Orange Ladybug
Jul, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in my parents' backyard when I was quite young (about a decade ago!). It was next to a river on a sunny, windy day.Time
It would have been taken some time in the mid to late afternoon.Lighting
At this point, I was really just learning and messing around with my mother's DSLR, which I was lucky enough to be able to do! I still didn't have much concept of proper lighting or settings beyond a lot of trial and error, so there were no lighting aids or even planned time of day for this shot.Equipment
Beyond knowing that it was my mother's Canon 60D it was too long ago for me to say anything regarding the lens, but this was just simple hand-held action.Inspiration
Wanting to get out and learn. My parents live by a river so there are plenty of bugs and wildlife around — not surprisingly they are still my favourite things to photograph! On this day the sun and weather were nice (though windy), so I spent many hours outside hunting for any leaf, bug, bird, flower, tree branch, or inanimate object I found interesting.Editing
Absolutely none! Post-processing is now something I have a lot of fun with and pride myself on, but while I was learning I stayed away from it and tried to build my skills to where I could get the image to look how I wanted. Though, I probably should have looked into doing the things properly earlier! Looking back at this image now and seeing the mistakes and the admittedly poor focus it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I can still see this picture and many of the other early pictures I have posted as "decent", but I'm happy I've made some progress since then.In my camera bag
• Fuji X-T2, almost always paired with my Fujinon 60mm F2.4 macro lens. • Fujinon 35mm F2 • Fujinon 18-55mm kit lens • Extra battery, battery charger, extra SD cards Vintage lenses, used with adapter: • Minolta 50mm F1.7 • Minolta 135mm F3.5 • Minolta 75-200mm F4.5 I also have a 2X teleconverter, generally attached to the above variable lens. I tend to pull these out when the 135mm isn't enough. I may sacrifice a lot of image quality, it's still possible to get a quality image, y'know?Feedback
You can't really hire or pose bugs and fauna like humans, so you just have to be out there with a curious mind and eye. I'll say again that I don't find this image particularly good myself, but to improve I had to act on the whim to go out — the impulse to search, to try a new lens, to use my old favourite lens in a new way... to be absolutely obnoxious to any human who thought they might be spending time with me on this nice stroll but I'm *very* busy getting "the shot" of this here critter. Just try! Even if you're disappointed by the outcome of a picture or an outing, you'll have learned something if you approach your mistakes in a kind and curious way. Oh, and learn how to shoot manually early on!!!! This was something I really could have benefited from here, but I didn't have the skill yet. If you're shooting digitally you only have to worry about burning through memory instead of film, so be thankful for this and don't be afraid to take a stupid amount of pictures! Learning to properly focus and then "rock" while taking multiple shots is the best way to handle winds and moving things — without relying on the increasingly scary-good AI focusing, that is. I certainly confused the poor 60D a painful amount that day...
