Dave Beauvais' Web Site » Photography

Zooomr, a new photo sharing service

Dave Beauvais — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 04:57:53 +0000

There’s a new photo sharing service out there called Zooomr. They are currently giving out Zooomr Pro accounts for free simply by setting up a free account, publishing a photo, making a post in your blog, and leaving a comment in this post at their site. So here is my post!

Edit: It was just pointed out to me that they spell their name with three Os, not two. (That’s stupid.)

More macro photos

Dave Beauvais — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 04:42:27 +0000

Okay, here are some photos of things other than a spider. You may use these images as you wish, but please give me a credit if you use them publicly or for a project of some kind. I maintain the copyright on all photos on my site unless stated otherwise. Please leave a comment if you have something to say about them!

This first photo is of an unusual mushroom that is growing under a small ornamental tree in the front yard. Not sure what type this is, but it looked kinda neat up close.

More photos…
The next photo could be the worst bicycle helmet disaster I’ve ever seen. But actually it’s a walnut shell left over from a squirrel’s snack.

Finally, a soothing flower photo to end the post. I think it’s an ageratum, but not sure. Whatever it is, it makes for a nice photo!

If you like these photos, please leave a comment!

A new spider friend!

Dave Beauvais — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 02:59:43 +0000

By popular demand from one of my visitors, here is the first of two posts showcasing a few more recent photos. This post will be just the new spider that’s made her/his home outside. As with the previous post, clicking on the image will take you to the full-size version which shows far more detail than the small thumbnail version. If your browser automatically resizes large images, be sure to view the actual size to see a lot of amazing detail. Also as with the previous set of images, you may use these as you wish, but please give me a credit if you use them publicly or for a project of some kind. I maintain the copyright on all photos on my site unless stated otherwise. Please leave a comment if you have something to say!

Sometime last week, a new Yellow and Black Argiope moved into the yard. It’s strange that I went my entire life thus far having never seen one of these spiders anywhere, and suddenly I’ve seen two of them within a couple months. This one is definitely different than the last based on the shape of its body and head. The body is much larger than the first spider, and the head is flatter. I think this one is female, but I’m not certain. If you look closely at the photo, you can see a fine strand of silk coming out of the spider’s spinneret.

More photos…
This is a photo of the spider from a bit farther away to show its impressive web-building skills. This web looked very cool this morning when I left for work because it was covered in dew. I didn’t have time to grab a photo, unfortunately. The full-size version of this image is about three times as large as the others because I didn’t want the JPEG compression to totally mess up the fine lines of the web. (It’s about 638 KB in size, so dial-up users should watch out.)

While a lot of bugs are admittedly very creepy, it’s fascinating how they’re put together. (Yes, I’m a geek.) Look at the legs on this baby! All those joints are just cool. It’s really amazing that these things can walk. Be sure to check out the details in the large version of this one. (Note she/he is munching on something that was stuck in the web.)

That’s all for this post! The next post will have some non-spider photos, also taken last Sunday. If you like these photos, please leave a comment!

Fun with macro photography

Dave Beauvais — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 06:22:05 +0000

I recently bought a new digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 7600, and have been really impressed with its macro capabilities. Here are three of the photos I’m really happy with. Clicking on each image will take you to a really large version of the image in the camera’s native resolution of 3072×2304. I JPEG-compressed the hell out of them to have mercy on my bandwidth; the original images are much sharper. I’m releasing these images into the public domain, but if you use them for anything, I’d appreciate a credit. If you like these photos, please leave a comment!

The first is a black-eyed susan from our front yard. I liked the depth of field that I got from this shot.

More photos…
The second image is of a wasp which had landed on a bench on the front porch. I was amazed it let me get the camera so close, but it turned out pretty well. In the full-size image, you can see a blue fiber from something on the bee.

The last image for today is a Black-and-Yellow Argiope spider which lived in our geraniums for about a week until a storm and heavy rain scared him away. We haven’t seen him since, but I was able to get several good photos of him during his stay with us. He sat in the center of his web for most of the week and was very photogenic.

I have several more, but I want to see how many hits this post gets and what effect it has on my bandwidth before posting more. If you like these, please leave a comment!

Be careful what you ask for

Dave Beauvais — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 06:28:53 +0000

This is one of the most amusing signs I’ve actually seen in person. (Most are Photochopped images found online.)

As an aside, these gas prices suck.