Iris Cosmos
I have noted once or twice during my iris bugs macro series that spider webs keep on showing up in my shots, without me seeing them till I load the shots onto the camera. This spider web, also found on the irises, was one that I saw and photographed on purpose while it glowed in the morning light. It was a very fine and quite small web, I am imagining the product of a very small spider. I could not find the spider anywhere near the web, but that probably means it was too small and well concealed.
It is amazing what happens to light at these high magnifications, and the cosmic effects it can produce. I wonder if this is how the small bugs and spiders view the world.
Extraordinary to think that while the iris blossoms are dying and their beauty is withering away on the macro level, there are being woven among them these seemingly eternal masterpieces in light.
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Canon EOS 5D MkII, Canon FD 50mm/f3.5 lens, reverse mounted on extension tubes, ISO640, f-16, 1/1600th and 1/2000th. Processed with Lightroom 4 and Topaz Clarity.
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burnt embers 
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These are gorgeous. I think of exquisitely delicate stringed instruments when I see these, tiny vibrations – the music of light.
Beautifully done.
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Hi Karen. I think that is such an appropriate comparison. And it is so nice to think of light making music in this quiet visual way.
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These bring out the play of light on the web very well, nicely made.
David.
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Thank you David. These macro shots have made me look at fluttering webs quite differently in the sun – I now quite often spot the flashing spectrum of light – not sure how I missed seeing that in the past.
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WOW….this is so cool. I too find that spider webs show up in my shots all the time….never with these amazing results. I have spent SO MUCH time photographing spider webs but I will definitely go after shots with lighting as the focus in the future…
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Hi Paula – thanks. I think that is a good strategy with spider’s webs. Nice low angle light. Some dew helps. That is what I would like to get next, similar shots with dew.
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These are very nice – I like the way the movement of the webs shows up. It’s almost musical.
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Thanks Melinda. I had to think about the musical bit for a while. But I see what you mean – strings on an instrument for instant. Humming through the cosmos. I wonder if spiders hear music when they listen to their webs.
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I can imagine an entire portfolio with images like this. These are really wonderful and I hope you will continue on with this series. The possibilities are endless, unless you run out of spiders, which I don’t think is going to happen.
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Thank you Ken, glad you like them!. I expect there will be more, though not necessarily just of spider’s webs. No shortage of those as you say, but getting the right combination of light and no breeze and so on is often going to be tricky. Though a bit of movement actually works pretty well.
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Outstanding photos! Just imagine being a bug and viewing your entire world through a macro lens!
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Thank you vfeddema, and nice to see you around again :). When I am on holiday, like I am right now, I find it hard to imagine myself as a bug. It would be very strange to see the world this way all the time, but I expect one could adapt and get on with it. Probably it would soon be normal and we would become oblivious to the beauty most of the time, as with the larger world we live in now.
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Oh, yes! These are good! I’ve tried something similar but without your success.
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Hi Linda, thanks so much. I notice that the bokeh and refractions? of light get more and more extreme as the magnification goes up. Here are some earlier examples at about 5X magnification http://wp.me/p1R4lY-3cr. Today’s are shot at around 2X, and cropped to varying degrees.
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Really nice shots, looks like the landscape of another world.
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Thank you Benjamin – so many nice surprises in the macro world.
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