Papilio's photo thread

[papilio]

Those eyes look straight into my soul.

Thanks Jacquelin! To me there's something kinda creepy about the eyes being left behind on the exuvium. lol

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.

Thanks for the comparison shots Mirza! Yeah f/20 is pretty soft ... f/16 doesn't seem like it would be that much different but I find it to be quite a bit better. Of course everything giving you DOF is gonna look mushy when you're used to shooting wide open!

Here's a new f/6.7 stack for ya.

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

Thanks a lot Jan! Even the 'leftovers' of a P. metallica are beautiful!





The H. mac molted at last, so I couldn't resist another carapace stack. This one turned out better than the P. metallica one I think, probably just due to the inherent characteristics of the carapace, but I also made this one a 200-image stack vs. 78 on the metallica. Probably overkill to be honest, but whatever the reason may be I'm really happy with the image. Unfortunately though, stacked images never have quite the fidelity of the source images ... DOF always demands a tradeoff in one form or another.












Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female, exuvium by _papilio, on Flickr

 

[Protectyaaaneck]

Nice man! I still need to try this focus stacking thing out.

 

[crawltech]

crazy!...

<likes every post>

 

[papilio]

Nice man! I still need to try this focus stacking thing out.

Thanks Jason!

Stacking is fun, gives wonderful results in the right situations, but takes a bit of experience to get things looking right. Just get the 30-day demo of Zerene and start playing around.
Stacked macros can be shot hand-held but for starters use a table tripod and either get a macro rail or use the macro lens' focus ring to advance the focal plane bit-by-bit (more difficult but free.) To practice initially use a non-living subject.

Mirza (concrete) routinely does massively deep stacks of lively little slings ... that's beyond my comprehension!! :worship:



There's a great eBook for free, The Art of Focus Stacking, get it HERE. Where it says 'Download PDF' it will probably just open in your browser (at least it does for me). Right-click on the link and select 'Save link as...' to download your own copy.

crazy!...

<likes every post>

hehe Thank you Levi! :worship:





I love cambridgeis, but I usually seem to have trouble getting this juvie to look good in my photos for some reason. I'm finally fairly happy with how these turned out. Sadly the mites haven't yet died off and the poor guy has worn his carapace hairless with nervous grooming. Some predatory mites are at last arriving this afternoon, we'll see how effective they are here.




















These last three were shot using my McGyvered Wide Angle 18mm macro, which puts the lens nearly in physical contact with the spider. But it provides incredible DOF and gives the T a very different appearance than it has in the 100mm macro ... hard to believe that the massive spider in the last photo is just a 2-inch juvie!












Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 2.25-inch juvie by _papilio, on Flickr




And fang shots of my H. mac







Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female, fangs w/venom hole by _papilio, on Flickr




One day I'd love to get venom hole shots on the white fangs during a molt.

 

[advan]

:worship:


............that is all.

 

[Formerphobe]

Yeah, what Chad said.

 

[AprilH]

That last cambridgei shot with the chelicerae open gave me the willies with all the mites, though. Hopefully he molts soon and you can separate him from his little friends...

 

[papilio]

:worship:


............that is all.

LOL I assume that's in reference to the infestation?? ... Otherwise, thank you Chad! hehe

Yeah, what Chad said.

And thank you too Joyce!

That last cambridgei shot with the chelicerae open gave me the willies with all the mites, though. Hopefully he molts soon and you can separate him from his little friends...

Yeah, I know that one's kinda grizzly, I debated posting it but thought it was worth it for educational purposes.

I finally got the good mites today, rehoused the P. cam back with some substrate and dumped some mites in ... here's hoping! In any case I'd expect him to molt in the next month or so. (?)
Do I remember Chad saying that you had a tough time getting rid of yours?




Here are some more shots with the 18mm Wide Angle lens ... I got a bit carried away with it today but I just love the exaggerated perspective it creates! Plus I hadn't done albo in quite some time.



















Brachypelma albopilosum, 4.5-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

 

[Formerphobe]

LOL I assume that's in reference to the infestation?? .

