Tag Archives: Bob Venezia

Come, Fly, With Me

by Bob Venezia

I like the look of this bee a lot, but this is one of the very few times I was able to also capture an insect other than a bee. One of the things I love about these echinacea is the colorful spikes in those danger colors—yellow, orange, and red—like a collection of nuclear warheads arranged by Fibonacci.

Honeybee and green fly join forces in the inspection of nuclear warheads

Honeybee and green fly join forces in the inspection of nuclear warheads

Tom & Small Cube

by Bob Venezia

My friend Tom Noddy displays one of his more renowned bubble creations. The cube is constructed by blowing a bubble and catching it so it is hanging from his bubble wand. A second bubble of equal size is blown beneath, so it is attached and suspended below the top bubble. It looks like an hourglass, with a flat membrane between the two bubbles. Next four more equal sized bubbles are blown around the “waist” of the hourglass, so they connect. And finally a smoke-filled bubble is blown into the middle of it all.

This was shot with several flash units scattered around the room, and black velvet draped behind to isolate Tom and the Bubble.

Tom Noddy displays a bubble cube

Tom Noddy displays a bubble cube

Emerald City Angels – 2016

by Bob Venezia

Seattle Skyline with Blue Angels

Hyper view of downtown Seattle from Alki, with the Blue Angels overhead

This is a hyper view of downtown Seattle from Alki in West Seattle. The Blue Angels were performing as part of the SeaFair Celebration. I haven’t recorded the camera base but it wasn’t excessive — the cameras were wired together and I couldn’t risk having someone trip over one of them! The cartoon-y tourist boat in the foreground was a bonus.

I must have been trying to squeeze out some extra sharpness by setting a hyperlocal distance instead of just CRANKING the lenses to infinity. Lesson learned.

Moshe Cohen

by Bob Venezia

Clown Moshe Cohen at the memorial service for Bruce (U. Utah) Phillips

Clown Moshe Cohen at the memorial service for Bruce (U. Utah) Phillips

In the continuing discussion of using the TL-120 as a close-up camera, I offer this example of the Clowns Without Borders stalwart Moshe Cohen, captured with off camera flash, at the memorial service for our friend Bruce Phillips. The single close flash creates some strong shadows, but I still think it’s a nice portrait, and easily viewable thanks to the limited background.

F32 and BEES There #2

by Bob Venezia

Bees on a dahlia

F32 and BEES There #2

Yes, I know these images are starting to seem repetitive but I took ’em, and you’re gonna look at em’! Hopefully by the next time I see a folio I’ll have new flowers and some different looks.

Boris in one of his comments on Folio A asked for more detail on the Macrobox, which is given here:

The Macrobox is based on a contraption I purchased years ago from John Hart of Colorado. It was designed to hold 2 cameras at 90 degrees to each other, and both cameras were aimed at a 50/50 mirror (aka a beamsplitter) which is at a 45 degree angle. One camera shoots THROUGH the mirror, while the other shoots at the reflection.

Overhead view of the Macrobox

Overhead view of the Macrobox

Side view of the Macrobox

Side view of the Macrobox

The original box needed to be modified to accommodate the motor-driven Hasselblads, which are taller. I shoot with the 120mm Makro lens, and up to 2 extensions of 56mm each. Most of the bee shots are shot with 1 extension. The cat shots are with no extensions. My target stereobase for the cats is 1.6cm and for the bees is 8mm.

In the sideview picture you can see the beamsplitter on the left side of the rig. If you look carefully at the mirror, you can see both cameras.

The cameras are individually mounted on sliders so they can be slid into position. Additionally, the Macrobox is normally mounted on a heavy-duty Velbon macro slider, to help with making fine adjustments to the positioning.

The Finally Part 2

by Bob Venezia

The Finally, part 2

End of the fireworks show where the pyrotechs pull out all the stops

As the Flying Karamazov Brothers would say as they approached the end of their performance, “And now, the part of the show you’ve all been waiting for. The Finally.”
End of the fireworks show where they pull out all the stops.
There is a strange set of blinking lights running through the middle of the photo. Maybe a drone?

Keep it down up there, Willya?

by Bob Venezia

Keep it down up there, Willya?

Keep it down up there, Willya?

I lost my beloved cat Tesla in April to an aggressive cancer. Tesla was a total character: vocal, complaining, smart, adventurous, curious, determined, sneaky, athletic, playful. We were bonded and I miss her every day.

One of the reasons I wanted, and built, this Macrobox was to capture shots of Tess in MF3D. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy pursuit because the moment I started doing something she would be all over it. “No, Tess, I want you *in front* of the camera. Not *on* the camera.” That sort of thing.

I was able to catch her in a quiet moment when the camera and strobes had been pre-set for her position. I like to think that in this shot she is hollering at some kids upstairs to be quiet. In fact I caught her in mid yawn.

Bee Good #4

by Bob Venezia

This whole set could be titled “Adventures Near and Far.”

Bee Good #4

Bee Good #4

My most recent photo endeavors have revolved around a macrobox. I had purchased a box like this from John Hart of Colorado, but fitting my Hasselblads in it was a stretch—the space was so tight that, once the cameras were mounted, it was difficult to check their settings, and simply winding the cameras was bound to knock them out of alignment.

This was shot in August of 2020. Lots of the technical details are listed on the slide mount. One detail is listed incorrectly—the extension is 56mm and not 57. Cameras were triggered with the same wired trigger that I’ve used for fireworks. I like the look of the stamen in this shot—each one looks like a nuclear warhead. Using the macrobox, I was able to get a shot like this as well as shots of my cat Edison that circulated last round. But a total PITA to set up and use.

Meanwhile, a new friend of mine had opened my eyes to some Hasselblad equipment I was unaware of— things like bodies with built-in motor drives and wired remotes. I picked up a couple of the motorized bodies, but they were too big for the macrobox. That’s when the quest for a new macrobox began in earnest. By the end of September I had ordered an optical breadboard from Baselab Tools, which was to be the platform for my new toy.

Orchid #3

by Bob Venezia

DR5 Orchid

DR5 Orchid

This was one of many ‘proof of concept’ shot with the new macrobox in my kitchen. Here I’m still trying to wrap my head around camera placement in the box and other technical details. Obviously you don’t need a beamsplitter to get a shot like this—you could get this with a single camera moved slightly between shots. But my aim was to shoot ‘action’ macro shots, with flying insects. No matter how well you train your bees, that’s not going to work with cha-cha. Processed by DR5.