Phantom tendrils

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

Image(s)

Image Description

Found this little harvestman on a cool fall day and transferred it to the front steps so I could get some photos. Because it was chilled, it sat fairly still while I got the macro lens quite close. Eventually, it did warm enough to find some nice leaf litter to hide in.

The shadow was entirely deliberate and I love it because of the extra presence it gives to such a small creature. Glad I found it when I did because the other garage blocks the sun later in the afternoons.

It isn’t a spider because it has a unified body instead of a head and abdomen arrangement, but it is an arachnid in the Opiliones order. It’s about 1 inch wide with those longest legs.

Feedback Requests

It is contrasty, so I played it up by dialing in a little more. Also angled the crop on more of a diagonal than it was shot. Does that work for you?

Pertinent Technical Details

Handheld

Lr for all editing including a crop, local & global adjustments for contrast, color panel to boost saturation in oranges and yellows and reduce it in the blue channel, sharpening & texture too.

[Bill_Fach]

Kris: Nice steps . Good on you for conceiving and setting this up. The diagonal orientation of the critter and shadow is really well done and thanks for the anatomy lesson too. Top notch result. >=))>

[Mark_Seaver]

Kris, the diagonals work very well as does your placement of the Harvestman. The one thing that bothers me slightly is how blue the shadows are. That may be partly due to your adding contrast.

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

Thanks @Bill_Fach & @Mark_Seaver - diagonals are so effective with us humans. We love them. The shadows were a good deal more blue, but I left some in because I like the contrast between the warm and cool colors.

[madd_laura (Laura Maddalozzo)]

Hi Kristen, I love this image. The textured background is most interesting but does not overwhelm the spider. The shadow play really emphasizes the antennae which, ironically, you can barely see on the body itself. Great eye.

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

Hey @madd_laura thanks for chiming in. Yeah, the shadow reveals a bit more than the angle does with the critter itself. Not antennae though as arachnids don’t have them, but more legs and possibly jaws or pedi palps, but those are angled downwards so maybe not. I love these guys though, like tiny footballs with legs.