NOT a sunrise but ............

... something completely different (from me, anyway)

The obligatory head was poked out of the obligatory window at 06.45 - the sky looked nice but not "special" - I still got up.

Down to make a cuppa and caught these two crane flies (commonly known in the UK (and some other countries) as Daddy Long Legs) in flagrante delicto on the glass of my back door.

Inspired by Hillyblips and her marvellous macro shots - I thought it a perfect opportunity to try for something similar (despite the fact I don't have a macro lens!) - what I didn't count on was the backlight from the sky - no detail on the said daddy long legs could be seen.

Aha, I thought, Mollyblobs had a fabulous lightbox shot the other day, could I manage something like that? Nope, you have to be able to see through the creature to get that effect, that's a no-go.

What to do????

Now WYSIWYG isn't always strictly true in photography - just ask Naturelover ............

I can never match the fabulousness of Vodkaman ........

...... so "Purist Anni" actually did some radical post-processing!! I hear gasps of shock ..... she who says she is NOT a fan of the post-process and often has a little rant about it actually went down that road!!!
In my defence (Your Honour) I have always said it's great for special effects and the like - I just don't like it when it pretends to be real.

So here you have two Daddy Long Legs enjoying (?) themselves on a chilly September morn on my back door glass - I think they look almost fantasy-like with their little pink wings but then I always did have a good imagination.

For those interested all I did was crop and slightly sharpen the original, wind up the contrast as far as possible and then increase the red .... voila! (not really radical at all).



NIKON D90 : f/10 : 1/60" : 45mm : ISO 200 : EV +1.0