mirjam

Raindrop Spiderweb

FE110,X705

settings

Aperture f/4.2 ISO 64 Shutter 1/800

upload_date

May, 2013

Views

217

Likes

+19

Awards

Zenith Award

Fall Award 2020

Outstanding Creativity

Superb Composition

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Absolute Masterpiece

Peer Award

Exceptional Contrast

Magnificent Capture

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Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

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Behind The Lens

Location

At the top of Mt Atkinson, in Titirangi, you have a beautiful view over Auckland city, NZ. It was near the summit, which you have to climb to by foot, that I stumbled upon this spider's web, suspended between two trees.

Time

Early that morning a thick fog blanketed the city. I had gone up Mt Atkinson in the hopes that I could capture the Sky Tower poking above the fog. It was on my way back down, when the fog had lifted, but left it's moisture coating the spider's web, that I took this photo.

Lighting

There was lovely backlighting happening which accentuated the outline of the drops and caught an upside down reflection of the trees in the tops of each dew drop.

Equipment

This photo was taken on my first digital camera, a 5MP Olympus FE110, X705. No other equipment was used.

Inspiration

I was struck by the simple beauty of dew drops on a spider's web and wanted to capture it so I (and others) could enjoy it's beauty beyond that moment.

Editing

Back then I was using Picasa to organise and edit my photos. The only things I did to enhance this photo was to make it black and white, crop it and increase contrast.

In my camera bag

A tripod, my Nikon D5500 body, my sigma 18-35mm lens, a lens hood, a filter case containing a UV filter, ND8, ND 400, variable filter, and circular polariser, spare change of batteries, a spare empty flash card, a dust blower, microfibre clothes and lens pen. If I am heading out to do astrophotography, I'll chuck in a head torch, and home made moisture protector as condensation can easily build up due to the sensor heading up when doing long exposures one the dew point is reached. This is basically a hole cut in the shape and size of the opening of the lens, in a large ziplock bag, with gaffa tape around the hole's edges. This slips over the lens and body of my camera, leaving only the opening of the lens exposed.

Feedback

Use a wide aperture to isolate the web and drops from the background, but not so shallow a depth of field that only the drops at the centre of the web are sharp. F4 is usually sufficient. Try to find the best shooting angle that will result in reflections within the drops. If you're wanting to get a photo of water droplets on a spider's web, go early in the morning or after it has rained, and with the light coming from behind the web. Usually harsher light brings out more contrast and definition. Unless you know the area and where the webs usually are, you are more likely to only get these kind of shots in an unplanned way, by stumbling upon them while already out photographing other things/places. This shot ended up being better than any city fog shots I got that morning from Mt Atkinson. If I had thought 'I've already got what I came here to get today' and just headed straight to my car without paying attention, I would have missed this opportunity.

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mirjam

Raindrop Spiderweb

Behind The Lens

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