The Bug Geek

Insects. Doing Science. Other awesome, geeky stuff.

Photo Friday: My fave photos from BugShot 2012!

9 Comments Posted by on August 31, 2012

I took about 800 photos over the course of the three-day BugShot workshop. I didn’t have as much success with every subject as I would have liked, but I did come away with some definite keepers.

One of my goals was to play with colour a bit; I’ve really gotten into using a white background because I love how it makes the insect the absolute focal point for the image, but I don’t want to get into a “white box” rut! I found inspiration in the strikingly colourful imagery produced by instructor Thomas Shahan, and decided to roll with it.

Oddly enough, my favorite photos were all of…wait for it… SPIDERS! This may be the start of a serious life change for little ol’ arachnophobic me!

Anyways, without further ado, may I present my top three pics!

I hope you all have enjoyed and benefited from my BugShot posts, especially those of you who made the trip possible for me!

_________________________________

From top to bottom:

1. Regal Jumper, Phidippus regius

f/8, 1/125th sec., ISO-100, 67mm focal length, flash manually set at about – 2 2/3

2.  Green Lynx Spider, Peucetia viridans

f/8, 1/125th sec., ISO-100, 61mm focal length, flash manually set

3.  Workman’s Jumper, Phidippus workmani

f/8, 1/200th sec, ISO-80, 43mm focal length, flash manually set

 

Note: I nearly always shoot at f/8 (my camera’s lowest f-stop), at ISO 80 or 100 (almost never more than 200 or I get terrible noise). I’ve been told that some of the results I get with these setting are pretty wonky (DOF, for example), but it’s probably because I have a PAS, not a DSLR.

Arachnida (Spiders, Mites and allies), Arthropods, Photo Friday, Photography , , ,

9 responses to “Photo Friday: My fave photos from BugShot 2012!”

  1. Sean McCann August 31, 2012 at 9:15 AM

    Great shots! Spiders can be pretty cool sometimes….You should check out this book for some good spider shooting techniques (which also apply to any small subject):
    http://www.amazon.ca/Spiders-Ultimate-Predators-Stephen-Dalton/dp/1554073464

    Reply
  3. allthingsbiological August 31, 2012 at 9:37 AM

    Very nice! One of the many things so many of us who do macrophotography realize is that arachnids are particularly photogenic. Nice use of color!

    Reply
  4. itsybitsybeetle August 31, 2012 at 10:30 AM

    beautiful photos! who can resist a salticid? 😉
    all your posts and photos really, really, really make me want to attend bugshot next year. fingers crossed. thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply
  5. Dan August 31, 2012 at 2:08 PM

    Thanks Crystal! The summaries have been great. I plan to refer back to them when I’m back to doing more macro shots. Since my daughter is a major arachnophile, they have been my top photo subject. And as she points out, Salticids are especially cute. 🙂

    Reply
  6. gaurav1729 August 31, 2012 at 3:23 PM

    Great shots! Given the Bugshot 2012 theme, do you think you could tell us the details of each shot (f ratio, ISO, lens focal length, flash used, etc.)? I’d love to see the technical aspects of these photos.

    Reply
  7. Jon Quist August 31, 2012 at 5:56 PM

    Wow. This makes me want to study Spiders more! I am quite jealous of your photographing skilz.

    Reply
  8. dragonflywoman September 2, 2012 at 5:18 PM

    Beautiful photos Crystal! This is a great way to end your fantastic series about Bug Shot.

    Reply

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