# Sticky  Photographing shrimp suggestions



## Piscesgirl

Hello all  In another thread the subject of photographing shrimp was brought up, and I thought that a thread on that topic might be a good idea. Since shrimp are so very small, they present a challenge. 

What have you found works well when photographing shrimp?
What equipment works well?
What doesn't work well?
Any other pertinent tips or suggestions for photographing shrimp?
Examples welcome!


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## JanS

Good topic PG. Those little buggers are a challenge to get a good pic of, so I'd like to hear some good tips - aside from taking them out of the tank and making them pose... LOL!


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## Gumby

Clean glass, of course 

Because most shrimp are so small a macro lense or a camera with a good macro function is a must. 

If your digi cam's macro function is not so great you can still get decent pictures. Set your camera at it's highest resolution(eg: 5MP) and get as close to the shrimp as you can while it's still in focus. This way you can still crop the higher resolution picture to focus just on the shrimp.

A tripod or something to stabilize the camera is an ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE! Because you're dealing with such a small subject, the slighest movement of the camera while the shutter is open will show up as a big motion blur. 

Macro shots have a tendency to only focus on a specific point. For example, your shrimp's head might be in focus but the tail or legs may seem blurred. Most camera automatically set the aperture(some call it f-stop) as low as possible to let in as much light as possible when taking macro shots. A low aperture setting will produce an in focus foreground with a blury background. If you want as much of the fore/background as possible to be in focus, set the aperture as high as it will go. Of course you will have to either adjust the shutter speed accordingly(can cause real problems with motion blur) or use a flash.

The flash... I really hate to use it but it's a must with fast moving creatures. Every one knows that flash + glass = glare. To combat this, bounce the flash off something. The best thing to do in any aquarium photography situation is hook up an external flash(most cams have a hotshoe for one). Take the hood off the aquarium and point the flash at the ceiling. The light will bounce off the ceiling and iluminate your picture. If you have tall ceilings, try using some white board placed above the tank. 

Things not to do: Avoid long exposure times(slow shutter speeds). This gives the animals a chance to move and create motion blurs. If possible use a low ISO. Higher ISOs are great for low light situations but produce grainy pictures.

Hope that helps and wasn't too confusing. I've been doing photography for about 7 or 8 years so my appoligies if that sounded like a bunch of technical jibberish.


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## Piscesgirl

Wow that's great information, Gumby! 

What if you only have a 2 mp camera that's very basic?


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## Gumby

Eh, unfortunately thats not much to work with. If you have a macro feature use that and definately take your pics at 2MP. Most "basic" cams give you no control over manual functions(ie: shutter speed, aperture, iso, etc). You can do some stuff in photoshop to reduce the grain if you find your shots come out grainy.

I've also seen people use a magnifying glass or a jewel loupe to magnify their image and take a shot of what is seen though the magnifying glass. I've only seen this method used for getting pictures of the trichromes on certain plants, but I'd imagine it would work for fish. It'd just take a little tinkering with.


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## PlantsAndMe

Magnifying glass? I'm must go to a swamp meet this saturday because that's a great idea :grin:.


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## raven_wilde

Yeah, thanks for the info Gumby, I'm totally bookmarking this thread.


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## jojoecute

Hi dear all,

I am using Digicam (panasonic 2.3mp)
It not easy to capture a sharp shrimp picture.

Till 1 day my 12 years son, using a magnifying glass to view shrimplets on tank glass.. I have tried and it works, attached picture to view the sharpness with attached magnifying glass...


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## mossman

I am not a professional photographer.  I am using a Nikon 5400, a SB28 flash with bounce card and close up lens.

I find taking shrimp pictures is a bit easily then fishes, at least they don't move fast. Tips wise, keep the glass clean and water clear. Place the camera at right angle to the subject and close to glass to prevent flash bounce back.

Some of the pictures I took from the setup:


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## Ibn

Great looking CRS. 

Flashes can be used to photograph shrimps, especially if it's moved off the camera and directly over the tank.


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## mossman

Ibn said:


> Great looking CRS.
> 
> Flashes can be used to photograph shrimps, especially if it's moved off the camera and directly over the tank.


Thank, Ibn.

Saw that you took nice shrimp photo, which model of camera are you using?


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## Ibn

Thanks, Ken. Pictures were taken with a D70 and Nikon 105mm f/2.8D micro lens.


