View allAll Photos Tagged snailshell
I would like to Thank: Lenabem-Anna www.flickr.com/photos/42396059@N07 for her amazing textues! I used one of her textures in this image.
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People say that XPERIA phones don't have macro modes, but the new sensor is REALLY good at cropping in. This is a 2X "zoom" (crop) from the XPERIA 1 V. Light edits for contrast and shadows.
Z5
Z MC 50mm f/2.8
SB-5000 + Westcott Apollo Orb
SB-5000 + Westcott Apollo Medium
WR-R10 (CLS radio trigger)
Induro GIT 404L Tripod
Induro BHD3 ball-head
Helicon (focus stacking)
DxO Nik Silver Efex Pro (B&W conversion)
Last week, I spent time with the new Z-Mount 105mm Micro. This week, I'm moving to the new 50mm micro for Nikon Z.
One of my favorite images from last week was an old and dirty snail shell. That same shell is revisited here. I was inspired by an instagram photographer @fran_kitz_photography
For this image. I used two over sized soft boxes... oversized for the subject anyway. (The shell is only about the size of my thumb.)
Both soft boxes were places slightly behind the shell to let the light just graze the shell facing the camera. It took a couple of hours of trail and error before I finally settled on this set-up.
(NOTE: the image was captured vertically to help light it the way I wanted, then rotated in post.)
The 50mm micro like it's big brother the 105mm micro has an insanely shallow depth of field when working this close. With the image from last week, I wanted that look. This image needed the exact opposite look and feel.
Focus Shift Shooting (found in the PHOTO SHOOTING MENU... last page) was used to automate the capture process. FSS will automatically calculate the different focus planes needed... move the lens and capture each image... without any input from me.
In this case, the Z5 created 75 differently focused images of the shell... about 75 images that cover about 1/2 an inch in total photographed depth.
I did capture JPG and NEF. For this I used the JPGs... just under 9MB each.
Almost 650MB of JPG images!
I am often asked why the cameras don't stack in camera. 650MB... on a Z5... on a Z7II the grouping would have come in closer to 1875MB... WAY too much file size to process and manipulate with the needed amount of control.
Enter stacking software in post. I am using Helicon. There are others out there, but I prefer Helicon. The stacking process is ridiculously easy when you have the right tool for the job! Helicon opened, stacked and saved this image in less than 2 minutes... using the default settings!
I took the TIF from Helicon into PSE where Silver Efex Pro was used for B&W conversion.
Zoom in on the picture. Go on... Look at the detail that the 50mm micro captured! I have left this shell dirty on purpose.. much to the dismay of my wife. I want the little extra detail in the random bits of dirt and hair.
I think I am going to really like this lens... a lot!
There were quite a few of these small, old snail shells lying along the edge of Middle Lake in Bow Valley Provincial Park, not far from the foot of Mt. Yamnuska. Two days ago, on 3 July 2016, a group of 12 of us went west of the city to the very eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains for a day of birding and botanizing. This is less than an hour's drive from the city. Our main walk was along the Many Springs Trail, but this photo was taken when we stopped for a short while at Middle Lake at the end of the day. This was my second visit to this park in the past week, as the leaders, Dorothy and Stephen, had invited me to go with them for a dry run on 28 June 2916, before they led the trip two days ago.
The mountains in this park are the first ones you come to, when you drive westwards on Highway 1 or 1A from Calgary. They form the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Mt. Yamnuska is a spectacular sight, and very popular with rock-climbers and hikers. I've never hiked up there - and am never likely to : ) The flat area at the foot of these mountains is Bow Valley Provincial Park, very popular with botanists and birders.
Our main walk was following the Many Springs Trail, which is always a most rewarding trail. A great variety of plants can be found there (and elsewhere). We saw a reasonably good variety of wildflowers, including Western Wood Lilies, the last (?) 3 Yellow Lady's-slippers, Sticky False Asphodel, Harebells, Fleabane, and lots of Gaillardia. I was also thrilled to bits to find the tiny flowers of Kalm's Lobelia (Lobelia kalmii) along the edge of Middle Lake. I only remember ever seeing this plant once before, at Elkton Bog. Though the end of June is usually the best time to go for the wildflowers, you still never know what you will find. We barely had a spring this year, it was so hot and so dry, more like summer.
Birds were much harder to find, even though we heard them. There were quite a few small birds flitting about, but we were not able to ID them all. On 28th June, our best sightings were of a brightly coloured male Yellow Warbler and some kind of flycatcher (Willow or Alder Flycatcher) near the boardwalk at Many Springs. Both were on the move constantly, though I did manage to get a few less-than-good photos. One of my Warbler shots made me smile when I saw it on my computer. The bird was perched, with a beak full of insects, right next to a large spider's web. Kind of robbing ones neighbour.
