Banana Spider Captures Cicada: Animation

Death to the Noisy Al Qaeda Bug

Early this morning (about 5 AM) I headed out with the camera. It would rain later today.

The plan was, to walk the dog, shoot some bird photos, and get home before 9 AM.

It's unbelievably hot these days, in Okinawa; like August arrived early.

A couple of bird photos were captured but, these bug images turned out to be my favorite.

These bugs, I like to call Al Qaeda, start screaming as the weather gets hot and muggy.

Some folks like the critters, I suppose. I wish spiders would eat them all.

If you like, learn more about these Cicada at Japan Today.

Joro Spider (Nephila clavata) or Banana Spiders may be seen throughout Asia.

LOL, today I learned they call this a Whore Spider in Japanese mythology!

Check out my source: Spider Identifications

Wordless Wednesday: Cobwebs in the Rain

Wordless Wednesday APR 6 2016

Identify This Spider and You Can Have It

Maybe Some Bug Expert Knows

 

 

Looking at a gazillion thumbnail sized photos hasn't helped much so, I gave up.

Let some expert or,  even an amateur,  have it.

The deal: Give me a scientific and common name for this critter and, get a free print. 

Camera: Prntax K3

Lens: Pentax 50MM/ 1.4 converter -- Focal Length 70MM

Exposure:  f/9  1/20   ISO 200

Location: Kin Town, Okinawa, Japan

Date and Time: DEC 22 2015  12PM   

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Happy St. Pat's Day -- Here's a Spider Doin' a Jig

Happy St. Pat's Day ! Here's a Spider Doin' a Jig

This one's got me beat.

Maybe, I'll just name it the Saint Patrick's Day Spider.

All dressed up in my green tuxedo (T-shirt) for the day, I didn't wander far from the office.

This brightly colored spider was out back and I took lots of photos of it.

But, I can't figure out what type of spider it is.

It does sort of look like a drunk Irishman trying to do the Irish Jig.

Dontcha think ?



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A Cherry Blossom, Spider and a Contest

Not Far From Home

 

 

Within the lower city limits of Nago, Okinawa this blossom surprised me.

So, I guess we could say this is Cherry Blossom Report #2.

An abandoned road, the jungle is reclaiming, is where this was found.

Whenever you see me take off my flip-flops and wear hiking shoes, it's rough country.

This is probably not a place you would want to go flower viewing.

Sometimes, you run across spiders, that look like they could chew your head off.

Spiders don't scare or, surprise me, out there.

It's those sticky webs, that can get all over you, that get me growling.

The spiders just run away.

The Contest

 

This was saved for last just to keep some people reading.

It's not my contest but, I got invited to participate as a blogger and photographer.

Sponsored by Kerala Tourism there's a chance, I could go to India.

Maybe, I should check all my email accounts daily.

Yesterday, I discovered my two day old invitation and, went and signed-up.

This morning, I had an acceptance email and created a contest profile.

Immediately, after that, I sent a message to a good friend in India.

Then, off to shoot stuff with the cameras, all day, we went.

When I got back, I had one vote and, some news from my friend.

There's no tigers (in the wild) in the state of Kerala. They only have them in zoos. Groan.

That's not my style, shooting animals in cages.

There must be all sorts of wildlife in Kerala, I could shoot, though.

So, if you still want me to go, just VOTE. And, if I'm one of the winners, I'll make you a promise.

If a tiger escapes while I'm in the neighborhood, I'll shoot it for you !

Cellphone Cameras and Printers Ya Gotta Love Them

A series of photos taken over the past week with my AU Cellphone Camera.

Every once in awhile I get caught in a situation where the Pentax just isn't handy but, I want a photo. 

The little Buddhist statues up above, I can go back another day and set up the tripod, not a problem.  But, this dangerous-looking spider I spotted while doing my civic duties (checking the plumbing and sanitation in other people's bars) a few nights ago, well, I figured it was best to capture him digitally, right then, before he escaped.  Then, I crushed him.  He put up a pretty good fight, though.

So the 500,000 views contest winners know I'm not always goofing-off, I snapped this photo of their prizes,  printed at a local printshop and waiting for me to send them through the postal system.

For the heck of it, I decided to fire-up my printer this morning.  I used to do lots of printing at home.  Now, I only print when I'm ready to do some mass production.  Printing your own photos can be fun.  You control everything, just like when you shoot a camera in the manual mode.

Here she comes.  That's the first print of the day. 

A4 size, matte paper and I laid down the ink at 1000's of dots per inch.

My matte print has no glare on it and the butterfly looks like it's floating in the air.  It makes the glossy photo look like some rookie did the printing.  Hah !

That got me in a printing state of mind so, I loaded about 75 more sheets of matte photo paper in the printer, fired up an external hard drive hooked to the laptop connected to the printing machine and rubbed my greedy little printing paws together.  Here we go, baby.  We'll print all morning.

The next photo I selected was a gal who posed for me last Sunday.  I emailed her the photos but, decided I'd surprise her with a nice A4 matte print.  I hit the PRINT Button.  Nothing happened so, I hit PRINT, again.  The printer started flashing lights at me and going "BEEP BEEP BEEP" and there was a message that said "OUT OF YELLOW.  REPLACE YELLOW INK CARTRIDGE, NOW".

In my pile of ink cartridges there's blue, red and black ink.  Groan, no yellow.

The nearest store that sells my printer ink has blue, red and black.  NO YELLOW !

In the near future, I'll be doing a review on that printer and I will also help readers decide whether or not printing your own is the way to go vice having someone else do the printing.  There are pros and cons. 

Cellphone cameras is another topic I can shed some light on.  This toy, I carry everywhere with me, shoots 2 Megapixel photos.  The latest model shoots, something like 13 Megapixels.

Cellphone Cameras and Printers, ya gotta love them !


VISIT MY HOMEPAGE FOR THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Wildlife Photography: Tip #2

Tip #2. Be Aware of Lighting Conditions.

Probably every photographer with a digital camera, who’s been around awhile, has made the mistake of forgetting to check the ISO setting on their camera at least once. After doing a low light or night shoot, we’ve all been caught the next morning wondering why we have shutter speeds in the thousands when the light isn’t so bright outside. Then a little light comes on in our heads. We want to shoot at ISO 100 but, the night before, had set the camera to ISO 800, or higher!

Before I leave home, I check ISO settings, batteries, SD cards and lenses. I look at the sky, wherever I am and can tell you if it’s an ISO 100, 200, 400 or worse day out there, wherever I am. I also, make it a point to preset my aperture and shutter speed before stepping out the door. With wildlife, you want to be able to quick-draw your camera and shoot in a split second. Wildlife won’t pose for you; you have to be ready for them, always. A lot of my favorite wildlife shots were taken before I got to my shooting destination or after leaving it to head home.


This spider was at the edge of the jungle in the path I was taking to do some bird shooting at a beach. Photo taken with Panasonic DMC-FZ50 29AUG2007 9:23AM f/10 1/1000 ISO 100 Focal Length 89mm.