You certainly caught a very interesting moment - I've never heard of insects grabbing drops of dew. Your timing was spot on. When I was trying out lens options the other night I spent a lot of time chasing these very small mantid nymphs that were runnign around in the garden. Dozens of exposures and not one clear shot. I know how it feels to dump a memory card only to find NADA...
Good luck with the competition! MCC ----- Original Message ---- From: Walt Gilbert <[email protected]> To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, June 15, 2011 10:10:46 PM Subject: Re: Grab a Drop On 06/15/2011 08:46 PM, Mark Cassino wrote: > That is a very cool shot - I love how it is snapping up the dew drop. My guess > on the ID owuld be either a longhorn grasshopper or katydid, or nymph of one or > the other... > > Sorry about your folks. > > MCC Thank you, Mark. It's one of my favorite shots I've taken to date. I did some looking around on Google Images to see what I could find yesterday, and I'm inclined to go with your call as the longhorn grasshopper. The katydids I saw didn't quite have antennae that long. It was interesting watching the little guy as I was shooting. When I saw him reach down for the water droplet, I was SURE I missed it, and was really excited when I got in and loaded it onto the computer. I was utterly convinced that I'd somehow blown the shot, and almost dreaded looking. I kept watching him after I hit the shutter, and it was so cool to watch him -- he used the water droplet to rinse off his antennae (or maybe that's a way of hydrating?). Thanks for the kind thoughts on my parents and the input on the photo. I'm anxious to see how it'll be received in the photo competition. -- Walt > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Walt Gilbert"<[email protected]> > To:<[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 11:33 AM > Subject: PESO: Grab a Drop > > >> Hi all, >> >> Stepping briefly back out of obscurity to share a photo I took this morning. >>Sorry I haven't been around to participate. Ever since I got home from my >>visit >> to California with Larry and John, my mother's health has taken a turn for the >> worse. She's currently in hospice care, and it's fallen to me to look after >> her. She's in fairly grave condition - to the point where she's taking >>morphine >> in both pill and liquid form, and I have to stay on top of that. And, as if >> that weren't enough, my father has suddenly taken ill with heart problems -- >> both of them spent about ten days in the hospital at the same time recently. >>So, essentially, my photography is limited to what I can find in my yard. >> >> A couple of weeks ago, I order a reversing ring and have been tinkering around >> with my K 50/1.4. So far, this is the best shot I've managed to get with >> it. >>Basically, it's shot with my K-x using the pop-up flash and a Fuji film >>canister >> with some wax paper lining the inside as a diffuser, at 400 ISO for 1/180 of >> second. (It's a grasshopper-like insect, in case anyone is squeamish about >> those). >> >> http://www.flickr.com/photos/walt_gilbert/5832616817/ >> >> (Lighbox) http://is.gd/Q6u4ys >> >> I haven't done a great deal of editing to it -- bumped up the highlights using >> curves in The GIMP and resized to make a faster upload. I just wanted to show >> it off because I was really happy with the way it turned out. I wish I could >> participate in the forum, or even seriously pursue photography at all right >>now, >> but it's just tough to get serious with it in my current situation. With any >> luck, though, hospice will help to get my mother a little more stabilized and >> I'll be able to get out and trudge around with the camera a bit more. >> >> Anyway -- that's the news from Kentucky. I write and take photos when I can, >> and figured I ought to at least touch base with everyone to let you all know >>I'm >> still alive and check in on the list from time to time, whenever the >>opportunity >> presents itself. >> >> -- Walt >> >> -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow >> the directions. >> > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