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## Piscesgirl

Some info from Troy_h following some beautiful shrimp pictures he took:



> The camera is a Panasonic FZ-20
> 
> As far as settings, f2.8, shutter speed 1/4, widest angle on lenses, macro mode.
> 
> I always use ISO 80, spot metering and focus for aquarium shots.
> 
> My basic technique comes from the lessons of many hours wasted chasing fish all over the tank with results that never made me happy because it doesn't work. It boils down to patience, persistence and available light.
> 
> I don't use flash anymore because I don't like the unatural effect, and setting up for one on most of my tanks is disruptive to the tank. I don't use hot lights either because they really tend to disrupt things. Since all my tanks are high light setups, for the most part I have enough light to work with usually.
> 
> I generally don't use tripods, I prefer to hold the camera right up against the glass whenever I can, the accessorie ring on the FZ-20 let's you get the lens right up to the glass within 1/4" or less, and if I can get the shot with the ring flat against the glass, I can still use it to steady the camera and get a crisp shot using the image stabilization.
> 
> I gotta tell ya, I really love this camera. Pretty much all the reviews put it above everything in it's price class. My wife has the FZ-5, which is basically the same camera with a few less features but still with a Leica lens and quite frankly the picture quality is the same. I looked at Canon's S2 IS, and went as high as the lower end SLR offerings before getting the FZ. The lens was the big selling point, I can shoot full zoom which is the 35mm equivalent of 435mm at f2.8. Get the cheapest SLR you can find, used even, and price that kind of glass for it and you'll see the dollar signs explode.


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## alexperez

When I 'm going to take pics of the shrimp. I set up all the equipment and have it ready to go. Then I place some of their favorite food right in front of the camera. They stay still for a bit while they're eating and it gives you a little bit of time to snap some pics off. That is until they all start fighting over the food and start the tug of war.

Here is one of the Tug of War Winner!


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## Piscesgirl

That's a great idea, Alex !


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## milalic

alexperez said:


> When I 'm going to take pics of the shrimp. I set up all the equipment and have it ready to go. Then I place some of their favorite food right in front of the camera. They stay still for a bit while they're eating and it gives you a little bit of time to snap some pics off. That is until they all start fighting over the food and start the tug of war.
> 
> Here is one of the Tug of War Winner!


Great tiger picture!!


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## Xema

I hate take shrimpo pictures with flash light, because the flash light make the shrimp loses its natural transparency. So I prefer use the ambient light... but to get nice shoot, you must increase the light intensity. To get it I use to move the lighting hood of the tank to the front of the tank, where shrimp are more close to my objetive.

Some shoots









































































using food as fodder is a nice idea, but when you have a big concentration of shrimp into your tank, it´s relatively easy 'catch' them in a nice pose.


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## theteh

*Some of my Shrimps*









































More can be found here:
http://www.theteh.com/html/tropical_planted_aquarium_phot.html


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## jemarcus

hey guys, juz wondering, won't the flash blind the shrimps ur taking?
each time i take a shot, i feel as if they become blind.
guilt each time i press the button.


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## Ibn

Nope. The flash won't blind them. Most of the time, they don't even notice it and keep on doing their thing. They also do keep their transparency even when flash is used.


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## dazzer1975

heres a pic of one of my ammano shrimp. First time I have took a shot of one and while it isnt on a par with some of the shots here, it shows the shrimp in fairly close detail.


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## Squawkbert

I'm not one to bump old threads (generally), but it's stickyt anyway, so here's my best effort to date. Canon S5, no flash, macro set, close as possible - had to wait for shrimp to hold still. This guy is only ~3/4" long in the pic. (regular gravel).


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## Josea

Here is a pic I took with Canon S3IS zoomed in. I also cropped and resized picture. They are not easy to get a good pic of.


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## EatTheGras

I placed some moss near the surface. Then i put some food on it, and cherrys started to gathering.
Then i gently moved over the moss, so my target shrimp was in place for fotoshoot. It didnt semm to bother him, even when i flashed him a fev times.Took about 20 pictures. Cannon A60 2mpix, macro, flash, no zoom (realy crapy camera).
This one is about 2cm big.


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## rs79

It's not a question of how many megapixels it's the lensing.

