C.M. Simpson: Art and Photography: Australian photographer

Showing posts with label Australian photographer. Show all posts

Sunday, 4 January 2015

First Night Shots of a Spider - January 2015

I won't go into the stupidity of the last four months, but you have my apologies for the break. Even with an internet deficiency looming, I'll try and get back into the swing of things with the following pics of a spider weaving its evening web.

This is the first time I've ever shot at the darker end of dusk - and managed to get results. I tried a couple of things.

I'm not set up to shoot insects or spiders or other little things. I don't have a macro. What I have is a zoom lens and a little Canon DS. I'm still learning.

And, last night, I learnt a little bit more. I saw this little beauty weaving her evening web while I was out watering the garden. From what I can see on Alan Henderson's photograph on the 'Minibeasts Wildlife' site, this is a garden orb weaver (possibly an Eriophora biapicata) - and she stopped me in my tracks and made me completely forget I needed to close the windows against the sprinkler I'd just set.

For those interested in the technical side, these shots were taken using a Canon DS126151 and a Canon EF75-300mm Zoom Lens. Here is a chronology of shots and what I learned along the way.

First shot was a massive failure, because I tried the sports setting and the light was too low.

Like I said - massive fail.

Next, I tried using the flash and the close-up setting. My first shot was blurred because time and spiders busy weaving their webs wait for no man, woman, or camera. This is my second shot.

And this was my third shot.

They're okay, but I didn't like the way the spider looked so shiny in each shot, or the way the light reflected off its exo-skeleton. Take a look at the next shot and you can see reflections on both the forelegs and fangs. I get the impression she wasn't too happy with the flash or camera, but she kept right on weaving.

I remembered reading somewhere that you can diffuse the flash using tissue paper. Being a little short of tissue paper and time, I grabbed a tissue and gave it a go. The first shot held some promise for getting rid of the reflections.

It was difficult to keep the tissue in place, focus and keep track of a rapidly moving spider in rapidly failing light, but I kept trying and eventually took these, much clearer shots.

I'll try for more night spider shots over the coming weeks, and we'll see how they come out. Wish me luck - these little suckers are quite hard to find.

You can find out more about garden orb weavers at the following sites:

Saturday, 13 September 2014

CROSS-POST: Spur-Wing Plovers (Vanellus miles)

From my writer's blog:

These guys are pretty paranoid and very noisy when disturbed, making a kind of 'kak-kak-kak' sound. As you can see, they're very watchful. These ones don't like having their pictures taken and moved rapidly away from the camera.

You can find out more information about spur-wing plovers at the following sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spur-winged_Lapwing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masked_Lapwing
http://www.mdavid.com.au/birds/maskedlapwings.shtml
http://australianmuseum.net.au/Masked-Lapwing/

Friday, 12 September 2014

CROSS-POST: An Evening Wader

Cross-posted from my writer's blog:

I've seen this little guy around a lot lately, but never had my camera on me. When I finally saw him again, it was on a day when I had a case of "bad camera", but a couple of the shots are worth showing here.

He was feeding in an open storm-water drain,

not bothered at all by his reflection or the fading light,

and then he turned and started walking up the drain towards me.

At first, he didn't seem to notice me,

but then, he stopped and took a good look,

and left shortly thereafter.

You can find out more about white-faced herons at the following sites:

Thursday, 11 September 2014

CROSS-POST: A Late-Winter Peewee (Grallina cyanoleuca)

A belated cross-post from my writer's blog:

I seem to have a love for these little guys. They sometimes come and perch in my backyard, but they usually don't stay very long, once the camera appears.

This one was enjoying the sun on a cold winter's day,

and then he noticed the camera,

checked it out twice - yup, still there.

After moving to a safer distance, he was joined by a friend,

and continued to watch the camera, with a careful eye.

You can find out more about the magpie lark at the following sites: