#55 - PHOTOGRAPHY

At the Minnverts gathering this past weekend I was with two serious and skilled photographers: Chad Campbell and Michael Pankratz. As many of you know, Chad is a moderator on Arachnoboards and is better known there as "advan". He mentioned that he had been spending some time improving on the photography subforum there. Since I no longer am on FriendFace, FaceBlock, Faffbook, Fuckbook or Fussbook, I no longer have that outlet for easily sharing images and may resume my "New Michael Jacobi Photo Thread" on AB. However, these are, and will be, watermarked 72 dpi compressed images. I just wanted to remind you that my real galleries, where you can view high resolution images (still at screen resolution though) without watermark, is at exoticfauna.smugmug.com. Please bookmark and revisit every now and again. These are my complete galleries and you can even order prints.

I'd love to share some info on photography skills and possibly turn that into another ongoing series, but here I just wanted to post a few images of spiders that I am packing for customers today and make a few comments on spider portraits and photography in general.

First, for the gear heads, in an earlier blog entry (#12A - PART ONE: SUNDAY, FUN DAY) I mentioned some of the arachnocultural products I use and where to get them cheap. It was just a listing of things I recommend without any endorsement or free product in return. I closed that installment with my camera rig details and I will copy and paste that here.

Camera Rig: The majority of the photos you see me post are taken with a Nikon D7100 body and a Tokina 100mm 1:1 2.8 macro lens. 90% of the images are shot in aperture priority mode at f18 and ISO100 and usually 1/60 sec. Sometimes I go fully manual if I want to select shutter speed a bit, say to 1/125 sec or maybe adjust ISO to 200 or 400. Smaller subjects are usually lit with a Sigma EM-140 ring flash, while larger spiders are lit with a PocketBox Mini Softbox on a SB900 speedlight in the hot shoe. I often use TTL, but may set ring flash to TTL BL or manually reduce output on SB900 or use only one side of the ring flash in certain situations. I never, ever, ever use the camera's built-in mini speedlight. They are taped down! For photography other than spider and herp portraits I use Nikkor's 17-55mm 2.8, 35mm 1.8 and 18-200 VR 5.6. For human portraits I light subject with a Gary Fong Lightsphere mounted on the SB-900 or a SB-600. When in the field if I need to have two set-ups at the ready I use my old Nikon D90 body with the macro lens and flash and use the D7100 with the 17-55 or 18-200.

I shoot both RAW and Fine JPEG, but normally use the RAW file imported into Adobe Lightroom 6/CC on a MacBook Pro for processing. Photoshop CC is used for background removal or to remove unwanted dirt or something from the image. I export my finished images as TIF to an external hard drive and Fine JPEG (6000 x 4000 pixels) to my internal hard drive (these go to SmugMug) and make a 1280 pixel wide watermarked and branded version using both Lightroom and Adobe Fireworks for posting on social media. My full resolution photo galleries are at exoticfauna.smugmug.com where you can order prints.

The important detail above is that I "never, ever, ever use the camera's built-in mini speed light". If you are shooting with a decent DSLR get your flash above or off the camera body. Use soft boxes on speed lights on brackets, arms or held on a sync cord or mounted on a tripod. I will go into further detail in future blogs. However, your built-in flash gives direct, unnatural and unflattering light. You can have some reasonable results and I know at least one photographer who posts tons of decent tarantula pix using this on camera flash. But a trained eye can pick out the poor lighting and the resultant problems with shadows and highlights. Some of these could be corrected in post-production when shooting RAW, but it is best to capture the best data first.

I used to use my ring flash for everything, but it broke a few months ago thanks to my clumsiness and while waiting for it to be repaired I began using my tall SB900 speed light with the Pocketbook Mini Softbox. I normally use this set-up for snakes and lizards and larger creatures on field trips, but it is now my go to method for adult tarantulas and all the pix below were taken with a Nikon D7100 with a SB900 flash on TTL or TTL BL with the softbox. I use the ring flash for small subjects only now. All of the below photos were taken handheld at f/18 at 1/60 sec. Lightroom was used to process the RAW files and add some clarity, adjust white balance and add a bit of vignetting.

Now that I've talked about gear, let's forget all about expensive toys. Yes, if you want to get serious about photography, and especially macrophotography, you need to get at least a midrange DSLR and a bunch of money-sucking add ons. The Tokina 100mm 1:1 macro lens is the best bang for your buck and you'll need lighting other than what your camera possesses. However, to turn a snapshot into a photograph is all about COMPOSITION, COMPOSITION, COMPOSITION. If you are limited to a point and shoot or even a camera phone you needn't worry about f-stops and focal length and such. You should concentrate on composition and making the best use of available light. Google the rule of thirds and other compositional rules. You can break these later, but master them first. Even if you are just taking a selfie for Instagram think about composition. Take sunglasses off (always!), use the rule of thirds, avoid harsh midday light and shadows, try different angles, get artsy. Think about background. Turn your snapshot into a photograph.

Again, all of these photos were taken this morning and all of these spiders were packed to ship to new homes. For many more images of arachnids, reptiles and other creatures, both in nature and the terrarium and without watermarks, please visit my Smugmug. Enjoy, MJ

Psalmopoeus cambridgei x irminia
This spider was offered free and shipped to A.W. with the restriction that it never be bred or sold.

Psalmopoeus cambridgei on its way to A.W.'s mom.
Compare this spider to the hybrid above.

This adult female Iridopelma hirsutum 'Recife' is also on its way to A.W.

T.R. is receiving this adult female Avicularia diversipes

This female Lampropelma nigerrimum headed to T.R. was a complete bitch!
This is the best photo I could capture and you'll notice her spread "jaws" and raised legs.
She alternated between threat posture and biting my forceps to doing the drop and roll.
I'm sure some of you are familiar with how these spiders will just roll into a ball and drop off the wood.
In fact, T.R. is also getting a Lampropelma sp. Borneo, but I couldn't even get her to pose for one second.
Many Ornithoctoninae are stubborn models and I lose my patience quickly.

This adult female Avicularia minatrix on her way to T.R. was much more cooperative.
At first, that is.
Unfortunately, I clipped Leg II left in the photo and after the exposure she ran into a crevice in the driftwood.
I had to break my long-used photo background wood in half to get her out.
Now, I need a new piece.
I was starting to question why I was making packing harder by shooting these photos!

D.D. is receiving this beautiful subadult female Avicularia sp. Peru tomorrow.
I had to prop up half of my now split in two driftwood background.
D.D. got some other Avics too, but most were young specimens and I had had enough camera for the day.