CalevPhoto

Choosing your best shot

This year I have decided to do my own 365 project in order to improve my photography.  The experiment has been extremely rewarding and I have learned a ton so far.  I am currently on day 103 and the rules simply are that I must take at least one photo each day and post it at my 500px site.

Another rule is that I must pick one shot and only one shot.  This means I need to go through my shots until there is one left. Often this can be quite tricky as I may like several shots.  This exercise, however, teaches me to find flaws in my photos.  Until I realize these flaws, I won’t know how to improve.

This weekend I was presented with an interesting dilemma.  I had photographed during lunch by my office that day and had taken a number of photos.  That evening, I sat down with my wife and kids to select that day’s photo.  After a bit of culling, it came down to two shots.

Red Leaf by Joseph Calev

At first glance, the first photo seemed the best to me.  I rather liked the pattern caused by the missing part of the lea.  I wasn’t crazy about the gleam on the left of the shot or the fact that the right most “point” is off the photo.  In addition some of the points are more OOF than I would prefer.  Still, I thought it deserved being the shot of the day.

My wife preferred the second shot.  She couldn’t narrow it down, but really liked it.  The funny thing about the shot is I took just this one, then moved on.  When I looked at it in the viewfinder it didn’t look like anything special.  Typically I wait until it is downloaded on my machine before deciding whether to delete it.  Upon examining it on my machine it escaped deletion (I delete around 70% of my shots each day) but I wasn’t keen on using the shot.

In terms of criticizing the shot, I am not crazy about the blown out highlights, but most of all it didn’t really impress me as being that unusual.  The first shot tells a bit more of a story.  There used to be a leaf with this shape and some insect had a snack – leaving the outer edge of the leaf (which evidently must not have been as tasty).

In the end, my wife preferred this shot and I had already published the following shot a few days earlier.

Imagination by Joseph Calev

As I try to do something different each day, I went with my wife’s suggestion and published the red leaf.

The next morning, I awoke to a ton of e-mails and my first 100 vote photo!  I find it rather intriguing how so many people liked this photo but it has now reached the rare echelon of photos my wife wants me to print.

The next day, I let my wife make the full decision.  She chose this photo, which promptly received not a single vote or comment.

Calligraphy by Joseph Calev

For the record, I and my older son preferred this shot, which in retrospect I probably should have made the photo of the day.  It’s not a great shot, but I have a feeling it would have at least received one vote.

So what have I learned from this experience? What seems obvious is you never know how some photos will be received.  Everyone judges photos differently and there will always be someone who hates a particular shot.

Going forward I will continue to listen to the opinions of my wife and kids.  At times I will let their choice trump mine, while at other times when I am more sure of myself I will make the choice.  One thing with the Red Leaf photo is my wife really, really liked it.  So perhaps the lesson is when someone really likes a photo, it is best to pay attention.

Zerene Stacker – A Must for any Insect Photographer

This typically is not a review website, but in some cases I feel that I need to share something.  In this case it is Zerene Stacker.  Zerene Stack is an application that allows one to create a single image out of multiple photos taken with different parts of the image in focus.  In my opinion, this is an essential piece of software for every insect photographer to own.

There are a number of stacking applications out there, but what sets Zerene Stacker apart is its ability to align photos.  This is critical for insect photography as most photos are hand held.  This means that the chances that they will perfectly align are practically nil.

Zerene Stacker is extremely easy to use, though it does contain an impressive list of options.  It also contains a very powerful retouching feature that allows one to explain from which image to take different parts of the final image.  This is extremely useful in a number of cases, though with care I have found that it is often not necessary.  Typically I use the retouching feature when I specifically do not want a particular part of the final image to be in focus.  Often this is for artistic reasons.  I want the insect to be in focus but not this part of a leaf, etc.

There’s a common expression that a picture is worth a thousand words, so without further ado I’ll show you what it can do.

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Can Ants Swim?

Recently while attempting (unsuccessfully) to photograph several water striders in a pond, I came across several ants that appeared to be swimming in the water.  Well, it didn’t look exactly like they were swimming as they certainly had a tough time of it – but likewise they did not appear to be drowning.  So can ants swm?

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Playing around with dandelion seeds

Dandelions have always been one of my favorite subjects – in particular the seeds as they fall.  Sure, they’re weeds – but they’re graceful weeds.

This particular image is a focus stack from two images.  I have been working a bit more with focus stacking using Zerene stacker and find it very useful – in particular for someone like me who does not have a lot of time.

