Please bear with me in these lighting experiments and especially as I try to get the new monitor contrast and color calibration sorted out. :)



The Monocentropus looks kinda b/w on my screen, slightly more whitish in a couple of those shots.
Thanks for your feedback Jan, much appreciated. :) The balfouri is quite monochromatic, especially in that oblique lighting ... light coming from the front would show off a bit more of the sling's colors, reddish-brown and a very subtle steel-blue. The whitish one at the end was totally backlit, giving it a pretty strong glow as the flash illuminated the body.


That little Iridopelma sling is adorable! I think it has just made my wish list. Nice job capturing such a tiny little guy Michael, especially that last shot in the set. It almost has this soft glow to it. The lighting setup with olivacea is interesting. Definitely has more punch to it with the high contrast but I think it might have the same issue I'm having with clipped shadows. I do prefer the high contrast look though. Are you adding colors to your strobes? Balfouri looks a little dark and void of colors on my screen.
Thanks a lot! :D No colors added to the flashes, but I see now that I processed the balfouri images to much too cool a color cast.

In my experiments so far I've been just isolating the effects of a given lighting setup, so in the recent couple of sets there's no fill-light, causing those totally black shadows. This is the sort of thing I hoped to hear about from others, thanks again ... on my laptop monitor black is reeely black while the display itself is pretty bright, which reveals quite a bit more detail in the darker regions which is totally lacking on the (now very washed-out looking) 2407 Dell. Also the balfouri's subtle colors are far more apparent on the laptop. So I kind of have to choose which way to go in processing. :)

"A man with a watch always know what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure."




I'm so enamored by the new E. olivacea slings that I had to do another set, this time to see how they'd look with more moderate lighting effects than the strong back and side lighting of last time.

Here an 8x10 diffuser was suspended six inches above the scene, plus I used one of the satellite strobes with a small diffuser to provide a back lighting flash. A good amount of contrast again but better fill of the shadowy areas ... still strongly affected lighting but more natural looking than before, the next time I do the olivacea set I'll go back to just the normal forward-facing diffuser.

The strong back lighting -- illuminating the very translucent hairs and body -- is what helps enhance the tiny sling's surreal, vivid golden colors.




























Encyocratella olivacea‏ sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr
 
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Storm76

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Interesting, in that last set of pictures that sling has a really blueish hue to its leg on my screen.
 

papilio

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Interesting, in that last set of pictures that sling has a really blueish hue to its leg on my screen.
Thanks for letting me know Jan! :) That's false color, I was changing the white balance of the camera as I was trying to match monitor colors, and the lowtones turned out bluish.

I reprocessed that set to improve the color cast as much as possible, and the 2nd image in the set has pretty accurate colors.




I noticed that these slings are attracted to LED flashlights. I had one lying on the table pointed toward the sling for some extra illumination and the sling kept walking straight to it and crawling up on the LED cover. :)















Iridopelma recife sling, 0.4-inch by _papilio, on Flickr
 
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Storm76

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They look way better now, more to what I've seen in person from them. ;)
 

Storm76

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I really like the first shot, Michael. Gosh, what a beautiful tarantula....
 

Alltheworld601

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I love these. These are the only photos that I've seen that actually make the GBB look appealing. I've never seen one in person though....I've just always been turned off by pictures of them. These are lovely.
 

papilio

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I really like the first shot, Michael. Gosh, what a beautiful tarantula....
Thanks Jan! :) I think that wooly rug on its head is pretty amazing!


Tremendous GBB shots, Michael!
Thanks a lot Joyce! :D


I love these. These are the only photos that I've seen that actually make the GBB look appealing. I've never seen one in person though....I've just always been turned off by pictures of them. These are lovely.
Thanks very much Jacquelin! :D It's funny, I used to feel exactly the same way about them. :) I don't know why. But something urged me to get some slings anyway, and the tiny guys are just gorgeous! A couple early shots ...






Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 0.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr



And one more to add to the last post, getting more grown up. :D



Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 3.5-inch juvie by _papilio, on Flickr





While the camera's in the shop for a cleaning I've been browsing old folders for shots I missed the first time through.
















Poecilotheria ornata, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr




Avicularia diversipes, 0.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr
 
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Storm76

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Just looking at the urticating bristles on that GBB shot makes me itch! My couple boys here like to kick sometimes...gna! :D
 

papilio

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Just looking at the urticating bristles on that GBB shot makes me itch! My couple boys here like to kick sometimes...gna! :D
LOL My GBBs loves to kick more than any other T I have! :)






I went back to the source files and re-stacked these. The first is one of my favorite focus stacks, 78 images taken at f/6.7 to minimize image-softening diffaction. The close-ups hadn't been processed before.




















Poecilotheria metallica exuvium carapace by _papilio, on Flickr
 

concrete

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That's an awesome stack the details are just mindblowing. I "borrowed" your carapace shot idea to test different f-stops and the diffraction at f20 vs wide open is pretty noticeable. I've been shooting at f20 lately and it feels like the images lack that punch. :(


Carapace test shot crop by Delibegovic, on Flickr
 

Storm76

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Still one of my fav shots by you, Michael. Those look just plain simply awesome! Totally alien ;)
 
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