Golden silk

[Connie Mier]

Coming in with some new perspective on macro after attending Roman's great workshop last weekend, I was able to put it to use on the creeks in Biscayne Bay. Shot from the canoe, I used fill flash and natural light. But, with the telephoto lens and not the macro. Also, used an aperture setting almost as far away from f32 as you can be. Used as much dof as possible given the circumstances and not wanting to push the ISO to high.

I'm wondering if it looks too flashed. I used some dodging to decrease the brightness on the spider.

Thanks for looking.
Connie
Sony a700,70-400mm
f6.3, ISO640, 1/500
handheld, manual metered

[denise ippolito]

Wow Connie! I love the sharpness and the composition is interesting, maybe just a little centered. Roman gives a great workshop and is very easy to work with. I don't think this looks over flashed. You could tone down a few spots. I might clean up the specks in the web since this is such a clean shot. Nicely done.:)

[Julie Kenward]

I agree with Denise - super use of shallow DOF here and other than the spider being centered it's a very unique perspective. I'd also try to clone out the very tiny white spots in the web just so the viewer's eye doesn't go there and spend time wondering "what's that?" It will help keep the eyes on that beautiful arachnid. ;)

[Ken Childs]

Connie, this is nice and especially so when you know it was shot from a canoe! I also think the subject is a bit too centered. Something I do to soften up the flash highlights is to grab a 3x3 sample from the color next to the bright area and then paint over the highlight with a soft brush with an opacity of around 20%. I think doing this might help those stripes on the legs.

A suggestion for everyone is to include the editing software and the version you are using along with the exif data.

[Douglas Bolt]

Very sharp and great DOF, especially for a small subject at f6.3. I wonder about the angle of the diagonal line at the top and if it could be increased to add some more drama and give some more space in front of creature. You may have to add image with the clone tool if you haven't cropped the image in the upper left. Interesting image.

[Connie Mier]

Wow, great feedback from all of you, thank you! This is cropped so repositioning the spider should not be a problem to off-center it. Ken, thanks for the highlight tips, might give that a try. FYI, using CS4 for editing starting in raw. I don't convert image to tiff or jpeg until after editing. Wondering about that strategy.

Also, I thought about trying all the above suggestions. I just realized that I should do all the edits before cropping and save an uncropped version. As it is, I would have to go back to RAW and re-edit from scratch. :o Live and learn.
Connie

PS, the thing I liked most about Roman and his approach to photography, is that it is totally grounded in common sense. He has a very pragmatic approach and I appreciated that very much. Denise, we touched on your blur technique somewhat, I took that info and used it today. Was shooting with Don Hamiltion and we may each post some of our attempts in the OOTB forum. It was a blast!

[denise ippolito]

PS, the thing I liked most about Roman and his approach to photography, is that it is totally grounded in common sense. He has a very pragmatic approach and I appreciated that very much. Denise, we touched on your blur technique somewhat, I took that info and used it today. Was shooting with Don Hamiltion and we may each post some of our attempts in the OOTB forum. It was a blast![/QUOTE]

Connie, I love doing workshops with Roman-we have so much fun and he really is totally grounded. Glad you guys had a blast with blurs-you both posted some great images!!:)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Connie,
Thanks for the kind words! Not too many blurs I hope:p......otherwise Denise will give me grief!!! Great advice given on the highlights and centered comp....so gald to see it's and easy fix for you! You can try darkening this a bit for your own comparison....but I am fine with it as is. Remember that with that lens....being further away.....f32 isn't ideal....so f11 should work fine! Distance to BG is also key.....so glad to see you kept the great sky color. I would say work the angle.....but from a canoe again!!!.....really nice job with this!