Painting Partner

This picture is a good example of why I set up this blog so many years ago. The photo isn’t all that remarkable on a technical level, nor is it going to win any awards for creativity, but when I saw this little grasshopper sitting on top of a roll of painter’s tape I knew I had two options:

1. Leave it be, and go on with my work
2. Get my camera and take a picture

The first option is much easier and requires almost nothing in the way of added effort, whereas Option 2 would mean putting down my painting supplies, going inside, getting my camera, attaching a close-up filter, and actually taking some photos. It’s not a lot, but things like that are enough of a barrier for me to, more often than not, choose solutions like Option 1.

So I chose Option 2.

While this isn’t a life-changing photograph or anything really noteworthy of its own accord, the simple act of taking it was a fun, quick experiment with close-up photography and, it turned out, a brief but welcome distraction from my work in the garage. The grasshopper didn’t seem to mind my (relatively) gigantic camera and lens being thrust in its face, and was mostly content to just hang out on his blue perch for a minute while I fiddled with some settings to get the shot. I think I used the +10 filter for this, but I don’t remember for certain, and shot at f/8 to get a depth of field that was wide enough to clearly see the subject but shallow enough to have a bit of background, and foreground, blur. Shutter speed was 1/30 and ISO was 6400, which still impresses me on my D750 even years after getting that camera.

A few heartbeats later and this grasshopper had clearly had enough of my photographic shenanigans, so he/she/it hopped away leaving me to return to my painting. Thanks little buddy for letting me take your photo. It was fun :)