Weaving the web

[Jerry van Dijk]

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, handheld (IS), forced flash, 83 mm (500 mm DSLR equivalent), ISO-100, F/4.2, 1/125 sec., pattern metering, EC -1, RAW. Cloned out a disturbing light OOF stripe in BG.

Eager to try out Robert O'Tooles advise to use flash in my macro images to reduce the shadows on my subject, I visited the web weaving critters in my backyard once again. I was struck by the nice glow the sunlight hitting this web created and try to get it on my photo. Trying out the flash without much thought created a surprising effect. The image was quite overexposed and bringing the light down in PP resulted in a dark looking image with a neon like light on the web and spider. The web, by the way, was actually vertical, but I liked the horizontal display much better. I'm curious if you like it as much as I do.
- Jerry -

[Julie Kenward]

Jerry, I do like that you can see some of the web and I like the way you made the spider "glow" but the dead center placement isn't the best. I recropped the image and then did a slight tweak to the midtones in levels and the midtones in curves and came up with this. I think it shows a little more of the spider and web and leaves the viewer with a little more to look at. I also did a bit of sharpening and cloned out some of the web as I found it distracting. Also, it's always better to try to get the face instead of the back end...just keep that in mind for next time!

See what you think. It's just another way to go.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jerry , I do like the lighting effect and I think Jules repost made it a stronger comp with less negative space.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Julie, thanks for your input! I like what you did to the colors of the image. I had much difficulty getting things right because my PP program (Photopaint) showed much darker colors on my monitor than displayed here and in Windows. I really couldn't see what I was doing.
I totally agree that the spider in dead centre is not such a good idea. I actually tried out your version of the image with the spider in the left of the image, but felt that I lost too much of the web in the process. The web was meant to be the main subject here, but my experience is that empty webs make boring pictures (with the exception of the extreme close-up Mike Moats posted a while ago, which I liked very much), hence the spider. The only way to get the web and it's crossing diagonals in the frame and keep a nice smooth background at the same time was without getting the spiders "face" in the frame. I tried to scare it so it would move, but it kept getting back in the same head down position. Somehow, I never like it when an animal which is facing right also is placed in the right side of the frame (same for left). See how you like my "middle ground" solution. Didn't clean up the web, liked it as presented because it fills up some empty space and continues one of the diagonals in the web.
- Jerry -

[Julie Kenward]

Jerry, I like this version as well but now I can't see much of the web at all...it seems to be darker in the FG than before. ???

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hey Julie, don't know what happened there. I did crop of some of the bottom to keep a balanced composition and probably ended up in an area with little web. In your version, the web seems much more conspicuous. I'll see if I can fix it somehow. Thanks again for your comments!
- Jerry -

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Jerry,
Very nice composition. I like the symmetrical oval shape of the web...Julies repost makes this a stronger composition...:cool: