Another trillium, and again with the glycerine-water. The shape of the flower really lent itself to try for the single large drop hanging from the bottom petal. Unfortunately, I think I missed that and should have been more precise in putting a larger drop right where I needed it.

I honestly debate if I like this shot...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/2.8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw. Trillium Trails, Fox Chapel, PA.

I didn't make it back out the trails, so I'll have to wait another year to try any of these shots again.

- Bill

I've been a combination of busy and lazy recently, so I just wanted to stop by real quick to post another view of that robin's nest...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/40 sec at f/8. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw. Trillium Trails, Fox Chapel, PA.

- Bill

This isn't the first time I've asked this question here, but we'll look again at whether a shot looks better with or without flash. The settings are slightly different (a different aperture and thus depth of field), but these shots are pretty close.

1/250 sec @ f/5 with flash	1/800 sec @ f/2.8 with no flash

This nest was in a rather odd location, and if I head back to try for more trillium shots, I'll have to see if the eggs have hatched and how things are going.

- Bill

If you've been following along at home, you might remember a post from about a year ago with another white trillium bud. I have a vague memory of the shot and wanted to try it again this year to see if I could improve upon it.

I ended up not reproducing it as well as I wanted, but with some glycerin-water generously provided by Mike, I was able to capture this 'just after the rain' kind of shot...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/120 sec at f/8. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw. Trillium Trails, Fox Chapel, PA.

I'm not 100% sure on this shot - especially because it looks like I missed spraying the leaves in the background, so they're missing the droplets; however, at the same time, I wonder if the drops were there creating bokeh highlights, it may have been distracting.

I may have to try heading out there one more time this coming weekend, but it might just end up being yet another year before I can try again to get it right...

- Bill

Another shot from the trip to Powdermill...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/80 sec at f/8. OS Mode 1. ISO 100. RAW conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw

- Bill

A couple weekends ago, Anya and I went to Powdermill Nature Reserve to see what we could find. We were hoping for some migratory birds and maybe some early spring wild flowers or insects.

Unfortunately, we got there a bit late in the morning, and while there was still some dew on the leaves, the light was very harsh. I remembered something I'd heard a while back that said that harsh light like that sometimes works really well for black & white photos.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/15 sec at f/11. ISO 100. RAW processing and B&W conversion in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop CS5.

- Bill

I found this little (again - in the 5mm or smaller size range) spider on my way home from work on Friday. I brought him home and moved him to a slightly larger container. He quickly decided it was time to take a nap, and make a small cocoon type web on the lid of the container and curled up to get some rest.

Later, when I went to take some photos, I thought it would be nice to get him still in the little blanket of silk. Unfortunately, he quickly woke up and was just climing out of his little hammock when I managed to fire off this one shot.

I really like this pose as it is different from what you would normally see for a spider. I'm a bit disappointed that the very top of the spider's head got cut off by the top of the frame. Also, the depth of field is pretty shallow (f/8 as opposed to the f/16 I usually shoot with this lens), and from this profile angle makes very little of the spider in focus. I also really like the blue background, and may have to try and use it more often and find some others that work well too. On top of that, this shot is at 5x magnification, so all things considered, I am pretty pleased with it.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/40 sec at f/8. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

I have a few more to share of this spider, but I promise to take a short break from the spiders here and post a few I took at Powdermill Nature Reserve.

- Bill

Just stopping by real quick to share a shot that shows just how small that jumping spider was...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/13. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Hopefully that puts that 5x magnification in the shot from the other day into a little perspective.

- Bill

So I tried something new with this little guy. I've read that if you put a spider or insect in the fridge, it slows them down and makes it easier to get photos of them. I don't know if I was doing it wrong or what, but I would put this little fella in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes and it would only slow him down for a second or two before he was back up and running around.

Additionally, this shot was done at 5x magnification, so while the shots below were cropped, this one is as it was in camera...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/13. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Enjoy!

- Bill

Ok - I probably owe some folks for the heart attacks produced by yesterday's square crops of that jumping spider, so here's a square crop of a shot of the moon I took the other night....

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM with Kenko Teleplus PRO 300 "DG" AF 2x Teleconverter at 1000mm, 1/50th sec at f/13. ISO 100. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Thanks for coming back after yesterday's spiders!

- Bill