Another chance

This morning, guess what? The spiderweb was still there, even though it has rained a lot since Thursday. Okay. This time I'm more prepared. I put my 100mm macro lens and an extension tube (can't remember which one right now) on a tripod and attach a cable release. I also take with me a flashlight and a little spray bottle of water (breezes have evaporated most of the water droplets, so I replenished them). I'm much more prepared. It's kind of windy, however, forcing me to use higher ISO settings than I would like.

And here's where "live view" is amazing. I can focus on a water droplet and then, looking at my LCD screen "live," click the focus magnification button once for 5X magnification and then can click again if I wish for 10X magnification. I can stand back, look at the viewfinder, and immediately see if the droplet is sharp or not. Alas, the breeze is shaking things all over the place . . .

I take some "regular" images and then, just because I can, I turn on the flashlight and illuminate the wood behind the web. Not the web itself, necessarily (the droplets are so tiny they don't show up well when lighted), just the background. The warm tungsten light from the flashlight turns things an orange color, which is fine with me. Again, "live view" lets me stand back, wave the flashlight around, and I can just look at the LCD screen to see when the effect is just right — I don't have to keep my eye pressed to the viewfinder.

Then I look at the edge of the web. Gasp. Wow. All those little droplets all lined up. And all that out-of-focusness right behind them. Amazing.

You know what else is amazing? I have to practically WADE through robins to get to the "decklet" where the spiderweb is. I've never seen so many in the back yard — maybe 30 of them. They flutter off, but then return when they see I'm ignoring them. The red-shafted flickers (three of them) return as well. So do the Steller jays. Crows begin screeching and juncos begin "tsk-tsking" and the next thing I know a hawk flies out of a tree, followed by several cranky crows. It's a veritable ornithological extravaganzo!

I have been up working on photography in one form or another since 1 this morning. (Did you see the photomontages I made?) I'm exhausted but exhilarated. Wishing you the same exhilaration (without the exhaustion) today! ©Carol Leigh