on Cosmophasis Jumping Spider

I have a new favorite spider family which is the Cosmophasis. I have found quite a number of them in the garden and in front of our house. These are agile Jumping Spiders who are not so skittish. They are the type who prowl and move about often and they move really quickly. I chanced upon it several times and only got to shoot it when it was stalking its prey.

Most male cosmophasis have really brightly colored streaks that are even brighter under UV light. The ones found in the garden have bright blue markings on their legs. According to google, they prey mostly on ants and smaller insects. This one also has distinctive eyebrow like hair on top of its eyes. I usually identify individuals by the eyebrows.

I don't actively look for these Jumping Spiders since they move about so much it is hard to find them. I usually accidentally stumble upon them and they do pause long enough for me to take that one frontal shot then they move on again. This photo below is one of those times that I looked below a leaf and found a Cosmophasis underneath. It really did pose for one shot then left.

And why is it my favorite Jumping Spider? It is because of that fleeting moment when it actually looks at the camera then jumps out of the frame. It is challenging to actually capture a sharp image of it as it pauses. I sometimes think that it has some intelligence when it pauses and looks directly into the lens.

I hope to get more shots of this spider this summer.

PS: There is another cosmophasis specie in the garden... the orange one. I will try to take some photos of that too.

on Studio-ish Macro and Reflections

Happy accidents!

I've been having trouble with my new stacked macro lens setup. I stacked a Nikkor 50mm 1.8D on top of my Tamron 90mm 2.5 SP Macro lens with a cheap 52mm-52mm coupler ring. I like the resulting 2.5x magnification but the problem is that the spiders keep on jumping on to my lens. It must be the shiny chrome bayonet mount that attracts them to jump up to my lens.

While out shooting near our black Honda sedan, a spider jumped on my lens. I went to the back of the car so I could lean on the trunk and find where the spider was to remove it. I blew it from the lens to the top of the trunk. The Jumping spider just stood still and I took the opportunity to take some shots. The output was totally unexpected.

I accidentally found a nice shooting location that provided something of a studio feel and at the same time added a reflection. And when lit up by my strobe, the dust added some bokeh to the shot as well. I have tried shooting with the other car which had white paint but the shots were prone to sensor flares.

After discovering the studio like effect of the black paint job, I have had a lot of success shooting on top of the trunk lid. I'll some more photos soon.

on Insect Portraits and Shooting Flowers

I've never been any good at shooting plants and flowers. Well, I'm really not good at anything that isn't moving.

The only time flowers interest me is when I see an insect land on it. And on a recent shoot while I was out looking for Lynx Spiders, I found this bee hovering on a white flower. I had to crouch down to get the bee to eye level and to my surprise it didn't even seem to mind me at all. It was just doing its own thing while I took a few shots before it flew to the next flower.

One thing to note is that lately I have been trying to make sure I at least get one front facing (portrait) shot of whatever insect. I credit is as the reason why I have been so interested in macro photography lately. I don't know why, but front facing shots make me happy. For me, it's just like taking a picture of a person; the only difference is that I can't ask an insect to look at the camera. Probably the challenge of taking that type of shot is what makes me want to take more.

on Luck and In Flight Macro

Luck plays a huge part in my photography.

I roam a really small area and get only a number of densely populated shrubs and bush. But during a recent macro shoot I had, I was lucky that as I was leaving the area I chanced upon a bee hovering on a flower. I took in flight shots but wasn't sure if I got a decent shot since I had a manual focus lens. I didn't get to review it since I only had a few seconds before the bee landed on a leaf.

In the short minute that the bee was in front of my lens I got one portrait and an in-flight shot. It was my first time to shoot something in flight with a manual focus macro lens and get it somewhat in focus.

Being lucky and having the skill is a must in macro photography. You can't just go killing bugs and sticking them to a plant with glue for a controlled macro scene. Moving around, watching for movement, anticipating the next actions and getting spot on focus are some of the things I have been trying to perfect when I shoot. And I want to shoot my subjects in their natural habitat too. But when I reflect on it, even if I was the best macro shooter (and I am not even that good), if I didn't have luck, I still wont be able to shoot insects even when I am in the area where the usually hang out.

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

on Holiday Macro Adventures

Overcast days are perfect for photography especially when you go out hunting for macro subjects.