Dandelion seeds can actually be rather tricky to photograph.  I usually find that more than 1:1 magnification is required so I use my MP-E 65 anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1.  Generally the seeds do not stay still so a flash is required.  It can be quite tricky though getting the seed in your viewfinder and in focus as they tend to sway quite a bit in the wind – causing the seed to come in and out of my viewfinder.

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The wonderful sand dollar

I think almost everyone in the world is familiar with the sand dollar so often found on the beach.  Until recently, I always believed that all sand dollars were white.  I must admit that I thought that the actual animal lived inside of the white shell and that birds would open it up to eat it.

In truth, sand dollars look quite a bit different when they are still alive.

These two sand dollars were found at Kopachuk State Park, where it’s literally impossible to not find a sand dollar.  They can be found in the thousands there and in places it is difficult to walk without stepping on one.

This one appears to be Echinarachnius parma, or the Common Sand Dollar.  Interestingly, sand dollars are either female or male – just like other animals and insects.  Even more interestingly, sand dollars are one of the first creatures found to use cloning as a means for self defense.  The sand dollar will deliberately break of parts of itself that are small enough for predators to not bother them.

Taking a look at the sand dollars on the beach, it was very clear upon looking at them that they are truly living – as it appeared something was moving on them.  Of course I had to take a closer look.

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Harvestman Study

Here in the Pacific Northwest, the harvestman is one of the coolest and easiest critters to find.  At the ponds by my office, they are very common and I see one almost every time I photograph there.  I have a number of pictures of them, but I decided to play around a bit more this time to see if I could be a bit more original.

My goal with this shot was to emphasize the legs coming right out at you – as if they harvestman were about to grab you.  I created several versions of this shot, but this one I like the best – with the body of the harvestman just visible behind. 

For those not familiar with our friend the harvestman, they are not spiders.  They are arachnids, but are in the order Opiliones while spiders are in the order Araneae.  Of course, for the squeamish that isn’t very important.  Most people know the harvestman by the common name “daddy long legs".

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Going Past 5x

Recently I pondered a bit how to break the 5x barrier in terms of macro magnification.  While my MP-E 65 provides magnification up to 5x, of course I had to wonder about progressing beyond this.  I read a bit about using bellows, reversing lenses, and other techniques, but all of them seemed rather a pain.  For instance, bellows really aren’t practical when photographing out in the field.

It then occurred to me that the answer was quite obvious.  First, by switching to my 7D instead of my 5D2 I reached an effective magnification (compared to my 5D2) of 8x.  Second, I was curious if my 1.4x extender would work with the MP-E 65 – so I fit it on to give me an effective magnification of 11x.  I decided to ignore the inevitable diffraction and try it out.

After trying it out on the carpet, I decided to find a real subject so I went outside with my contraption.  I quickly found a fly that was temporarily willing to be a still subject – or at least up to 3x when it flew away.

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The Mighty Mite

I remember as a (slightly abnormal) kid collecting firecracker packs having a pack called ‘Mighty Mite’.  At the time, it never really occurred to me what a ‘mite’ was – I just collected the pack.

It isn’t difficult to find mites whenever taking macro shots.  They are everywhere and you really just have to turn over a leaf that is decaying on the ground to find one.  Photographing one, though.  Well that’s a different story.

Complicating getting a good photo of one of these little buggers are two things.

1) They are extremely small.  The shot above was taken at 5x – and even then I cropped it.

2) They move rather quickly and do not sit still

About a week ago, though, after not finding much anything else to photograph that day, I decided to take my chances.

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Why aren’t you bugging me?

OK, OK, so it’s been awhile since I have posted a decent old fashioned bug shot.  The reality is between being extremely busy and having rather lousy weather here I haven’t taken too many bug shots lately.  I hope to change this soon.  Last night we had a ton of midges get into the house during a party – as if they were wondering where the heck I was.

This shot was taken a few months ago by the ponds outside my office.  I spent some time photographing one stink bug and when I found another on a different leaf – I figured – why not?

They stayed together for about thirty seconds – but this was long enough to get a decent shot.  They didn’t seem too offended by one another – but soon went their separate ways.

Stink bugs are one of my favorite insects to photograph as they are so colorful.

Lots and lots of ants

I’m sure all of us have walked by a dropped fruit on the ground and have seen a pile of ants warming around it.  I have seen this countless times, but never when I happened to have my camera and MP-E 65 on me.  Several days ago, I was lucky.

From some research on the Internet, I believe this is Tetramorium caespitum, or the standard pavement ant.  They are famous for getting in fights with other colonies, though I do not believe that is what is occurring here.

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