I have a 10 (?!?) year old Kodak DC265 that has close up lenses and takes pictures of things half inch across that come out a foot long when you display the photos and it's only a 1.6 megapixel camera (or something like that).


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## AQUAMX

Hi Guys

Just noticed this thread also.

I am very new at photographing especially trying to get shots of my Shrimp. I managed to get this shot of my Diamond CRS. Not the sharpest of shots i know but its a learning curve. I have found so far that light is a huge factor aswell as a low ISO. I try to capture the shrimp while they are fairly still. I took a couple more last night which i will add later to this thread for discussion.


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## Winkyee

Getting good pics of these guys is tough, I had some luck using a 50mm lens reversed on the kit lens of my camera..(little luck,the dof is very narrow)


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## nemenem

That last photo is amazing!

To contribute, here is a photo I took last night of one of my unidentified shrimps that I caught in a local creek:










Camera: Panasonic FZ20 using macro mode.
Technique: He just happened to be walking across the front of the tank, so the lens was hard up against the clean glass.

It is about 2cm long, can anyone ID?


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## Chuppy

My turn 










Ain't good but working on it


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## milalic

Very nice Photos...keep it going


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## Rastaman

P&S camera - HP 945c


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## milalic

It would be very nice if some of you would discuss in the thread what equipment you used to take the pictures. I know out there we have some skilled photographers like wood, paradise, aquasour, etc that can share their inverts photos here, their equipment and advice on invert photography.

Have fun,


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## turbomkt

That last picture...

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Model = HP PhotoSmart C945 (V01.60) 
Orientation = top/left
X Resolution = 72
Y Resolution = 72
Resolution Unit = inch
Software = Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Date Time = 2007-10-04 19:21:03
YCbCr Positioning = centered
Exif IFD Pointer = Offset: 244

[Camera]
Exposure Time = 1/22"
F Number = F3
Exposure Program = Shutter priority
ISO Speed Ratings = 157
Exif Version = Version 2.2
Date Time Original = 1970-01-01 08:57:22
Date Time Digitized = 1970-01-01 08:57:22
Shutter Speed Value = 4.46 TV
Aperture Value = 3.19 AV
Brightness Value = 0.87 BV
Exposure Bias Value = ±0EV
Max Aperture Value = F2.64
Metering Mode = CenterWeightedAverage
Light Source = D50
Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length = 27.85mm
Color Space = sRGB
Exposure Index = 157
Scene Type = A directly photographed image
Custom Rendered = Normal process
Exposure Mode = Auto exposure
White Balance = Manual white balance
Focal Length In 35mm Film = 136mm
Scene Capture Type = Normal
Gain Control = Low gain up
Contrast = Normal
Saturation = High saturation
Sharpness = Hard
Subject Distance Range = Macro

[Interoperability]
Interoperability Index = ExifR98
Interoperability Version = 00, 00, 00, 30

[Thumbnail Info]
Compression = JPEG Compressed (Thumbnail)
X Resolution = 72
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Resolution Unit = inch
JPEG Interchange Format = Offset: 1938
JPEG Interchange Format Length = Length: 6155

NOTE: I'm using IExif to pull exif info from the picture. Not all images have the Exif info intact...


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## Wood

Hey guys. This is an email I sent to someone a while back who asked about Macro Photography. He also has a Canon DSLR Camera like me. He was using the 50mm Macro Lens with Extension Tubes...


OK as for the macro photography. Rule #1 DO NOT use extension tubes when photographing shrimp. The quality of the photos greatly decreases when using extension tubes when taking aquatic photos, especially small critters like shrimp. When photographing shrimp you are going through glass, water, and you are taking a picture of something very small as well. Therefore there is a lot of room for error.

The 50mm lens is a good one, I use the 100mm. The 100mm lets me get a closer photograph than a 50mm, that is all. Their F stop is the same I believe.

Lighting is also important. Using a flash allows there to be enough light so that the lens can pick up all of the details. You do not need a top of the line flash like the 580EXII, you can put more light on top of the tank with more bulbs and such. You want to have the light come from the top of the shrimp/tank, you don't want the light to go directly at them.

The MOST important thing about taking pictures of shrimp is the fact that the lens and the shrimp must be parallel to each other. Meaning that you cannot shoot at an angle, you must be at the same height as the shrimp or else the glass and water distorts the light and cause the photo to come out blurry. That is something that you cannot forget, the lens must be at the same height as the shrimp.

