Early Morning Walks and Backyard Macro Photography

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Tamron 90 mm Macro Lens, ISO 1000, f/8 @ 1/180s Manual exposure

Two weekends ago turned out to be a photogenic weekend. I did not get a chance to upload the photographs. On Saturday, I stayed home and took a lot of pictures in my yard. I managed a few good photos. I was mostly trying to photograph using my macro lens, but I was not having to much luck. I did manage one photograph of a weed in the garden that had gone to seed. One seed was sitting atop the plume of other seeds. I just loved the way the photo turned out.  I was pleased with the way the light hit off the curves in the seed, and with the composition of the picture.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Tamron 90 mm Macro Lens, ISO 100, f/2.8 @ 1/400s Manual exposure

After about an hour, I was lurking around our shed, looking for spiders. That is when I looked down and was amazed to find a little jumping spider just hanging out on a plant pot. I did my best to photograph it, and I was delighted with the result. It is the best jumping spider photograph that I have ever taken. There are things that I could improve on. But I was excited when I saw a few of the photos. I could not believe how amazing these little spiders are. I was just stunned to see the beautiful orange colors around his eyes. I also liked the way that the background turned out in the one photograph because the light from my flash made round speckles in the background of the spider when it hit off the plastic of the container. I just really loved this photograph.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Canon 24-105 mm f/3.5 - f/5.6 Lens, ISO 50, f/13 @ 1/10 sec Manual exposure

That Sunday, I decided I would get up before dawn and go out to the nearby reservoir to try and photograph the fall foliage. It was a somewhat foggy day, and I was only happy with one photograph that I took. The colors were stunning, but I did not capture many pictures that I was pleased with. However, when the sun was rising, I saw a patch of high weeds that were shining in the morning light. So I decided I would try and capture it. I laid on my stomach in the tall grass and pointed the camera directly at the sun. I loved the color and the contrast that I was able to capture, and I was quite surprised by the way the photos turned out. It was worth laying in the grass for the shot.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Canon 24-105 mm f/3.5 - f/5.6 Lens, ISO 50, f/13 @ 1/60 sec Manual exposure

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Canon 24-105 mm f/3.5 - f/5.6 Lens, ISO 50, f/13 @ 1/60 sec Manual exposure

Overall the weekend went well. But last weekend, I did not get a chance to photograph anything. I am planning a trip to a friend's farm tomorrow and Saturday. I am hoping that I will get plenty of photographs to share.  I look forward to the next time. I hope everyone enjoys the photos.

Going Through My Photographs

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Tamron 90 mm Macro Lens, ISO 100, f/4 @ 1/400s Manual exposure

Over the last couple of weeks I have not had much opportunity to get out and take any photographs.  I have been getting home after dark most days and I have not spent a lot of time out in the wilderness.  I am hoping that tomorrow will be a good day, and I will be able to get out and enjoy the day, before heading back to work on Monday.

Since I have not taken many photographs lately, I decided to go through some of my photographs from earlier this year.  I found some that I was pleased with.  I am not sure why I didn't share them sooner.

While going through the pictures I found a Macro photograph of a dragonfly that I really liked.  It was really close up.  I wish that I had not cut off the rest of the tail, but I really like the way the wings are out of focus and lead your eye up to the right.  Also the wings have reflections of the beautiful yellow colors from the body of the dragonfly.  The green background being very out of focus also lends well to keeping the dragonfly as the clear subject of the image.  I just love Macro photographs of dragonflies.  It gives a perspective of a beautiful insect that most people don't get to see, and it brings out all the little hairs and every little detail. 

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5- f/6.3, ISO 1600, f/6.3 @ 1/500s Manual exposure

The photograph of the geese family was taken on a lovely spring day at the Bashakill Wildlife Management Area near Wurtsboro New York.  I was laying on the ground when I took the photograph.  The geese were slowly walking up the trail in front of me.  I don't know what it is about this photograph but I really enjoy looking at it.  I love the way the grasses and brush just frame them.  The only thing that I think could improve the photograph is if they were facing me.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5- f/6.3, ISO 1250, f/6.3 @ 1/500s Manual exposure

A little later on during the same trip I came upon a painted turtle just basking in the sun.  Again I tried to get down as low as I could to try and get a different angle then I normally photograph at.  I did have a hard time focusing on the turtle's head.  Even in this photograph the focus was more on the shell.  But the blades of grass were coming up and making it hard to focus.  I love the shallow depth of field because it makes the turtle stand out in its environment.  It just could have been a little better if the focus was perfect.  But I still like the shot.

