Tree and rock - medium format
Tree and rock - medium format
I know just enough to be dangerous !
This scary fellow spun his web directly above a lonely Forest Road in the Cascade Mountains (Wash. state), just high enough for my car to pass under. Its web was supported by two tall bushes, one on each side of the two-track dirt road. I stopped for a few shots then pitched my tent nearby.
This shot is the spider's top side. If the letter "A" is any indication, this spider is quite literate. Maybe it stands for Arachnid? ;^)
Then I walked to the other side of the web and snapped its underside:
Can anyone help me identify this species? Some facts to help:
- This is a full-frame scan of 35mm slide film – the magnification was about 1:1.2, so he (she?) is very close to life size on the film.
- It's mid-May in a mature forest of hemlock and firs, about 3,500 high, Cascade Mtns in Wash. state. The web was circular, 18 inches wide.
- The spider was very sensitive to the vibrations of my voice (not breath). When I spoke to it, the front legs would go up into a defensive position! Maybe it was sensing spoken vibrations transmitted through the web.
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Nikon N90s
Tamron 180mm/3.5 macro lens
Nikon SB-22s flash (on camera-mounted bracket)
1/250th sec. at 1/32 (effective)
Provia-100 film
Road
5D 50/1.8
A c. 1983 RPN calculator still going strong.
Trying a M42 mount Takumar 50/1.4 off that Spotty in the background on a Nikon without corrective optics. I can only focus out about 6 feet max. It's not a very good scene for testing the lens except perhaps bokeh.
Looks like a garden spider, they are black and yellow around here. They are fairly large body (almost half dollar) and it's typical for them to build a web across a trail. They freak out hikers as you will walk right into the web while on the trails, and come face to face with 'em.
David
Yes, I've suffered that "spider-web-in-the-face" surprise, and I remember it being especially traumatic when I was a boy in the forest. This time, I think my Nikon flash was freaking out the spider! (BTW, if anyone thinks my avatar is freaking out in my post above, you're probably right.)
I swear scanning color negatives is driving me crazy. I really don't see a solution that will allow to me to scan without having to spend hours tweaking colors.
I just went all the way with this one, Epson Scan > Photoshop > Lightroom > VSCO presets...
Nikon F4 Nikkor 50mm f1.4
Agfa Vista100
Sandy by rabato, on Flickr
Ramiro, I don't know how you are scanning color neg, and it's been a while since I used an Epson, but I've found it very helpful for build custom profiles for different emulsions and standardize on that setting for most of the shots I take on that film. I also usually have to have a color curve on the raw scan to get it close to right upon scanning.
Some frames will drive me nuts but a lot of times it goes pretty fast. I'm also kind of scanning as a "positive" but I invert the curves to give me a normal image, and adjust levels as necessary (in the scanning software). But I'm not using an Epson so your technique may be different. Personally, I've only had one scanner/software that gave me perfect color negative colors right out of the box with most any film - and that was Nikon Scan and my old LS-8000.
I think your whites look very muted and grey myself, in that image, but the skin tone is nice.
You're not the only one. I have trouble too. I think the light source in my Coolscan 9000ED is also a source of problems doing color. Try as I may, I get purple in my blacks. I've pretty much given up and use digital for color. You know if Kodak wants to still produce film, they should get in the business of making good film scanners at a mid-range price and provide film profiles for their products. It seems to me anything they can do to help out people using film and making it easier the better it would be for them too.
Yes Bryan, I decided to just give it a more extreme look and stop trying to get it right. I sometimes get good (better, no so bad) results with ViewScan. I keep trying different approaches. My Agfa T1200 was perfect. The software was really good.
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