The country is celebrating it's independence day and it is a holiday. I took advantage of the holiday plus the overcast skies to shoot macro. I got about fifty keepers today; I will sort them out later. But as I have said before, one photo will make your day. And boy, did this one really make my day.

I was in my favorite macro spot where there is a pepper plant. It is home to huge and fierce looking ants and some predator flies. I was waiting for a bronze jumping spider to face me when I saw movement about three feet away. There was this fat jumping spider moving from leaf to leaf. It was one of the few times I saw a Jumping Spider really jump about a foot in distance. I quickly moved around the bush to where it was and found it already had something in its jaws. I would have been awesome to see it grab the wasp looking insect but I had to settle for a photo of it feeding. I only had three frames of this spider and this one is the best.

This is probably my current favorite spider photo. The details are awesome and I can clearly make out the prey too. It makes walking around in the bush for hours worth the effort.

Happy Independence Day to everyone!

on Jumper Portraits

In photography, you really need to find what you want to shoot and how you like to shoot...

There are times that I find shooting portraits boring. I tell the model how to pose, to look at the camera, drop the smile and then take the shot. I memorized how to frame my shot and how to post process it after. The monotonous shoots shorten my attention span to that of a kid (not that it is that long in the first place).

But I have found a type of portrait I would never get tired of. I can't tell my subject to pose or look at the camera. I cannot dictate the angle in which I am to shoot or even tell my subject to stay still. I have to make do with that short window of opportunity to get that shot I want; but when I get it, the feeling of success is really uplifting.

I am talking about shooting insect portraits. And specifically Jumping Spider portraits. Those beady eyes really get my attention. It will never be boring to shoot such portraits because it is hard work even finding jumpers in that ideal setting where I can shoot such portraits. And when you find then, you get about a minute or two to shoot. And while shooting you just have to pray your camera settings are spot on. It is a matter of both skill and luck; and a whole lot of patience.

Here are the first of many shots...

I like the darker spider better and was lucky that when I bent the branch it didn't move for a while. The light brown one clearly just finished feeding because of the big fat abdomen. It couldn't move as much so I got the shot. I am really happy with these two shots. I wish I'll get lucky again in the coming days...

on Shooting Macro Wide Open

The only limit to your creativity is your imagination....

I have come to accept that in the world of photography there is no sacred rule. Mastering rules and concepts is a must; but that's just the tip of the iceberg. After attaining the basic skill comes breaking rules. The real skill set comes when you find your own way of breaking rules to show off your creativity.

I'd like to highlight landscape photography (which is admittedly one of my waterloo) a field where the basic rules are rigidly applied. You shoot at f8 to f16 on wide angle lenses, apply the rule of thirds, properly expose the foreground and background and all the other stuff. But no one ever said that you cannot shoot at wide apertures or with telephoto lenses. It's how you use what you have that makes things interesting.

And no one ever said you can't shoot macro photography wide open...

I know that in macro photography, depth of field is important. You really want as much of your subject in focus and shooting wide open will give you very little depth of field. But that shallow DOF can be used in many ways to highlight certain parts of your subject; that is where creativity comes in.

Here is an ant looking fierce with only its jaws in focus.

And a cool black true bug coming out of the hazy background.

This little green fly looks nice with only its eyes in focus.

You don't need that much DOF when you shoot parallel to your plane of focus as seen in this photo of the green fly. I still had enough details to make the photo look nice even when shooting wide open

I have to admit that shooting macro wide open is very hard. But when you get it right, you will surely be proud of it. This is what I always say to those who ask me about ideal setups, settings or whatever: maximize your gear and creativity. The most important part of photography is the thought process.

on Comebacks and B&W

It's been awhile since I've done portraits... well, portraits for my portfolio that is. I've been shooting for clients lately. And with clients, you don't really get to do much experimenting; it's always about the tried and tested formula when you are paid.

So, here is my comeback shoot.

I've done a whole lot of black and whites in my portraits. I can't recall the last time I went for the overexposed film look. Well, it fits the concept quite well in my opinion. We were shooting in a plantation and I really hate it when there is too much greens and not a whole lot of other things. I was tempted to do muted (desaturated) or cross processed output but I decided to go overboard and killed all the colors. I experimented with the infrared preset in Lightroom and changed the values a bit on this set. Reminds me of the overexposed shots I had when I was still learning.