Well, the mites are a bit unnerving... But all the pics are fantabulous!
B. albo shots are great! Can't wait till my girl grows up some more and gets some more curl.

 

[Shrike]

Awesome shots of an under-appreciated species. Great stuff!

 

[papilio]

Well, the mites are a bit unnerving... But all the pics are fantabulous!
B. albo shots are great! Can't wait till my girl grows up some more and gets some more curl.

Thanks Joyce! The albo has certainly become a surprising favorite of mine!

Awesome shots of an under-appreciated species. Great stuff!

Thanks a lot Matt!





Looks like the days of the mild-mannered H. mac have become a distant memory. Fifteen minutes of chasing her across the walls and ceiling of the bathroom left her in a very nasty mood for a photo shoot, during those short moments when I could keep her in place ... and as I was once again using the Wide Angle lens pushed right into her face it made for a rather heart-pounding session.



















Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr

 

[crawltech]

Awsome pics!...its funny how the camera adds 10 lbs to H. macs.....lol

 

[Storm76]

Awesome albo and H. mac shots, Michael! Guess your girl has discovered her "true self" ?

 

[papilio]

Awsome pics!...its funny how the camera adds 10 lbs to H. macs.....lol

Thanks Levi! That's probably because of using my Wide Angle macro from just an inch away from her face,

Awesome albo and H. mac shots, Michael! Guess your girl has discovered her "true self" ?

Thanks a lot Jan! Boy she sure has, I'm amazed I got her to sit still on the wood long enough to get a few dozen shots off!





Beth came over today and did her very first photo shoot with her new Nikon DSLR ... and she worked beautifully with my P. irminia! Afterwards we processed the photos together.
Thanks Beth, it was a great time!























Psalmopoeus irminia, 4-inch juvie by _papilio, on Flickr

 

[papilio]

This is an old photo which I showed to Beth and she suggested that I post it. So what's the deal with the suspended water drops??! Looks like I caught them in mid-fall ... except that this is a stack of 6 images and they stayed in precisely the same place in every shot! When I asked for people's possible explanations on flickr most said that there must be an extremely fine strand of webbing holding them, but I have a number of good reasons to discount this. One person said it must be magic, probably as good an explanation as any! lol




What's holding these? by _papilio, on Flickr

 

[FoxtheLviola]

The H. mac and P. irminia photos are just stunning! For some reason I have never been particularly fond of H. macs, but those photos are making re-think that, and I cannot wait to my tiny 1.25" P. irminia looks like that! Gorgeous!

Oh and I vote magic is levitating the water droplets.

 

[CEC]

WOW...
Michael, I am running out of compliments!

p.s. "Grizzly" is the perfect word for those shots!

 

[Kungfujoe]

The photo with the droplets is an awesome one.

 

[Storm76]

I simply can't get over the beauty of P. irminias! They look stunning and somewhat "Don't dare to harrass me" the same time - it's such an awesome species - love 'em!

 

[papilio]

The H. mac and P. irminia photos are just stunning! For some reason I have never been particularly fond of H. macs, but those photos are making re-think that, and I cannot wait to my tiny 1.25" P. irminia looks like that! Gorgeous!

Oh and I vote magic is levitating the water droplets.

Thanks FoxtheLviola! I think that, despite their being worth nearly nothing, H. macs are about as spectacular as Ts get.
I'm with you on the droplets. lol

WOW...
Michael, I am running out of compliments!

p.s. "Grizzly" is the perfect word for those shots!

hehe Thanks for stopping by Chase! :worship:

The photo with the droplets is an awesome one.

Thanks Kungfujoe ... wierd pic huh?

I simply can't get over the beauty of P. irminias! They look stunning and somewhat "Don't dare to harrass me" the same time - it's such an awesome species - love 'em!

I know what you mean Jan ... luckily this is the first iminia who wasn't a terror! lol I really should take her out more often.
Beth did a fantastic job on these shots, her first time with the new camera!




Actually pretty well-behaved, this one ... either flew into wild threat poses or tried to hide, never ran away.




Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 1.25-inch, carapace molt by _papilio, on Flickr
























































Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 1.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr