Unique view of a tiny spider ?

LordV · Post by **LordV** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:19 am

Spotted what I thought was a red spider mite eating something on a grass blade when I was doing some dewdrop refraction shots. Shows how bad my eyes are- turned out to be a small sac spider around 2.6mm long. After taking some shots of it , wondered if i could get a refraction shot of it in a dewdrop. No dewdrops near it of course so I tried moving a grass blade with a dewdrop - no go they fall off at the slightest touch, so i tried the reverse of moving the spider near a dewdrop. Success - first time I've managed to get a recognisable bug in a dewdrop refraction!- last 2 shots taken at 4:1 and 5:1 mag FF.
All shots 5Dmk2/MPE-65/430Ex flash with some hand stacking

Brian V.

sonyalpha · Post by **sonyalpha** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:41 am

Wow! Wow! and triple Wow! Brian:

Fantastic stuff......................The first two shots are so sharp....that lens of yours is amazing and your ability to focus it so it well is brilliant:

The refraction shots are a delight................prize winner's both:

I must learn how to do that.......have you posted instructions anywhere please?....or....is it your secret:

sonyalpha

LordV · Post by **LordV** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:29 am

sonyalpha wrote:Wow! Wow! and triple Wow! Brian:

Fantastic stuff......................The first two shots are so sharp....that lens of yours is amazing and your ability to focus it so it well is brilliant:

The refraction shots are a delight................prize winner's both:

I must learn how to do that.......have you posted instructions anywhere please?....or....is it your secret:

sonyalpha

Thanks Sa

Tutorial on dewdrop refractions here http://www.wonderfulphotos.com/articles/macro/dewdrops/
Brian v.

DQE · Post by **DQE** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:23 pm

Great shots!

Congrats on the first "critter in a water drop" photo. Quite a milestone and accomplishment!

LordV · Post by **LordV** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:57 pm

DQE wrote:Great shots!

Congrats on the first "critter in a water drop" photo. Quite a milestone and accomplishment!

Thanks Phil

Not quite the first bug I've shot refracted in a dewdrop - just the first one you could actually recognise. I've done larger bugs before but the images in the dewdrops were so distorted they were fairly unrecgnisable. I think only radially symmetrical large subjects such as flowers survive the distortion efects.
brian v.

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 6:25 am

Nicely done!

MPE-65 without tripod? It works so well for stacking?

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 9:10 am

LordV wrote:I think only radially symmetrical large subjects such as flowers survive the distortion effects.

Your pet Dicyrtomina might be a candidate. Great result!

Harold

LordV · Post by **LordV** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 12:34 pm

Thanks ML and Harold for the comments

ML - Yes without a tripod but I was resting the lens on my hand on the ground.

Harold - Yes might work with a springtail - hard bit might be trying to get one in position

Brian v.