I think for the time being my best chances are probably going to be photographing a lot of macro insects and amphibians.  Also very soon the ducks and waterfowl will be migrating.  It may already be starting.  Then once the winter sets in I will probably spend a lot of my time photographing bald eagles.  I really can't wait to test my new camera and lens combo on flying birds of prey.  Until next time. 

Trip to the Hickok Brook Multiple Use Area

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Tamron 90 mm Macro Lens, ISO 400, f/2.8 @ 1/250s Manual exposure

Since my last post the Arrow-shaped Micrathena Spider's have disappeared.  I am not sure if they just moved or if they are no longer alive.  It has been getting quite cold here at night and I am not sure what they do for the winter.  The trees are starting to change color already here and it just seems very early to me.
Yesterday I took a trip with my brother to Hickok Brook Multiple Use Area to see if we could catch any bass.  I brought my camera along in case I had any opportunities.  I have seen a lot of bear's there and I never have my camera.  The fishing was extremely disappointing.  We did not even have a bite.  Over the past few years it seems like this once great fishing hole has been completely over fished.  It is saddening to me.  I have very fond memories of fishing off the spill way, catching small catfish and bass.  I have not seen a catfish in there in several years, and the bass fishing has steadily declined also.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Tamron 90 mm Macro Lens, ISO 400, f/2.8 @ 1/250s Manual exposure

It was around 60 degrees or so when we got to the lake and there were a large number of bull frogs along the water.  I must have seen about 10 or so without really looking for them.  They just seemed to be every couple of feet.  Just sitting and waiting for it to warm up.  I did manage to take some photographs of them and I will post the one that I liked the most.  The photograph turned out to be a very high contrast image and I liked the way it turned out.  I also turned it into a black and white image and I actually like it better than the colored version.  Please let me know what you think in the comments below.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Tamron 90 mm Macro Lens, ISO 1600, f/16 @ 1/400s Manual exposure

Also while fishing I came across a branch full of caterpillars.  I am not sure what species they were. They may have been an invasive species,  but I really had no clue what species they were.  What I found really interesting was when you tapped the branch that they were on they would go from docile into a weird defensive stance all at once.  It was like they were one being.  They curled up into S shapes and stuck there legs out.  I figure they were doing it to ward off predators, but I had never seen anything like it before.  I did take a short video of it but I have not taken the time to look at it yet. I had a pesky yellow jacket who would not leave me alone while I was trying to photograph them, so I only took about 20 or so images.  All the photographs were taken with the Tamron 90 mm macro.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Tamron 90 mm Macro Lens, ISO 100, f/2.8 @ 1/400s Manual exposure

We did not see any bears this time around but we did see about a 200 pound Black Bear on the way home.  It was attempting to cross the road but it decided to turn around and run back into the woods.  I did not manage a photograph of it, and it vanished back into the brush.  Hopefully soon I will get a chance to photograph a bear.  I really had high hopes of photographing Brown Bears in Alaska and I think missing out on that opportunity has me really hoping to at least photograph Black Bears at home.

I have been very busy lately.  Last week I started to teach a college class in C++ programming, in addition to my full time job at the college.  So I have been spending a lot of hours at the college.  But labor day weekend finally gave me an opportunity to spend some time out enjoying the wilderness.  I am hoping I will get to spend some more time out soon, and winter will probably be here before I know it.  I cannot wait to really test my sigma 150-600 mm lens on bald eagles.  It should be a lot of fun this year.  Until Next Time.

Micrathena Sagitatta: Arrow-shaped Micrathena Spider

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Tamron 90 mm Macro Lens, ISO 400, f/2.8 @ 1/400s Manual exposure

In my last post, I talked about how I really wanted to get a chance to photograph some spiders.  I could not believe it but today I got my chance.  I went out in my backyard today, to start cleaning out a garden that we had just let get away from us over the last few years.  But as I started to trim back some of the branches off the bush in front of me, I saw two different Arrow-shaped Micrathena Spiders.  After some research I found out they were both females.  I managed a few good photographs, and I hope over the next few days I get a few more.  One of the spiders was rebuilding its web so I focused a lot of my time on that spider.  I just could not believe that these spiders have probably been in my backyard all summer.  To me they are some of the craziest looking spiders around here.  Ever since I photographed and wrote a post about them back in 2012, I had not really seen any.  (Link to 2012 Post)  Maybe I just was not looking hard enough.  Since then I have done some research a few times but I never posted anything about these spiders.  So I figured I would put a little information about them here.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Tamron 90 mm Macro Lens, ISO 400, f/2.8 @ 1/400s Manual exposure

What do they look like?

Arrow-shaped Micrathena Spiders are one of the smaller species of orb-weaving spider.  They are sexually dimorphic.  The males are smaller averaging around 0.5cm and females about 1.0 cm. (without including the legs)  The females have the more striking features and beautiful colors.  Both have the distinctive arrow shape, but the females are more pronounced.  The females also have additional small spikes on the abdomen near the thorax.

Web Structure:

The most interesting thing I did not know about them is that the web consists of two portions the frame and the orb.  The frame is a relatively permanent structure and some spiders will leave them up for days and weeks.  The orb however is built each day at dawn before being taken down in the evening.  When they take it down they consume it.  They also typically stay in the hole at the center of the orb where it hangs upside down waiting for its prey to wander into the web.  In my case because they were upside down the good side was facing into the bush.  So I had to climb in behind the bush and the brush to be able to get the shots.

Where are they located?

Micrathena Sagitatta is one of only three Micrathena spiders found in North America.  It is most common to the eastern half of the country.  Nationally it is found in nearly every state east of Kansas, and as far north as Maine.

Are they dangerous?

Most people who look these spiders up are rightly concerned as to whether these spiders are dangerous?  For the most part, they aren't dangerous to people.  They have venom that they use to paralyze and kill bugs, but their venom isn't strong enough to do the same to larger creatures.  The venom may be a concern for those who are allergic to it, but this is rare.  That said, the bite can be painful, so you should try and avoid accidentally sticking your hand into their web.

Even though these spiders are not really dangerous they do look quite scary.  Once you get past the fear of them they can be very interesting just to watch.  I hope over the next week I get some more opportunities to photograph them, and as I clean out the garden maybe I will find more interesting bugs.  Until next time.

Local Wildlife and Alaska Trip Continued

Over the last week or so, I have not taken too many new photographs. I have spent a lot of my free time fishing with my brother, and I have also been working on going through more photographs and videos from my Alaska trip. I’m hoping that I will be able to put out the time lapse videos in the next post. I am trying something new with them and I have never edited videos before. I have two time lapse videos that I took on the cruise. They are different then the first one I did because I was on a moving boat during these. So there was a lot more motion because of the movement of the boat. But I’m hoping they will be interesting enough.

On several occasions I took my camera with me when I was fishing, but I only managed to take about 100 photographs during those trips. I did manage to photograph a rabbit the one night, but it was getting quite dark. The photograph has a lot of noise in it, but I still wanted to post it. I also spent some time trying my luck at macro photography. I was using my Canon 6d mark ii with my fathers Tamron 90mm macro lens. I did struggle some to get parts of the tiny critters in focus. The auto focus on the lens can be a bit weird, and it does not always want to work the way you would hope. So I used a lot of manual focus towards the end of my macro session. I did manage a couple of photographs. I did like the photograph I managed of a bumble bee, and I also had some luck with dragonflies.

My plan is to spend some time this weekend out and trying to get some wildlife photographs. I will most likely head out to the Bashakill Wildlife Management Area or some other local areas. Hopefully I will be able to get there around the time when the sun is coming up. I would love to photograph wildlife in some great lighting. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

During the last week I started to go through the pictures I captured on my cell phone during my Alaska trip. I took a lot of photographs on my iPhone, and I figured some would be good. I know the mega pixel count is lower but it was really the only chance I had to capture some of the areas. Because almost all the photographs were taken on the buses, trains, planes, and boats through the windows. So I had to shoot through glass and I figured my cell phone would be easier to press up against the glass to try and minimize glare. I did manage to catch some amazing scenery, so I wanted to share them. So all the pictures below were taken with my iPhone.

I hope everyone enjoys the photographs. Until next time.

