Smotzer's Photography

[Smotzer]

Croops the Caribena versicolor

Exposure settings:
ISO 100
Aperture: f/10
Shutter speed: 1/125

Camera: Canon T3i
Lens: 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro



Out of all of my tarantula this is the hardest one to photograph and this series of shots were the first non-phone pics I have been able to get of it! Luckily while it was still blue, and it’s stretching out past 18mo to the 2yr mark and still blue

 

[Dorifto]

Sometimes one needs to touch the bottom to really start to appreciate what he really have. Not only people, but everything else

 

[DaveM]

Wow! @Smotzer -- great stuff! What photo stacking software do you use (for example, with the cicada)?

 

[Smotzer]

Wow! @Smotzer -- great stuff! What photo stacking software do you use (for example, with the cicada)?

Thanks!!

and I just used photoshop! I could probably get better stacks if I used a purpose build software, but it’s achievable just through photoshop. I put all the different photos into one file uploaded as layers and then combine with only the infocus parts. It’s definitely not perfect and PS will mess things up from time to time.

 

[MrGhostMantis]

thank you!!! it was a journey!! it took me another 10-11mo from these pictures and almost dying of ODs/alcohol poisonings and suicide to be broken Enough to give up the fight. But on Oct. 16 2011 I had used it the night before, got kicked out ‘slept‘ on a church bench and found my way to an AA meeting the next day and have stayed in the rooms every since! it was a journey for sure! thanks for reading and commenting friend!!

Great job man, I’ve seen too many of these teenage addict stories. It’s really sad to see, fantastic to see you overcame yours though!

 

[Smotzer]

Great job man, I’ve seen too many of these teenage addict stories. It’s really sad to see, fantastic to see you overcame yours though!

Thanks man!! It was actually 10yrs on October 16th this year! I appreciate the comment and support!

Still hhhhh-ing out from time to time

 

[Smotzer]

Cyriocosmus elegans (.4”DLS) during rehouse this week! it was out for 5minutes then sealed itself away in the premade burrow. Focus isn’t perfect but I feel a nice image was still achieved.

Settings:
ISO- 100
f/18
1/200sec
105mm Macro Lens
Flash Fired.

 

[Smotzer]

Cereus repandus f. monstruosus- Midnight Bloom
7 Image Handheld Stack.

Got to see this cactus of mine bloom for the first time and for 1 night only! It was incredible. Flowers were about 6in in diameter!

Settings:
ISO- 64
f/16
1/160 sec
Off Board Flash- Fired
105mm f/2.8 Macro Lens

 

[Smotzer]

Havent posted in here in a while, but I have some back logged photos to update this thread with! Ill go one at a time and or by subject matter!

"Going Back Home"
- in situ photograph of Aphonopelma cf. anax returning to its burrow after being discovered in a park. This image speaks to me of a feeling of contentment and the serene feeling of going back to the holes we live in. One of my favorite photos I have taken over the last year, being able to capture a feeling, in my eyes, within this single shot. Feeling that I have been missing in my photography lately doing more macro and high detail shots and stacks.

Settings:
ISO- 50
f/14
1/200 sec
Off Board Flash- Fired
105mm f/2.8

 

[Smotzer]

Centruroides vittatus, in situ

11 image handheld Stack.

Settings:
ISO- 50
f/22
1/200 sec
Off Board Flash- Fired



Centruroides vittatus, in situ

10 Image handheld stack.

Settings:
ISO- 50
f/22
1/200 sec
Off Board Flash- Fired



Centruroides vittatus, in situ

17 image handheld stack

Settings:
ISO-50
f/18
1/200 sec
Off Board Flash Fired

 

[Smotzer]

~Mature 0.1 Aphonopelma anax photographed and observed in situ on 1/4/22 in central Texas. She was molt confirmed in the field, by a molt left at the entrance of a closed off burrows, so kind of her to do so!! Ha! Such a captivating and underrated species, I admit I underrated this species until I started finding them! Truly stunning!

"What beautiful eyes you have"

-Shown here giving me a slight defensive posture and gave me enough time to get a shot off with those eyes in focus with her pedipalps held up in the air!

Settings:
ISO 50
f/14
1/200 sec
Off Board Flash- Fired
Single Shot.



'Full Frontal'
- Same species as above^

Settings:
ISO 50
f/14
1/160 sec
Off Board Flash- Fired
Single Shot


"Portrait of a lady"

Settings:
IS0 50
f/14
1/200 sec
Off Board Flash- Fired

 

[Dorifto]

~Mature 0.1 Aphonopelma anax photographed and observed in situ on 1/4/22 in central Texas. She was molt confirmed in the field, by a molt left at the entrance of a closed off burrows, so kind of her to do so!! Ha! Such a captivating and underrated species, I admit I underrated this species until I started finding them! Truly stunning!

"What beautiful eyes you have"

-Shown here giving me a slight defensive posture and gave me enough time to get a shot off with those eyes in focus with her pedipalps held up in the air!

Settings:
ISO 50
f/14
1/200 sec
Off Board Flash- Fired
Single Shot.

View attachment 410929

'Full Frontal'
- Same species as above^

Settings:
ISO 50
f/14
1/160 sec
Off Board Flash- Fired
Single Shot
View attachment 410930

"Portrait of a lady"

Settings:
IS0 50
f/14
1/200 sec
Off Board Flash- Fired

View attachment 410931

You forgot to add in settings the humidity values
Hahahahahahaha just joking! Awesome shoots!!!

 

[Smotzer]

You forgot to add in settings the humidity values
Hahahahahahaha just joking! Awesome shoots!!!

Hahahahaha welllll, you know, we often equate these Texas Aphonopelma’s with totally xeric enviornements and then subsequent care, but the 3 female burrows I found had a fair deal of moisture in them and in the soil this time of year. Nowhere near bone dry substrate people sometimes keep them in. So much so that 2 molts I found were fully pliable and could be easily manipulated without crunching or tearing to sex them and they did not appear all that fresh.

and thanks for the compliment! I marked her burrow with a cairn so I can easily remember where she is and maybe take her a snack when she opens her burrow back up!

 

[Dorifto]

Hahahahaha welllll, you know, we often equate these Texas Aphonopelma’s with totally xeric enviornements and then subsequent care, but the 3 female burrows I found had a fair deal of moisture in them and in the soil this time of year. Nowhere near bone dry substrate people sometimes keep them in. So much so that 2 molts I found were fully pliable and could be easily manipulated without crunching or tearing to sex them and they did not appear all that fresh.

and thanks for the compliment! I marked her burrow with a cairn so I can easily remember where she is and maybe take her a snack when she opens her burrow back up!

Agree!!

Those pictures offer a very good reference if someone wants to offer them a moister spot.

Thanks!!!

 

[Smotzer]

Agree!!

Those pictures offer a very good reference if someone wants to offer them a moister spot.

Thanks!!!

Thanks and good idea!! Maybe I’ll work on creating a T-Q&D thread detailing the environments and conditions they live in in the wild around here for husbandry references. I’ll see about digging out my old moisture meter for soil sampling I used to do, so that I can have something tangible to say, not just “moister than dry” hahah