Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: web

(+1 inset!) (please view large to see the dew drops!) It was another very foggy, chilly day and even though I was bundled up, my feet and hands still got very cold during my walk. It was lovely though and I enjoyed seeing the grass twinkling with dew drops as I made my way up and down our driveway. On my last lap I noticed something sparkling on the road and thought it seemed too light to be a leaf. Bending closer I could see that it was a feather that was completely covered in dew drops! Amazing! I hadn't planned on taking any pictures outside today because I'd be working on my Macro Monday images but I simply HAD to get pictures of this feather! I soon returned with my camera and got lots of shots from many angles--I managed to get some very nice ones which I'll be sharing soon! Since I was outside I couldn't resist the temptation to wander off the road a bit. I had something in mind…spider webs. Yesterday I'd taken some pictures of dewdrops on a strand of spiderweb and I wasn't really satisfied with the outcome. I'd brought my macro flash but discovered the batteries were dead and the slight breeze ruined most of the pictures I took. Still feeling a bit disappointed, I wanted to find some more webs now that I'd replaced the batteries in my macro flash. Instantly I found plenty of strands to photograph, so tiny and fine that I would have had a hard time seeing them without the dew to make them stand out. At one point I looked up and OH!! A whole web was sparkling back at me, how exciting! I think dew-covered webs are some of the most beautiful things in nature and this one had such a lovely shape. Once I got back inside I copied my pictures over to my computer but I noticed a problem with the use of my flash. The reflection of light in the droplets worked fine in the pictures I'm sharing today but It was much too harsh in my other photos. I need to put diffusers on the flashes to soften the reflections. It's too bad because there were lots of pretty strands of "water pearls" but the pictures need to be retaken. Live and learn, right? For today's main image I decided to use the cropped version because the dew is larger and prettier. I have also included an inset of the whole web so you can see how cool it is. :) Pam, I did a search on your stream for "web" and found a delightful picture and story about Esmerelda that you shared back in 2014. It was wonderful to read again. I also enjoyed our back and forth commentary about your picture and story. I think you would have loved the spider webs I photographed today because they were almost invisible and not scary at all! :) Still, like I'd said then, I do not like spiders crawling on me, and feeling spider webs clinging to me gives me the heeby-jeebies! If they are strong webs and I walk through them and they are all over me…you'll hear me screaming from Oregon and soon you'll see me running past in a blur! :D Here's hoping that your day was as good as can be. :) Explored on 1/28/19, highest placement, #1.

2 more pictures in notes above ! :) Today I decided to explore a bit of the side of our hill that leads up to our ridge line. This area is many acres in size and yet, I have rarely wandered through it. Other than the trail leading straight up the hill to the top, there are no other proper trails, but the deer trails are very helpful, leading me around the countless thickets of bushes and dead trees with their grabbing branches. Sadly, the dogs didn't go because I wanted to concentrate on exploring this place and not keeping an eye on dogs. Before I entered the forest on the hill, I came to a thistle plant, which was covered with seeds about to fly away on their parachutes. I captured some images and got very lucky when one flew away while I was taking pictures! As I wandered up and into the forest, I studied branches and took pictures of many kinds of interesting lichen. Under one log I discovered two wonderful prizes: the droplets of water above which are trapped in spider web--don't they look like a beautiful earring?!--and when I was pulling away some leaves, I discovered a tiny mushroom, which I'm also sharing tonight! :) On my adventure I also found an interesting spider, a beautiful wasp gall, a baby centipede, a cool little beetle running over madrone bark, some beautiful droplets bristling on a blade of grass, and a very special find: I discovered a lichen just like the British Soldier lichen I shared the other day but instead of being red on top, it's black! I want to take more pictures before I share these--the ones I got today are crisp but I want less clutter! :) Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254–184 BC), commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus. The word Plautine refers to both Plautus's own works and works similar to or influenced by his. Wikipedia: Titus Maccius Plautus Explored on November 27, 2013. Highest placement, page 2 (#38)...