Productive Outings

Finally I am starting to have some productive photography trips.  The last few I have been on were great.  The fall foliage is at its peak and the scenery is absolutely beautiful.   My most recent trip was the most productive.  I made my way to the Bashakill Wetlands and was hoping to find some warblers and other fall migrant birds.  I did get a glimpse at a few of them but didn’t manage a good photo.  Once I decided that birding was not going well, I changed to photographing insects.  I managed a couple shots of dragonflies and butterflies.  Most didn’t come out due to the harsh natural lighting.  There were no clouds and it made it very hard to control lighting.  After a while I remembered I had extension tubes in my camera bag, so I put two of the three on.  That’s when I saw this little jumping spider crawling up a boulder.  The spider was probably about the size of a pencil eraser.  The spider didn’t sit still very long so I only managed a few shots before he hopped off into the grass and disappeared.  I was pleased with the shot but I wish I could have gotten closer.  

While I was home after this I realized that maybe if I added the extension tubes and then attached my small lens reversed it might actually get me more magnification than I had with my 250 mm with the extension tubes on.  I plan on running a test to see if adding extension tubes to a reversed lens lets you stay a little further from the subject.  I’m hoping this is the case because with the reversed lens you have to get so close to the subject that it’s almost impossible to do, because the wild animals don’t stay when you get that close.  I hope that the upcoming week is as good as this one.  I hope everyone enjoys the photographs.  Until next time.    

Marbled Orb Weaver Spider

I am very sorry that I did not get to upload these photographs during my break.  Then I was back in school and very focused on my work.  I finally got a chance today to go over the photographs from my break.  Break was fun, but not long enough.  I spent one day with my father out looking for anything to photograph.  We spent most of the day at the Bashakill Wildlife Management Area, and I got a few shots of a Great Blue Heron but didn't see much else.  I was disappointing to find that the images of them were not great so I decided not to post them.

But when I got home from the trip I took a look around the yard for the first time in a while and I found two crazy looking spiders about the size of a quarter or larger.  I had never seen anything like them before.  There were just so bright in color.  Then I looked them up and found out they were Marbled Orb Weaver Spiders.

I thought it was funny because exactly the same spots that they were in, a few months before there were Micrathena spiders that I took pictures of.  So it was amazing to me to actually get my best shots right in my yard.  This always seems to happen.  Whenever I go out in my garden I always find crazy things.  I was a little disappointed with the last shot because I think the light reflection in the bottom was caused by the white gutter that runs down the house there.  But overall I was happy with them.

I thought this would be a perfect time to upload them just in time for Halloween.  Hope you enjoy them. 

Last Trip to State Lands

I am very sorry that I did not get a chance to upload anything in a while.  I have been extremely busy with my classes and have not had a chance to do any work on my blog.  So these two images are the same dragonfly, but one is much closer than the other.  They were both cropped.  The trip was a lot of fun.  I only got a few shots of dragonflies and Butterflies, but none of the Butterflies came out good enough.  The lighting was very poor that day.

So far up at college I haven't seen very much wildlife at all.  I see Ravens, and crows mostly.  Nothing that really interests me.  I'm just hoping to get out and relax one day, and hopefully see something.  The moon was amazing here the other night but I missed my opportunity to get a shot.  I'm very happy to see people are leaving me comments.  It is truly exciting to know that the information I can share is actually being used.  I'm hoping to at least be able to upload weekly until I go on break.  Hope you enjoy the photos.  

Arrow-shaped Micrathena Spider

I have a recent post about Arrow-shaped Micrathena Spiders.  Follow the link to check it out.

I have been quite busy lately and I have not had to many opportunities to get out and take photographs.  I have been mostly testing my new reversing ring and trying a lot of Macro Insect Photography.  I was quite amazed with the one spider I found.  I had never seen one before and after some research I found out it is called an Arrow-shaped Micrathena Spider.  So I took a couple of shots of it.

I took a ton of shots the last couple days but not many were any good.  I'm still getting used to focusing by moving closer or further away from the object.  Later in the week I would like to make a post about Photo Stacking and also I would like to do a Review on the Reversing Ring that I bought.  So my next two posts should be more informal.  Until Next Time.

New Equipment Finally Here!

I finally got my reversing ring and my shutter release cable.  Even though they are cheap parts, I'm hoping they will improve my photography.  I can't wait to try macro photography using reversed lenses.  Before when I shot reversed I had to hold the lens, know I can use the ring.  I also plan on trying to use my fathers 3x teleconverter with my reversed prime lens to see what kind of macro shots I can get.  I am also working on finding out how to stack photographs to improve the depth of field.  I attempted it with some old flower shots and it did work.  I'm doing it manually though with GIMP.  So I'm not sure with insect photographs that I will be able to get it to look right.  So only time will tell.  I'm hoping to get a good day soon to try out the Reversed Lens Technique with Insects.  I'm really hoping I get some nice shots.

