We have been seeing spiders for several months now, and I thought it was appropriate to make my October image a spider. There is a spider that has been hanging out on my balcony and even though I’ve tried throwing wet paper towel pies at it, it just rebuilds it’s web somewhere else but still nearby. Now it is hanging out in a space between my balcony and my neighbor’s balcony – if I were to throw a paper towel pie at it most likely it would land on my neighbor’s balcony or worse it would land on the roof between us. As long as it’s not directly on my balcony threatening my pup or the hummingbirds I’m fine with it staking out it’s claim right where it is. Hopefully it is eating all the small bugs that would otherwise make it into my home through the screen curtain.
Anyway… yesterday I was trying to take it’s photo when suddenly something landed in its web and it started darting down towards the possible feast. I thought this image was particularly creepy and thought it would be perfect for October (much more interesting than just a spider hanging out in the middle of its web bored).
This really reminded me of old 20’s & 30’s scary movies, especially with the graininess.
Kind thoughts and comments are welcome!
I have joined a month-long photo post-processing challenge called One Four Challenge, hosted by Robyn at Captivate Me. “This challenge is about processing １ image in 4 different ways over 4 weeks.” Every Monday Robyn posts a new version of her photo and challenges us to do the same each week.
I was really surprised that this edit took hardly any effort at all. I brought it up in GIMP*, then used the Threshold adjustment (Colors->Threshold). I pulled the black slider towards the right until there was enough detail in the web but didn’t overpower the image. And that’s it! Easy Peasy!
Until next time…
~nic
* GIMP is Open Source software that is available for all platforms (Linux, Mac, and Windows), it is a photo editor that does many (if not all) of the things you can do in Photoshop. You can download it for free here. The GIMP online manual can be found here.
Photography by Nic 
Definitely looks like a creepy old movie! Nice one for Oct.
Wet paper towel pies – awesome Nic! I’ve never heard of that 😛
Thanks, Robyn! 🙂 Heehee, I think my husband came up with that, and even though I’d never heard of it I knew what he meant.
Very creepy…I just discovered your challenge posts too! It is nice when an edit is easy-peasy…my favorite kind!!!
Thanks, Marsha! Easy peasy is always nice when it happens. 🙂
Creepylicious! I like the way the spider is silhoutted in the web. – Super cool looking.
Here is the link to my post for week 1 & 2:
http://wishesdreamsandotherthings.blogspot.com/2015/10/one-four-challenge-week2-31-days-of.html
Haha! I like that, creepylicious, heehee. Thanks, Ida! So glad you like it. 😀 Will visit you soon.
Very creepy and great effect and the silhouette works very well here.
Thanks, Stacy! I was surprised that I only made one change and it suddenly felt like a finished edit, such a refreshing change. 😀
Sometimes its nice not to work too hard at it.
So true! 😀
wonderfully creepy silhouette!!!
Thanks, Cybele! 😀 I love how the silhouette is identifiable and very old movie like.
~ Apologies for the late reply, I’m in the middle of a system/hardware upgrade and don’t have access to my laptop at the moment.
not to worry, I’m always late these days!!
🙂
Spiders at a distance… Yes creepy but great effect, Nic!
Thanks, Chris! 😀 Yes, totally at a distance. It always feels creepy after taking a photo of a bug, you feel like you have to make sure they didn’t get on you somehow while you photographed them. Our minds are tricky. 😛
~ Apologies for the late reply, I’m in the middle of a system/hardware upgrade and don’t have access to my laptop at the moment.
creepy………., great edit for Halloween
Thanks, Julz! Halloween is our favorite holiday! 😀 Apologies for the late reply, I’m in the middle of a system/hardware upgrade and don’t have access to my laptop at the moment.