Hiding Spider

[dsalvesen]

brand new to the forum, brand new to photography. Looking for some pointers on some pics......we'll start with this one

http://www.novaventures.com/images/spider.jpg
shutter 1/200, iso 100, no Flash

[jim jam]

cool photo,was it photoshopped at all? :)

[dsalvesen]

Thanks Jim Jam, nope just resized.

[PhotosGuy]

Nice shot. I've never seen a spider that looks quite like that & it doesn't say "spider" to me. But that's my problem, not yours! :wink:

[msol]

Verr nice! I think you captured the blue very nicely.
A couple of things bother me a bit: (1) the blurry bottom edge and (2) the dark right edge, and (3) the spider (subject) doesn't really draw attention.
What if you would crop to exclude probelsm 1 and 2 ? Will be tricky since you definitely want to keep the (complete) flower in the bottom right.
Anyway, if you have enough pixels on the full picture, I would try some firm crops to see whether you could get a better composition which better shows the spider.

Just some thoughts.

[Drk Orange]

I like spiders :)

The only thing I can comment on is the white balance, as the blue of the flowers has made the spider blue rather than green. Have you discovered 'raw' mode yet? it allows you to post-process all that stuff rather than do it in-camera.

[Sendide]

I like the lighting and the subject, I would crop a bit from the right side though (personal opinion)
regards
Khalid

[henkbos]

Now how many people would have commented on the spider if the title of the picture was not 'hiding spider'? Think that is the main problem I have with this shot. It needs an explanation to work.

It might have been better to:
- move in closer
- go through your knees so that the spider (while still hiding) is a lot more visible.

[blinking8s]

I would have liked all the flowers a little more in focus.

Its an interesting photo though.

and welcome to the forum

[dsalvesen]

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate every one of them :D ......the resounding theme I'm hearing is crop, so ask and you shall receive.

http://www.novaventures.com/images/spider2.jpg

I cropped out most of the dark area on the right side, and as much of the blurry bottom as I could. By cropping I think it also brought more attention to the spider as well. Let me know what you think. Thanks again......you people do a great job of making a newb feel welcome. :D



I like spiders :)

The only thing I can comment on is the white balance, as the blue of the flowers has made the spider blue rather than green. Have you discovered 'raw' mode yet? it allows you to post-process all that stuff rather than do it in-camera.

I haven't shot anything in RAW mode yet.....until now I didn't see the use. I think I see the value in raw and will be doing alot of research in the coming days to learn how to use and manipulate them.

[Sailor Don]

The second crop makes for a more interesting photo than the original. By bringing the attention to the spider, the photo is improved.

Good photo.

[msol]

I agree, I like this crop much better. See how the spider is now at a "thirds" position? Maybe now try some unsharp masking to make the petals more crisp?