Orchard Orbweaver
Jan, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken at the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve in Fort Myers, FL. You walk through the preserve on a boardwalk and spot many wildlife creatures all around.Time
I woke up on a weekend and wanted to go for a walk with my new Canon T4i camera. I figured the preserve would be a great place to test out the camera to shoot plenty of different angles and different wildlife subjects. I got there about 9am and this photo may have been taken about an hour before Noon.Lighting
At this point in my life I still wasn't very experienced with photography lighting. I went into the preserve just expecting to shoot everything with natural light, and adjust my settings accordingly. There are plenty of tall trees around but light would still shine through and provide even lighting with no strong shadows.Equipment
This was shot on a Canon Rebel T4i with an 18-135mm kit lens. Aperture: f/5.6, ISO: 100, Shutter Speed: 1/200.Inspiration
I've always admired photographs of spider webs. And at this point I had never attempted to shoot a spider web. The fun part of this photograph is what I did to capture it. The spider web was hanging about 5 feet above the water, and I am a few feet higher since I am walking on a boardwalk. I wanted to get so close, my torso was almost upside-down off the side of the boardwalk's railway, and I'm hanging on just with one foot wrapped around the railway. I had my camera strap wrapped around my wrist incase I were to drop it. Luckily I didn't, and I captured a great photo from it.Editing
I did do some post-processing. I saw the spider had some vivid colors under its body and I wanted it to show in the photo just like I saw it in person. So I increased the dynamic range and the vibrance to bring out the colors more from the dark and highlighted places.In my camera bag
I only have one camera body, for now, so I have my trusty Canon Rebel T4i body. My primary lens is now a Canon 50mm 1.8 prime. It's so great for portraits, the low f/ stop is perfect to light the face and I love the bokeh it creates. After that it is followed by the Canon 18-135mm kit lens that took this photograph. It's the go-to lens that can handle practically anything when I'm in a rush. And lastly I carry my newest lens, a Tokina 100mm 2.8 prime lens. Now I am really diving into macro photography with this baby.Feedback
Some advice for fellow photographers that want to capture similar photos, you will have to go above and beyond to get that perfect shot you want. If you're trying to look "cool" when taking a photo, then you're doing it all wrong. You will be sitting, kneeling, maybe even laying flat on your back or stomach, you'll be standing on a trashcan, climbed up a tree, or with one foot in a lake, or you'll be hanging half off a railway like I did to capture this photo. It will be uncomfortable, but if you're dedicated enough to capture great photographs, you can do it.