Well, I still like how it turned out. Oh, and there’s more to come as I am not yet done with the portrait that I will add to my project. And I'll tell you about the model in my next blog.

PS: thank you to Miss Kaye Garino for the makeup and the photobomber crew for the shoot.

On Spiders and Flies

Here I am again, stuck in the office. But I am glad I have new insect macro shots to blog about.

First is the common Striped Lynx Spider (Oxyopes salticus). It has thorns on its legs, eyes on top of its head (probably to see horizontally when they are in a vertical orientation) and a rather painful (but not poisonous) bite. I see a lot these Lynx spiders in our garden but this is the first time I took a photograph of it feeding. Curiously, it doesn't wrap its prey in silk and drag it away to some dark corner to consume; I found this one on an exposed leaf. And I can say this is a female because that the pedipalps are quite small.

Second is a Jumping Spider (Salticidae). This is one of the most common spiders. Scientists say that among spiders, they are the most intelligent. This one is orange, and is a bit smaller than the common ones. I found it under leaf. I can't tell you much aside from the fact that it was the most behaved Jumping Spider I have found so far as it did not move while I was shooting.

Lastly, I found this curious looking fly. It is a Hunchback Fly (Acroceridae Toxophora). And upon doing research, it is a parasite that lives inside spiders where it develops into the mature fly that you see. It flies really slowly, I think partly because of its unusual shape.

On Shooting Orb Weavers

The easiest way to find a spider is to follow its web.

Most nocturnal spiders I see are those from the orb weaver family. And the right time to look for one is at about 5 to 6 in the evening. They'd be starting to weave their webs and wouldn't really mind a photographer pointing his camera. But when it finished building its web, most spiders either hide nearby or sit in the center in a tight ball; either way, you'd have a hard time finding an angle for a shot. So the best time to shoot an orb weaver is when it is building its web.

This particular spider I found made its web on our gate. I watched it start moving from one place to another to establish the anchor points of its silky net. And I watched it hastily weave through those points, leaving a thin silk thread to form the orb web. It took me a while before I realized I had to shoot it. It was hard to track as it was moving at a frantic pace. What I learned about shooting orb weavers was that if I held my camera parallel to the web and steadied myself so that the web would be in my depth of field, I could shoot the spider while it moved without having to track it. I don't usually shoot on top of my subjects but I had to if I wanted any output with this one.

Oh, I forgot to mention that this is the first time I shot with a strobe during the twilight hours. I think I'll continue shooting more during this time of day. Though I really like ambient light and shooting during the golden hours, this is probably a good time to catch new species of arachnids and nocturnal insects. I'll probably do it again tomorrow if the weather permits.

Jeff + Hazel E-Session

"The space between our wicked lives... is where you'll find me hiding... waiting for you." -- Dave Matthews

Often we look at things as very ordinary that we overlook its real meaning. That’s something I realized after reviewing my output for the latest prenup project I had. And yes, I admit that at first it seemed so normal to me that I ignored its meaning; but I am glad my lens captured some images of it.

I am talking about holding hands.

Sure, people associate it with couples and relationships but sometimes it seems so ordinary that everybody does it. Yet, we all know that there is a deeper meaning to this. Somewhere, in the vastness of the earth, a hand was made to hold yours. It may not fit perfectly but yet it feels right. I'm sure Jeff and Hazel felt that way because throughout the course of the shoot their hands were locked together. There were no need to tell them to hold hands and from my standpoint it seemed so natural; not something done just for the sake of the e-session.

And that day, I was drawn towards shooting their hands; as they were practically inseparable. It wasn't something I did on purpose as I was pressing the shutter button like theres no tomorrow. Perhaps it just shows that in my quest of finding the perfect expression of love in this couple, I found it not in their faces but in their intertwined fingers.

Personally, I think holding hands is a sign of trust and hope. You trust that you chose the right hand to hold and hope that it will be the hand that you'll hold forever. I wish all couples would value that hand they hold; and that they'd never let it go. And I wish Jeff and Hazel all the best; may they hold each others hand in wherever life takes them.

PS: I originally planned not to have words for this post but I had that "ah-ha" moment again so I added my thoughts to my images.
PPS: Special thanks to Jarrah Lu for being my co-shooter for this session.