Can Smartphone Cameras Capture Spider Webs?
This week's Photo Challenge theme is Spider Webs. I sat this one out because one, I wasn't sure I'd find any spider in my garden. We got magpies and a lot of black birds in the garden. The pine tree in the middle of the garden sometimes have spider webs but the Great tits feed on them every morning. It's a nice thing to see Great tits above me just picking those spiders off their webs as long as the thought of them being a predator is off my head.
I follow certain photographers and checked out their entries. Wowed with most of them I couldn't help but comment. Not to mention that there are so many beautiful looking spiders. I used to be so scared of those eight legged arachnids but thanks to Emotional Freedom Technique - I've managed to love them now. Yes, I appreciate those guys because thanks to them - they help combat mosquitoes. I do dislike it when a honeybee or a damselfly gets trapped on their web like this one here but that's nature - so beautiful and so cruel sometimes.
I wondered whether my smartphones would manage taking those pictures so I after taking a stroll in the city I went to the garden to look for some spider webs. I found a few. It was already dark when the thought hit me but I still tried.
I took this spray bottle with me to add some effects. Oh don't worry - this just has water in it. It's an old fabric softener bottle hub just uses to spray the ember in the fireplace before we go to bed. I sprayed following the pattern of the webs so it won't be damaged in case there's a spider using it just hiding on the side. I actually checked and from what I've observed in nature - spiders tend to stay more in the middle of their nests when it gets pitch dark because that means that birds are off to sleep. This one's empty but beautifully made. Female spiders weave such webs - circular and even. I sprayed it with water because unless I do even if I used the flash on both the Samsung Galaxy Note 1 nor the Samsung Galaxy A3 2016, I just don't get to capture those thin strips of silk.
I used the Samsung Galaxy Note 1 on these shots with a night mode setting and used the torch feature of my Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 edition. I had to shoot with one finger - it was tough so the first shot looked like this.
The first shot was shaky and turned out like this.
For some reasons, no matter how we try to keep this part of the shed clean they've managed to always be here almost everyday. It must be this lamp. I got plenty vacated spider webs around the lamp. This time, since there's ample light I used my Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 edition.
Sprayed with water - those thin webs looked more visible.
I cropped these two pics just to check out how clear the phone took the web. No, the rest were not modified - it takes much time.
Conclusion : Yes, smartphones can capture spider webs and they could look this vivid on pictures at day time. These are old files of shots I took when my Samsung Galaxy Note 1 was new. The latest Samsung Galaxy Note 7 which is making a fuzz actually has a camera that makes great shots like that of a dslr's.
BUT NOTHING BEATS DSLRs specially those with macro lenses.
No, I titled this article correctly, I have really sat this one out but I needed to get this message across and thought of this as the way to do it.
You should get a special mention for effort, even without entering. ; ) Being able to control the depth of field really helps, I think. I'm glad you got over your fear of spiders! They are interesting, and sometimes, even personable creatures.
@haphazard-hstead thanks :)
so true - just because they look creepy doesn't mean they really all are.
Now, where can I put this big Halloween spider? ; )
Good shots, the last three are quite well done! Sky is a bit blown out but some clever cropping could fix that. :)
@mweich Thank you - that coming from you is a huge pat on my shoulders.
Those are old pics - with the old Samsung Galaxy Note 1 taken in a sunny autumn morning sometime in 2013 in October, too.
Seems like the effect was not too bad for some of them. My Samsung Galaxy S5 also didn't work well with web before so I didn't go out hunting this time and seeing entries from others, also finding no match for them.:-)
@ace108 - it was tough indeed.
congrats excellent photographs by the finding
@jlufer thank you very much :)
Phone camera's are incredible aren't they?
@everittdmickey surely :)