Spider?

[Manfred M]

Continuing with my toolbox creatures, I found a spider...

[DanK]

Hmm. A nice image, but not quite realistic. Spiders have two body parts, not three. What sometimes sticks out in front of the cephalothorax--the front-most of the two parts--are mouth parts. So shouldn't the eyes go on the front of the middle nut? See, for example, this page.

[Manfred M]

Hmm. A nice image, but not quite realistic. Spiders have two body parts, not three. What sometimes sticks out in front of the cephalothorax--the front-most of the two parts--are mouth parts. So shouldn't the eyes go on the front of the middle nut? See, for example, this page.

As this is a creative abstraction, the important part to me is that people can quickly figure out what it is, rather than something that is technically accurate. I'm starting to work on both a ladybug and a praying mantis, and they too are not going to be anthropomorphically accurate, but I hope that people will recognize what they are.

The reason for all these pieces is that these will be going into a couple of "creative edit" competitions. so not looking realistic is a goal.

[DanK]

Do you think it would be less recognizable if the eyes were on the body? Easily tested.


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[escape]

This series is amazing. It looks like an actual photo of a sculpture that doesn't exist. I think it goes beyond creative abstraction. Are there examples online of others who have done similar things? Hard to find. Manfred, do you plan to put all the bugs in one large image to submit in the composition or will it be a series?

[Manfred M]

Do you think it would be less recognizable if the eyes were on the body? Easily tested.


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That is certainly something I can play with at some point in the future. Right now it is at a stage where I am willing to have people throw their thoughts at it and it I have time before I have to submit the images, I may try it.

The next time I set up for a shoot of tools (I will likely do so next week, time permitting), I want to shoot the nuts standing on edge and incorporate that view into some future creations. I need to get a shot of a drywall saw blade as well...

[Manfred M]

This series is amazing. It looks like an actual photo of a sculpture that doesn't exist. I think it goes beyond creative abstraction. Are there examples online of others who have done similar things? Hard to find. Manfred, do you plan to put all the bugs in one large image to submit in the composition or will it be a series?

Thanks Daniel - I suspect I must have seen something like this somewhere in the past. I had been wanting to try something like this for some time, but could never get the lighting right to photograph the tools. I just finished a 12-week long still life masterclass a week ago and we explored a number of techniques to control light on shiny objects. One of the techniques worked quite well, so I was able to create a base set of images to work from.

From there I went looking for images of "bugs" (top view) and started playing around with the various tools I had photographed. The nuts seem to be best suited for the body. The open-ended wrenches made interesting created interesting joints when overlapped, so were a natural for legs. The twist drill seemed to be good for antennae and the handle of the adjustable wrench seemed to be a natural fit to make wings.

There is a "Creative" club competition that closes before Christmas (2 images) and a national competition that closes in mid-January (4 images), so I am looking at both of those. All would be individual image entries.

[Shropshire Lad]

Agree with Dan on this one but if you would like it to seem more spiderlike rotate it 180 degrees so that it will look like it's suspended from the thread you have coming out of its abdomen.