2 more pictures in notes above! I originally planned to take this pictures with Portia, the beautiful Golden Orbweaver who lives next to our porch, but the pictures didn't even come close to turning out. Portia wasn't impressed by me spraying misty water on her and I didn't want to frighten her so I went inside to think of what to do. HELLO? ROSCOE'S WEB! Every day, Roscoe hangs out up in the corner of her nook, but the beautiful orb web she built the night before is usually still intact during the day. How perfect. No spider to disturb! I sprayed the web with water and grabbed the camera with my Twin-Lite flash attachment in place and took a bunch of pictures! It was really, REALLY windy, so even though I was using a flash, I had problems with blur in many pictures. I'd wait for the web to be still and take pictures but at macro scale, even a breeze will make the subject move enough to be blurry. However, I did get a few nice ones, including this one! :)

For this picture, I decided to use Topaz Labs' Black & White Effects , which is an ENORMOUS suite of filters in black and white and mono- and duo-tones, plus many specialized filters too. Powerful, fun, ultimately customizable, I always love to have the excuse to use this fine set of filters! This particular filter was in their Cyanotype collection, called "Yale Sky." By the way, if you're interested in trying this amazing set of filters out, Topaz gives out free trials to let you try their products. If you like playing in black and white, you will LOVE these filters!! Topaz Labs: Product Downloads

Here is a pair of water beads clustered together on Roscoe's web. Natural coloring on this one, isn't it cool how using a flash can dramatically change the way your background looks?!

Best seen at full size!

I took this picture with the intention of getting a sun flare to highlight this spiderweb. There happened to be a lot of color in the flare and I loved how adding a "color blast" filter turned the whole flare and web into a beautiful rainbow. This image was taken on the MeetUp hike around one edge of Howard Prairie Lake on August 7, 2011.

This image was taken on my property in Southern Oregon in July, 2011.

[best appreciated at full size against black] You never know what you will get when you take a macro shot. Sometimes you have a pretty good idea, and other times, you just have to try it out and see what happens. I found a log with a cavity inside and it had spiderwebs everywhere. Caught in the web were lots of seed fluffs from plants similar to thistles. I hoped I could focus on one and have others in the background appear to look something like stars in a galaxy. What do you think?! :) I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in February, 2012.

I wonder how many people recognize this as a peace symbol! :D This image was taken in November, 2011.

I went out one morning when fog covered everything in dew, so I went out hunting for spiderwebs! Thank you everyone, for your comments and favorites! I try to visit everyone who leaves a comment within a day or two! This image was taken in November, 2011.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Don't you just love happy accidents? Many of the world's best inventions came about because of an unplanned event. Photography works this way too! I can't tell you how many times I've taken a macro picture and found something unplanned on my computer when I looked at the image! In this case, I'd taken our ring flash along for a photo shoot, and when I found a lovely spider web drenched after a morning rain, I began taking pictures. After a few shots, I looked at my LCD monitor and noticed that the pictures were very dark. "Hmm," I thought to myself...why are these so dark??" *light bulb over head lights up* Mumbling one of my favorite idiot-check questions that Steve loves to say, "Is the O-F-F/O-N switch in the O-N position?" *looks at flash attachment power position* "Why, no! No, it's not!" *turns on the flash attachment* :D :D :D "Now, where was I?!" After I uploaded my pictures to my computer, I was in the process of tossing these images when I stopped and thought, "Why not take a glance before you throw them away?" Because you never know. And I'm really glad I did because this one actually turned out very nicely! I'll be posting the well-lit flash version in a few days you'll be surprised at how different they look! This image was taken in February, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] After the rain stopped one day, I went out to see what I could find, and while hunting for mushrooms, I also kept my eyes out for sparkling webs. I nearly stepped on this one but side-stepped just in time! So many droplets! I look foreward to finding some cool backlit orb webs to capture, but this one is lovely too! I hope you like it! :) This image was taken in February, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] The other day I posted an image called Happy Accident: Water Pearls in a Web ( www.flickr.com/photos/sfhipchick/6951135961/in/photostream/ ) where I didn't have my flash setup turned on but I got an unexpected happy result. Here is the image I had actually planned on! To be honest, this was my second attempt taking a picture like this. The first attempt was really more of an experiment. Do you ever just try things out to see how it will turn out? I do this all the time because I've learned that more often than not, it works out well...if it's not quite right, it might be if I tweaked the idea, and then it would make a cool shot! In this case, the first time around I tried to take a picture of a droplet-covered web at the end of a stump and was hoping to get the whole web in focus. However, there wasn't enough light and the shutter was open long enough that just the action of pressing the shutter release created blur. I didn't see the blur until I had the images on my computer. When I saw the attempts on my computer, I noticed that my depth of field was never great enough to keep everything in focus...but...the droplets that blurred out into bokeh actually looked much better than if they'd been clear. So the next time I went out for droplet shots, I went prepared with my flash setup, I set my camera on a 2-second timer, and I tried again! I took a series of images in many aperatures so I could choose how much blur I wanted. I picked this one because the "string of pearls" on the edge of the web are all crisp, and then immediately begin blurring out, yet they maintain enough shape that you can see what they are. I hope you like it! :) I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! If you're a new visitor, I hope you'll take a look at my profile to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in February, 2012.