Bugs are beautiful too! (Stunning Photos)

This is an interesting article about a vegetarian jumping spider I thought was cool.

www.sciencenews.org...

Originally posted by Phenomium
Ok I have to say it if no one else is.
I am not trying to be rude but has anyone, other than myself, gotten the feeling that ATS (ABOVE TOP SECRET!) is becoming a little less ATS and more like a nature channel? All of these entries on pretty clouds and vibrant stories of this and that and now bugs. How is this even classified, let alone above top secret? It is just frustrating to have gotten the inside scoop for so long, waking up every morning and coming to ATS was like opening a new gift everyday........now all I get is this crap, which is more like opening a pair of socks at christmas. Let's get back to work people and stop with the beautiful world stuff.......you won't be looking at anything but a FEMA prison wall if you don't focus. All you will see there is cockroaches and millworms. If ATS keeps going in this direction, there will be nothing pretty for us to look at anymore.These types of entries just wreak of distraction.
[edit on 29-4-2010 by Phenomium]

IMO, that was what to be expected in a forum dedicated to "big misterys", but where all kind of misterys bring in in, are "debunked" or classified as hoaxes"...in the end, will not left nothing to discuss of interesting about that! I have exactly warning about that some years ago.
Things are always, chinese lanterns,Venus, Swamp gas, birds or insects, "Jpeg/MPEG compression artifacs", hoaxes, delusional people, etc...so why people will bother to bring us here "Misterys" or conspiracy theorys?.., just to be classified as hoaxer or crazies as fast as they post?!
that's why mate!

WHAT A COINCIDENCE!

I've been browsing the web for macro lenses today, looking to see what lens gave the most detailed results. I've been wanting to take pictures like this for at least two years, but never could justify buying expensive lenses until now. I stumbled on this guy (Thomas Shahan) on Flickr, the same guy who's pictures you posted. I've been looking at them all day.

What a surprise to come to ATS and see those exact same pictures on the front page! I sort of feel a connection to him since he's a photographer and also an artist. I'm an artist and an amateur photographer.
His website is here: thomasshahan.com...
Those are incredible photos, and I hope to be able to take some of my own one day.

reply to post by TV_Nation


Wonderful photos. Please make sure you credit the photographer and link to their sites. They are kind enough to share.

Of all the bugs to start out with, you had to pick spiders. I'm going to crawl by a corner and weep and think of happy thoughts now. Thanks....

reply to post by 2manyquestions


I don't have time to look at his site, but there are cheap methods that create great macro's. Lens stacking is a good one. Use rings to stack them face to face. You will also need to get a focusing rail and a remote switch for that level of magnification. It mounts to your tripod. Focusing must be done by hand with the rail.

You can stack photo's by moving the rail one click at a time and then combining them to increase your depth of field. Tedious but worth it. Thankfully, spiders often sit perfectly still for long periods.

Also be aware of the dirty little secret that many if not most of the clearest shots are done in a studio with dead subjects. The slightest breeze makes these shots impossible otherwise. Oops, let one slip out

With digital that level of sharpening is only possible with raw photo's post processed. I use Nikon Gear along with Capture NX (latest version) and then move to Photoshop and plug-ins. All sharpening is done post with digital. With cheap cameras its done in the camera but not at the level possible with raw photos and good post software and Photoshop Plug-ins.

You will also want a ring flash and diffuser.

Originally posted by Phenomium
I am not trying to be rude but has anyone, other than myself, gotten the feeling that ATS (ABOVE TOP SECRET!) is becoming a little less ATS and more like a nature channel?
[edit on 29-4-2010 by Phenomium]

I completely agree...I almost made a similar post about the heart-shaped earth thread, but decided not to post and just ignore it. I do think its ridiculous that threads about important topics get ripped apart just because the OP can't "prove" their theory, and yet these threads get flagged all the way to the top of the home page.

So, I guess it is perfectly acceptable to post pics and provide no information about them, but don't dare post about a topic which you cannot prove.

Not to be rude OP, nice pics but a little info to go with them would be nice.

Thanks for those amazing pictures.
Some of them remind me of my wife
She seems to have eyes on the back of her head too
Thanks again

i always get squeamish when i look at pictures of creepy crawlys, but these are great, i wonder if there was any computer animation used in these :\

Even though my immortal enemy is the spider and I have destroyed hundreds of thousands in my constant battle, I've always let jumping spiders live. Don't know why but I've always liked them. Anything else though I'll annihilate in single combat. It is a just war. A long and vicious war but it's justified.

it's amazing how these spiders tend to have the same type of photo composition as marijuanas plants, in the sense they are very hairy and colorful in appearance

Whether its a conspiracy or not, it sure is mind boggling -- I mean there has to be a purposeful function behind all those incredible shapes and designs.

How is all that fur, those multiple eyes, those weird protruberances and lord knows what else related to each one's survival? It must be somehow.



To be sure, there must also be some uber strange creatures on other world's if our own is so varied and bizarre.

Wow the one looked like a yeti... in fact I think it was.

Beautiful pictures though, thanks for sharing S&F

oh oh lol .. wicked

reply to post by CDippa

I completely agree...I almost made a similar post about the heart-shaped earth thread, but decided not to post and just ignore it. I do think its ridiculous that threads about important topics get ripped apart just because the OP can't "prove" their theory, and yet these threads get flagged all the way to the top of the home page.

I don't have a problem with the image threads I've seen lately, such as this one or the volcano thread. These are actually refreshing to see, and I've glanced back at both.

I agree that there's a lot of fluff threads besides these though. It's almost as if a pile of them are written to deliberately push important topics off the board, and I can only imagine how a long-time poster would feel about it.
I think part of the disinfo is crappy topic volume.

Originally posted by Phenomium
Ok I have to say it if no one else is.
I am not trying to be rude but has anyone, other than myself, gotten the feeling that ATS (ABOVE TOP SECRET!) is becoming a little less ATS and more like a nature channel? All of these entries on pretty clouds and vibrant stories of this and that and now bugs. How is this even classified, let alone above top secret? It is just frustrating to have gotten the inside scoop for so long, waking up every morning and coming to ATS was like opening a new gift everyday........now all I get is this crap, which is more like opening a pair of socks at christmas. Let's get back to work people and stop with the beautiful world stuff.......you won't be looking at anything but a FEMA prison wall if you don't focus. All you will see there is cockroaches and millworms. If ATS keeps going in this direction, there will be nothing pretty for us to look at anymore.These types of entries just wreak of distraction.

[edit on 29-4-2010 by Phenomium]

Sorry you can't take a little time away from conspiracy to enjoy the life that is all around us... I don't think checking out some pictures of wildlife is going to be the reason I end up in a FEMA camp... That is absurd to even say.

You know they say that reality is stranger than fiction and these little creepy crawlies enforce that in my mind.

Lighten up and enjoy the world around you, it's not always bad to gravitate away from the doom and gloom for a few min even if it is on a conspiracy site.

TV_Nation, thank you for thread, pictures are awesome,
and ignore that ridiculous man(Phenomium).
He probably prefers bs over science and knowledge(you know, chemtrails, reptilians, Hitler clones, 2012, etc..).
This is why REAL hidden things will never be on shown ATS, imho:
error 1085: too narrow cap.


[edit on 30-4-2010 by potential_problem]

reply to post by TV_Nation


Nice...those pics are awesome man. Thanks for sharing, the flies are especially trippy!

The spider in my kitchen this morning did not look interesting like any of those pictures. It broke my "no spiders in the house" rule and had to be sprayed.