Arachnophobia

It is spider season in Weizmann institute. All the shrubs on the side of the roads are spotted with patches of spiderwebs.

Naturally I got a tripod and a macro lens one day.

This shot of one not-so-shy spider (most of them ran away when I got this close - making me think how important working distance is for macro work) is actually a composite of two images with slightly different focus plane. At these distances it was impossible to get everything in focus without compromising sharpness.

So instead of compromising, I prefer compositing.

Below are some more shots of different spiders along the way.

Africa

Following my tradition of misleading post-names aimed at trolling any readers who aren't paying attention: here are a few images from my LAST TRIP TO AFRICA.

Well, now that this nonsense is out of the way, here are a few images that try to convey an actual safari in Africa. Well, not really. The cover to the left looks a lot more wild than the original image, with some Ramat Gan buildings removed in photoshop...


Thanks goes out to Eli Shalev which got us the 'behind the scenes' safari...

Timna & Eilat

 I don't always take my tripod on trips with my friends, but when I do, I make sure to take some nightshots.

Going to the desert near Eilat sounded like an awesome opportunity to shoot star trails. The clear air, the cloudless weather, and there are no city lights close enough to outshine the stars. There was, unfortunately, another light source I hadn't considered... The moon was full and it was up that night, which lights up the desert like the sun when you try to take long exposures. 

The desert does have some interesting colors on a full moon night, but I can't say it was worth carrying the tripod in my pack all that time. 

Anyway, some images from the trip and from Eilat, after the jump...

Vampire Diaries

Well, actually they are fruit bats, not vampires.

I had been on the way home from work one evening when I noticed these critters flying around a tree. Some of the branches were down as low as eye level.

I went home and came back a few days later at the same hour (around 8 pm) with a light tripod with a flash on top, and my 105 lens (this is my longest lens unfortunately...)

The bats weren't so far away and I popped a few hundred images until my flash ran out of batteries.

enjoy!

TANKS

 A couple of weeks ago I told you I went on a road trip... well at the end of that trip were some steel monsters. Even though I don't personally care for them, tanks make for good images. I was smart enough to bring my new light-weight tripod and so I have several nightshots to show today.

After over a month of sharing people photos I am coming back to my usual comfort zone with inanimate objects...

Tilt

Tilt shift photography is used to make landscapes look like miniatures.

This is my take on the subject...

Make sure you open these up to full screen, some of the panoramas here need a large resolution to see any of the details.

Plane of focus, depth of field, bla bla... anyway: enjoy the pics...

Winter Shoot part V: Winterlight

This week we are coming to the end of last month's photo shoot, with the lovely Alexandra Sohin. Not only is she quite stunning, but also knows her way in front of a camera. This makes things very easy when taking pictures, but it also makes it hard because you end up with tons of good images and some very hard decisions to make. 

Finally I have managed to select the best, and edit still quite a few images. Indeed I have been saving the best for last in this set of posts. Enjoy! 

Model: Alexandra 

Make up: Rotem Shalev 

Organizers: Oleg Luft, Chen Rachel Smadja, and Sshimrit Israel.