On 06/16/2011 06:45 AM, Mark Cassino wrote:
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
Thanks again, Mark.
I've been keeping my eyes open for a praying mantises and walking
sticks, myself. But I have yet to even see one, much less get a good
capture. And so far, bees and wasps have been so active that I scarcely
even bother to try when I see them -- though, it was a shot of some kind
of wasp that initially made me want to try my hand at macros.
I took an awful lot of bad ones before I finally stumbled upon the
camera settings that seem to be working at the moment, and I have a
feeling I'll be experimenting for quite a while again when I start using
the extension tubes. (Seems I goofed and bought a set of M42 mount
tubes, and now I have to get a K-to-M42 adapter ring to use them.)
Thanks for the good luck wishes. I ordered a print, but it doesn't look
as good on glossy as I'd hoped, so I'm going to have to get it redone on
matte.
-- Walt
----- 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
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