robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

4th day of Thomas the Tank Engine festival at our railway museum. I'm the announcer, so 4 days sitting in the office - often alone - announcing trains, plugging concessionaires Etc Etc. There are spider webs and a spider in the window in front of the desk and all day Sat and Sun two weeks in a row I had been watching that spider. Well yesterday I took my camera just on the off chance I got relieved for a break/lunch and could go out taking pictures. Finally I opened the camera bag and swapped the 24-105 for my 180 macro. Because the desk has a lot of stuff on it, like the PA etc I could only get the front of the lens about 3' from the spider. Plus I'm doing it the old fashioned way, manual focus and changes were by guess-and-by golly.
Tried 5 stacks, tries 2 & 3 were so bad I deleted them. Light outside MUCH brighter then in the office and no flash so way too much back light.
In no single series did I get the whole spider in focus but the effort relieved my boredom for a while and yes the spider is having an afternoon snack.
If the office spider got a lunch break, why didn't I? Oh, yeah, I volunteered! And we were so busy all the Xtra Board guys were working. I did get to the museum store right by the office and got a popsicle, Corn Nuts and a diet Dr Pepper.
Note to self - tripod and Helicon FB tube should be used with flash.

Camera 5DIV, lens Tamron 180 macro
#1 3 stack 1/200 @ f/11 ISO500
#2 6 stack 1/250 @ f/11 ISO500
#3 8 stack 1/250 @ f/8 ISO500

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rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Robert, these are surprisingly good, considering hand held and all the issues that could cause.
--Bob

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I think the backlighting and the perspective are fantastic. Very interesting, unique shots. Love arachnids

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Thanks, this kind of spider has web threads so thin you can't see all of them. In these pictures you can see about 4 or 5 times as many as by eyeball unless you sit and study them a long time.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

After two weekends in a row 8-6 I was starting to try and think of a name for the spider. And I think I started talking to it once or twice.

woodworkerman Loc: PA to FL

Really nice. Was Miss Muffett there, too?

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

Cool photos, great shots.....Charlottes Web?

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Thanks. I think the Mattel Rep's name was Amy, not Muffett? (Mattel owns Thomas in the US so they always have a rep present, and Sat the 14th they had a film crew shooting video and stills all over the museum for next year's Thomas event advertising in the US.)

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Thank you, I thought of that, but Charlotte was a different kind of spider and the name is over used.

Jim-Pops Loc: Granbury, Texas

Excellent job seeing that there handheld shots. I just went back and read your other post to see your progression with focus stacking. I got the new Nikon D850 that makes multiple shots at different focus points. I think this is similar to what the Helicon Tube does. On my firs several shots I used Photoshop CC and wasn't pleased at all. I went on line and did some research to what photographers were using when shooting different small bugs such as spiders and it seemed most were using Helicon Focus software. It is on line and can be downloaded with a 30 day free trial. WOW what a difference, my soft areas were gone and the speed is more than 10 times faster. You are doing a good job and think this software will make it easer and sharper focus.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Thanks, seeing as how no one bothers to clean cobwebs out of the office more than once or twice a year I may get another try at this spider or a descendant next month at the next big event.
I have Helicon Focus (20% discount when bought with the Tube) but need to learn to use it. I also own Franzis Projects Pro Focus, again need to learn to use. It is just that LR to PS back to LR is so easy to do and keeps my files organized to my liking.