On the way out of the park, we stopped at Middle Lake (seen in this photo) and walked down the path as far as the lake. We were horrified at how low the water level was - there was no sign of the beautiful reeds that used to really add something special to this view. We had seen the same thing at Many Springs, too, with low water levels.
On the trip two days ago, we saw 20 bird species and I will add the list compiled by Janet Gill. I never find this park a good place for taking bird photos - wildflowers are easier, though it was windy this day, which made it more difficult.
1. Great Blue Heron - 1 seen flying overhead
2. Green-winged Teal - 2 females, 6 ducklings
3. Scaup sp. (likely Lesser) 1 male, 1 female
4. Bufflehead - l female
5. Spotted Sandpiper - 6 including 1 at nest sight
6. Willow Flycatcher - 2 (1 seen, 1 heard)
7. American Crow - 1
8. Common Raven - 1
9. Tree Swallow - 1
10. Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 1
11. Black-capped Chickadee - 2
12. Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1
13. American Robin - 5
14. Swainson's Thrush - 1
15. Yellow Warbler - 6
16. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 6 Myrtles
17. Song Sparrow - 1
18. White-throated Sparrow - 2
19. Dark-eyed Junco - 1
20. Brown-headed Cowbird -2
Dorothy's list of some of the wildflowers we saw in bloom:
Western Wood Lily
Yellow Lady's Slipper
Indian Paintbrush
Western Canada Violet
Blue Clematis
Cut-leaved Anemone
Camas Lily
Showy Locoweed
Honeysucke
Gailardia
Northern Bedstraw
Common Yarrow
Harebell
Goldenrod
Common Pink Wintergreen
Elephanthead
Fleabane
The weather forecast for this day mentioned the risk of thunderstorms, but we were so lucky. The sun shone all day and the sky was full of puffy clouds. Once our visit was over and we were ready to drive back to Calgary, a bit of rain did arrive.
Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for such an enjoyable day! It was a real treat to go to the mountains, as I so rarely go.
www.albertaparks.ca/bow-valley-pp/
The link below is a map showing the turn off to the park and the layout of the lake areas. The roads at the junction with highway 1A are quite confusing!
welcome to my little swirl house
in the orchard on the tree,
I live in a swirly room
that's just big enough for me.
you can stay here my friend,
stay to the very end,
squeeze in and see.
now that you swirled in my friend,
come close and cuddle in with me.
Copyright © 2010 Tomitheos Photography - All Rights Reserved
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Diese Schnecken hatten es sich unter den Lupinen gemütlich gemacht - bis ich sie ausgegraben habe (die Lupinen, nicht die Schnecken).
This photo is a good symbol for my personal philosophy. I don't think that one place, country or whatever is per se better than the other, every medal has two sides
This small octopus quickly went from red to white indicating fear and/or stress, but they stuck to their guns and rely on the safety of the shell they found.
Typical habitat for this Pellenes sp. ♀ the cocoon is made in an empty snail shell, it is sometimes raised in the vegetation for the security (in particular a thermal protection). Location : France (May 2016) An intruder disturbed that ;-)
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Habitat typique pour cette Pellenes sp. ♀ la loge de soie (cocon) est fait dans une coquille d'escargot vide, elle est parfois hissée dans la végétation pour la sécurité de l'araignée et sa progéniture (en particulier une protection thermique). Lieu: France (mai 2016) Un intrus l'a dérangé ;-)
I covered this romantic two story wooden birds' house with lots of springtimy flowers and swirls shaped out of glass tiles, glass gems, mosaic glass, mille fiori, ladybirds, glass beads, wax beads, metal beads, other beads, glass nuggets, pebbles, a snailshell, fimo swirls, hearts, flowers and tempered glass. Its grouted in green and dark red and all edges and under the eves are painted either green or red. It stands 16 inches tall.
This is my entry for the PieceMakers' new challenge "Functional Mosaics" - here's the link for voting on your favourite entry: piecemakersmosaics.blogspot.ch/
So, one of the best/most interesting things I've seen on Springwatch this year is the Osmia building her nest in a snail shell clip. Something I witnessed myself a couple of years ago... And something I had been wanting to see for ages. The Two-coloured mason-bee, Osmia bicolor, in action is a rare sight to catch indeed. This is the closest I've got to date.
Anyway, this is a shot from back then ... laying the thatch that goes over the top of the shell... This was on a 60° slope and near impossible to stand steady, much slipping and sliding. It would have been great to get some footage, maybe a job for another day.
If you missed it on Springwatch: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0cb1437
I found a video on YouTube that shows the process too.