Garden Flowers

Here are a couple of images that I took of flowers in my garden.  I was testing my fathers new 90mm Macro lens.  He was having problems with it focusing but I had no problems.  I'm not sure why his camera would not auto focus with it.

I have not been able to get out to any wildlife areas in a while.  So I have been relying on things much closer to home.  I am also working on making a blind for bird photography.  As well as setting up a place to get woodland bird photographs in my back yard near the woods.  Also I was outside the other day and noticed that we have a rabbit that is eating out of our garden.  So I'm hoping that I can get photographs of him.  But no luck yet.

A Couple More Dragonflies

I finally have the images processed from my last trip.  I only really got two good images.  Just two more dragonfly shots, but I am really happy with them.  The first shot I was extremely happy with.  The color was nice with the contrast of red and blue in the eyes to the yellow orange color in the tail.

I was very happy overall with the dragonfly shots that I have been taking.  I am in the process of ordering a reversing ring and I am hoping that the reversed lens on a set of extension tubes will take even better images.  I am also ordering a shutter release cable so I can take more shots of the stars with long exposure, because before I was limited to 30 seconds know I should be able to take as long as I want.  Let me know what you think about these images.  Feel free to ask questions and comment.

More Dragonflies

It has been a slow week.  I have not done much photography, but I did photograph a few more dragonflies at Lake Superior State Park.  It was not easy to photograph them because it was a little windy so they were swaying back and forth in the wind, making it very hard to get crisp focus.

I have also been working on collecting some driftwood from the river and some of the lakes from the area.  Hopefully soon I will set them up outside and hopefully I can get some of the woodland birds to come.  I believe that it will help me get some really nice woodland bird shots this summer.

I hope you enjoy the photographs.  Let me know what you think.  Please comment.  Feel free to ask me questions. 

Dragonflies at Lake Superior State Park

Well I did not get out much this week.  Plus the rain in the begging of the week hampered my chances.  But I did get a chance to photograph some dragonflies at Lake Superior State Park.  I was quite happy with the way they came out.

I also made a trip looking for driftwood, to set up a bird sanctuary in my back yard for some woodland bird photographs, but I ended up cutting up a downed tree for some logs to start with.  I'm hoping to set up a place to take nice photographs of the summer birds.  I have never tried this but this year I'm going to try and bring the birds to me instead of going after them.
 

I'm looking to set up stations for woodpeckers and small birds.  I would really love a photograph the woodpeckers in the area.  Plus I will probably set up a hummingbird feeder.  I was out photographing a few days ago and was buzzed by one.  I'm looking to photograph all kinds of birds.

Macro Shots

Here are the macro photographs that I took last week.  I was really just testing my fathers set of kenko extension tubes with my 55-250mm lens.  It seemed to work very well.  But I just would like to get even closer.  It was good that I could stand at a distance away so I did not spook anything, but it was about a 1 to 1 ratio, and I just would like to get really close to the subject.  Macro photographs of insects are amazing and I would just like to get one great shot.  The bee photograph came out pretty good.  I think the color is what made it stand out to me.  Plus I noticed the different color in the bees eyes and thought that was cool.

I also photographed some of the flowers out in the garden outside.  This shot seemed to be the best.  I liked the crisp focus and then the soft blur towards the middle.  I am on the verge of buying some new equipment.  I know I'm going to get a reversing ring, plus a shutter release cable, but I'm also looking into getting a set of extension tubes or a bellows.  I'm hoping to order them this week.  Please let me know what you think of these photographs, and let me know about any macro equipment that you would recommend.

Tree Blossom

I was going through the pictures from my hike and I realized that I really overexposed most of the photographs, to the point were they were unusable.  Only one of the photographs was okay.  I was using the reversed lens technique and I think because the aperture was wide open I allowed way to much light in without realizing it.  So I still have to work on using my lenses that way.  So when I get a chance at insects I don't mess it up.  I probably wont have many photographs to upload while I'm still at school, especially with finals coming up.  But once I get home I'm sure I will be able to photograph something.  So hopefully I learned my lesson about using the Reverse lens technique and won't mess it up again.