TAZM PICTURES

This weekend, I opened the garage when a scurrying something caught my eye.  A 1 1/2 inch praying mantis running for cover but inadvertently volunteering to become the subject for my next video.  So here’s what a praying mantis does when confronted by a spider (warning, it’s a bit gruesome):

 After filming, I of course released him in a more suitable environment, which actually resulted in a much “happier” video.  Not a whole lot happens, but I think it’s a cool scene and I offer it in case someone wants to use it:

And finally, a video (much, much better than mine!) that inspired it all. It’s currently in the running for Vimeo’s annual video awards:

Since the unhappy theft of my camera and laptop, I’ve been relatively silent on the blog as there’s not a whole lot of photo/video action to write about. But I’m still enjoying the digital microscope I got recently from the Sharper Image – essentially a kids’ science toy, but I’m not ashamed to admit in some ways I’m still a kid at heart.

Today I had some fun with a spider. He’s only about a quarter inch long. No spiders were harmed in the making…

The side of his head – showing two of his lateral eyes, at bottom right, and top left.

Another shot of that eye on the side of its head

This is one of his feet.  Those “hooks” must be how spiders hang on to a vertical surface.

Here, a top-down view of his head – now the location of the eyes photographed earlier can be more easily seen.

Who knows….some random spider body part!

Again top of the head, with its main eyes looking toward the left of the image.

…and finally, a full photo of our furry friend.  Next time, a white background would be better.  Oh, and don’t ask what kind of spider it is – that’s for YOU to figure out!  Hint:  Windhoek, Namibia.

Check out these macro photos of a grasshopper (or, as my daughter felt was more appropriate, “locust” – it was a good 3 inches long!) that was perched outside out front door.  If you look close, you can see little droplets of water on his face.  The full resolution photos can be downloaded at tazmpictures.photoshop.com.

This month’s category in the Afrikaans-language Die Republikein (published here in Namibia) was macro, so I thought I’d give it a try and got an honorable mention for this photo:

Now I know what you’re thinking – I was thinking the same thing.  Probably there were only like 5 entries.  Turns out there were like 161.  Check out the rest of the macro photography entries at Die Republikein.  Next month’s category: “Namibia’s treasure chest”.  Not quite sure what is meant by that.

I happened to catch this interesting spider on a glass door, and snapped a couple of different photos.  I believe it’s Selenopidae, or the wall crab spider.  Because it’s so flat, depth of field/focus issues are not as much a problem as with ordinary macro photography.  Because the spider is about an inch across, not a lot of magnification was needed to get an interesting set of shots.

The first is without flash.  Because of the daylight on the other side of the door, we get a nice profile:

Next I thought I would take a photo with flash, but from underneath the spider.  It took a few times to get the focus right on the spider, rather than on the imperfections in the glass.

And finally, flash photography of the spider from the top.  In this photo, the spider is partially reflected in the double glass.

rejkel

For my latest video, I noticed I had gradually been collecting random footage of “micro-wildlife” I have come across while working in my new garden here in Windhoek.  One of the creatures I had been continually running across is the millipede.  These guys are everywhere, coiled up under the soil, perhaps waiting for cool weather or rainy season.  They feed on decaying plant matter, so I guess they spend most of their time underground.  Apparently they are born with three pairs of legs, but every time they molt they add more – and can grow up to 8 inches long.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to try and get them very close up, to show the detail of these fascinating (ick) creatures.  But no matter which camera I used, it would get blurry once I got close up like I wanted.  So I attached a loupe to a Flip camera. which ended up working pretty well.  A loupe is one of those handle-less magnifying lenses used by jewelers for example.

It would have been better if I had used the Flip’s zoom (2X) as well, and depth of field was a bit of a problem (keeping all parts of the critter in focus simultaneously) but here is the result.  The thumbnail below is a standard Flip camera view, and you can see the blurring.  Watch the video to see the loupe view.

I’d like to try this as a time lapse, by using a loupe in conjunction with the iPad, but I haven’t found the right subject.  We have some cactus flowers and succulent flowers that open and close every day, but again, depth of field is a problem.