Uber Macro photos of baby wolf spider on my fingers

[Gwegowee]

I found this little guy this morning. and decided to take some uber macro photos. these are VERY difficult. think about the motion of your hand, the camera plus trying to keep track of the fast spider with only the sence of touch.

before doing this with the spider I actually practiced moving my hand into position where my pinki fingernail would be in focus, go to my index, then to the wrist, remove my hand from the picture completely and try to get my thumb or other finger in focus as fast as possible. after getting somewhat good at this I tried with the spider. I found the spider in the lens with the sense of touch alone. then I moved my hand so the spider would be in focus. took alot of mental focus on the tingling of the spider feet. again Very difficult.

Fine art quality Prints are available as big as 13 by 19 at 300 dpi

on my pinki fingernail: (no cropping done quality and size dropped for AB... 30% of actual size)

on my index finger: (no cropping done quality and size dropped for AB... 30% actual size)

cropping of the second image to show a bit more quality: (quality and size dropped for AB.. 50% of actual size)

 

[cacoseraph]

chrome!!!

what gear!?

 

[kahoy]

dirty fingernails huh?

nice pics, i wish i have a cam like that.

 

[xgrafcorex]

very nice man! those do look like pretty tricky photos to take. :clap:

 

[Gwegowee]

chrome!!!

what gear!?

chrome as in the ink?
and gear meaning the printer or the camera?
I guess I'll answer all.

camera: I have a Canon D20, using RAW images for better quality not jpg.
these pictures were taken with a canon 75-300 mm telephoto lens. with either a Macro filter or a reversed 50 mm portrait lens mounted to the front.

as for printing... I can have prints made at school. College of Fine Arts printing lab for Graphic Design and Photography for Graduate students and professors only, (but I have connections). however to simplify the steps I will soon be getting the new Epson R1800 Stylus photo printer (an upgrade to the schools current 13 inch wide printer). can print off pages up to 13 by 44 inches. I forgot what the school has for this size prints but its just the older version.... I can also make over sized prints from film photography at school on the large format printer, up to like 4 by 5 feet (only film photos can be printed this big, or also pictures made from multiple digital images, I have no problem doing this if you look at my page). the printers use UltraChrom pigment ink.

because of my new setup I am now quite poor, and need to sell prints in order to survive and make more art for all of you.

 

[diadematus]

because of my new setup I am now quite poor, and need to sell prints in order to survive and make more art for all of you.

I hope that the prints are color-corrected. (hint, hint)

 

[Gwegowee]

dirty fingernails huh?

dirty fingernails?? actually they were quite clean, the dust/dirt is from peatmoss, that I used to pad the spiders landing every time it jumped from my hands. also helps to slow down the spider when running across the surface. lol...

nice pics, i wish i have a cam like that.

well I am trying to make this into a full time career. so I am investing thousands of dollars into my art. Photography is not cheap!

 

[Gwegowee]

I hope that the prints are color-corrected. (hint, hint)

lol what do you think is wrong with the coloration in these pictures?

difference in monitor calibration might also be a problem (most people dont realize that). these images look great on the professionally calibrated Graphic lab monitors at the school, and also look good on my own guesswork calibrated monitors. I'll calibrate all of my monitors with my printer when I get it, so I know what to expect when printing. will take a bit of experience with the printer nothing I cant handle... as soon as I get some prints made from my new printer I will show photos of prints with people beside them, and even Macro photos of the detail in prints.

 

[diadematus]

lol what do you think is wrong with the coloration in these pictures?

I don't work on a corrected monitor, but your images look much too blue for my taste (I don't know my spider colors, but certainly flesh).

Here is what looks good for me; your mileage may vary, but I would still check your white balance (even this version looks very slightly blue to me).

-K

 

[cacoseraph]

chrome as in the ink?
and gear meaning the printer or the camera?

chrome as in holy chrome!

i actually just meant the camera but it was interesting to hear about the other end also

great great stuff!

 

[Gwegowee]

chrome as in holy chrome!

i actually just meant the camera but it was interesting to hear about the other end also

great great stuff!

OH.... :silently looks around:
lol

 

[Gwegowee]

I don't work on a corrected monitor, but your images look much too blue for my taste (I don't know my spider colors, but certainly flesh).

Here is what looks good for me; your mileage may vary, but I would still check your white balance (even this version looks very slightly blue to me).

-K

aah... I C... you could have just said... that "I'm seeing a color shift towards the blue." or something to that effect lol.... but changing it and showing me works too. lol thanx.

and oh yeah (did I say this before?) color correction before printing will be needed just about every picture print. because of the shift from RGB to CMYK.

I didn't adjust these images before the internet except for the size and quality. the blue shift is from the flash. I try to use the flash as little as possible and I have set my color temperature set a bit cooler.... since this guy was moving so much, it made it a bit more difficult without flash. and ended up using the flash.

also when I posted this I haden't slept in a few days. lol... full time graveyard job and full time school.... photography and internet in my spair time keep me awake... bit of an excuse for bad colors I know... but... oh well. it can be fixed.

 

[Kriegan]

Hmm i couldn't see the pics until i entered your deviantArt gallery. Very nice macro shots you have there!:clap: I enjoy browsing that website a lot, i'll be sure to check you out often and see new stuff you may add.

 

[diadematus]

aah... I C... you could have just said... that "I'm seeing a color shift towards the blue."

Sorry, I thought it was obvious (but I worked many years as an art director).

You mention using a reversed 50mm lens as a macro and I have read this elsewhere. How does one go about finding a lens? Will any 50mm that fits work? Do you think that works better than using close-up converters? Many thanks for any advice.

-Kevin

 

[Gwegowee]

Sorry, I thought it was obvious (but I worked many years as an art director).

You mention using a reversed 50mm lens as a macro and I have read this elsewhere. How does one go about finding a lens? Will any 50mm that fits work? Do you think that works better than using close-up converters? Many thanks for any advice.

-Kevin

well I guess was more obvious after I looked at it when I wasn't a few days sleep deprived. lol.

but
good questions... Im still trying to find out better or the best ways myself. but any 50mm lens should work fine... its best if the portrait lens has a very wide aperture... f2.8 or lower. I'm not sure which is better tho... I think that when using a focal length 150 mm or more the portrait lens will be better. but a + Macro filter lens will work better when under 150mm I guess.. also.. the + Macro lens you will have some distance between lense and subject. with the Portrait lens... you will need to be right up in the subject's face. you could use an M42 screw mount converter for the portrait lens, but I just use good ducked tape. If you don't leave the tape on for a long period of time it won't leave any residue. I'm not sure about using longer portrait lenses, but I would like to try or find out.

I would love to try it with a 135 mm f1.0 Portrait lens infront of a 28-90mm or a 75-300mm zoom lens. depth of feild would be less than a 10th of a mm, would need the highest aperture possible bright lights Flash and LONG exposure times. but I still wounder about the possibilities.