SpiderOnKnife.JPG

Hello,

I just wanted to share my most recent photo. Found this spider

crawling around the kitchen on a butter knife. Please let me know what

you think your critiques are greatly appreciated and very useful to me

in my conquest to learn more about macro.

Cheers.

Kyle,

The image is very good.

However, I question the F/18 for several reasons.

From a DOF reason for using F/18, I do not see any gain in what is in focus and what is not in focus.

Second, the 1/160 second exposure could have been much faster , to assure that any small movements from the spider would not cause any loss in definition. I know that the lens has VR capability, but it is not the hand motion to be concerned about when you are doing higher definition imaging work.

Now, the Nikkor 105mm  lens reaches its maximum optical performance level between F/2.8 to F/4. I know, because I own the lens, have tested it formally in the lab and used it in the field.

The Nikon D7000 has very small pixel sites, meaning that it can support the full capability of your lens.

For example, I would shot this spider at F/2.8 and then F/4. I would crop the image and resize it to reveal all that the lens /camera is capable of delivering. If I require more DOF, instead of getting close to the subject, I would back off a bit, and rely upon the small pixel sites to regain the image size through re-sizing again. If DOF becomes essential, I would use F/8 to F/11, and still preserve more of the lens performance level than that of smaller f-stops like F/18..................

Nice shot, though. I like the perspective and the reflection captured, too. 

Best Regards,  Mike

Best regards Kyle!

PDE

Very nice. YOu don't often see spiders with reflections :D Good shot. 

First thank you everyone for sharing your comments and thoughts with me. I really do appreciate it.

Mike your in depth analysis is very helpful and I agree with you. If I had more time with this little fellow I would have tried to do some of the things that you suggested.

One of the reasons I did have troubles and went to a higher aperture was because this guy was super tiny. This photo is already cropped way down. I should have pulled back a little bit and relied on cropping more so I could get better DoF.

I definitely think that I could have benefited from a much faster shutter speed. It was really difficult to keep everything still, I was holding the butter knife in one hand, my camera setup in the other hand and trying to keep them all in line together so I could get him in frame, focus, and then take the photo.

Macro really is a game of patience. I went out today to the beach and I was taking some photos and trying what you suggested raising up the shutter speed opening up the aperture and pulling back a little bit in order to get better DoF and then later I will rely on cropping to get the photo composed the way I want.

Anyway Thank you again your expertise on lenses and experience with this sort of thing is invaluable to me and helps me progress and learn every day with my photography.

Cheers,

Kyle

I like this one too.  Before I read the title I had no idea what was going on here.  You got the eyes and the minimalist colors and gentle curve really make for a provocative image.