Other than those quick tutorials there is just patience and a steady camera. You have to wait for the right shot and also keep the camera completely still. Remember that you are taking very close up photographs, so any movement is magnified many times!


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## milalic

Very good comments and advice. Some day I might get one of these expensive cameras.


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## turbomkt

I got permission to get the 40D when the CC is paid off


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## Wood

turbomkt said:


> I got permission to get the 40D when the CC is paid off


Don't be cheap. Spend a couple more bucks and get the MarkIII



http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/518204-REG/Canon_2011B002_EOS_1Ds_Mark_III_SLR.html


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## turbomkt

Yeah...sure...


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## paradise

turbomkt said:


> Yeah...sure...


Mike, got the camera yet?  

Here are a couple of my recent samples. All taken with Canon 5D, 100mm 2.8 macro, and 580ex II flash off the camera, using STE2 controller.


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## turbomkt

Not yet, Ed. Some other things have come up. Since it's not a source of income (not even partial), it gets a back seat.

BTW...the photos didn't show up until I logged into APF


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## leolucido

Wood said:


> Don't be cheap. Spend a couple more bucks and get the MarkIII
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/518204-REG/Canon_2011B002_EOS_1Ds_Mark_III_SLR.html


I am a semi-pro photographer (meaning I get paid to do gigs but I don't have photography as my full-time job)

Since we've ventured on the topic of high-end Canon DSLRs, might as well get the DSIII for $7 bills. Just kidding, Even I am still working my way on getting the MarkIII. My 2 40D bodies will work for me for now.


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## The old man

The camera does not make the photgrapher. The photographer makes the camera.


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## 4f1hmi

thanks for the helpful tips! I really need them. Nice shrimp pics mossman


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## sai_dee

The old man said:


> The camera does not make the photgrapher. The photographer makes the camera.


Hit the nail right on the head.

I have a Olympus E-510 with the 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 lens (50mm f2 macro coming soon). I think my pics are pretty good, i'm not a pro or anything but I love taking photos. I'm still an amateur but here are a couple of shots I took yesterday.


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## Sounguru

These are all shot with a 40D, 50mm macro overhead flash and a tripod holding the flash.......




































































































And here is the setup....


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## Sunstar

Amazing Photographs you all have. I, unfortunately have yet to quite figure out how to get fantastic under water pics. but my cam is somewhat old and the resolution is not nearly as big as new cameras are.

But here is my contribution:









Canon A40

It was very hard to get a decent pic as this shrimp is sitting on a leaf, under the filter. It's a bamboo shrimp.


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## JumboGhost

I've designed a great Nikon with the absolute best lens for capturing up-close and beautiful shots of your shrimp.
I'll upload my most recent picture once I get the print out of the red room.
The focus is explicitly good, and the shutter speed slow for capturing amazing stills of shrimp feeding, mating, walking, floating, swimming, standing still, and all the other great things they do. 
I'm excited to show you what this lens can do.
As for the act of photographing I'd say set up a camera that you can let run on time-lapse with a slow strobe light in the corner of the room, and watch as the shrimp explore their aqaurium in an almost cosmic universe.
I highly recomend a slow strobe because I have found that a high speed has induced cannibalism.


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## wicca27

here are a couple and a link to more i use a minolta and i think its a DZ useing the macro setting
http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/wicca25_2007/fish/shrimp tank/11-09/?start=all


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## James He

Sounguru said:


> These are all shot with a 40D, 50mm macro overhead flash and a tripod holding the flash.......


Very nice photos. I'm still waiting for my new tripod/ballhead and extend tube.

But this is my first try. handhold
I will definitely try your setup.


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## wicca27




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## zachary908

I normally don't reply to old threads, but since this is a sticky I figured I'd share some of my shrimp pictures. All of these were shot with a Fujifilm Finepix s1600. No flash, and no tripod. I'm new to photography, so these aren't the best quality, but I've been practicing!


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## flwrbed

im glad this "old thread" was revived. 

good info.


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## Zapins

What settings did you use on the camera?

Taking detailed aquatic pictures without a good flash is really tough.


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## zachary908

Zapins said:


> What settings did you use on the camera?
> 
> Taking detailed aquatic pictures without a good flash is really tough.


Yeah, it is. I'm really just getting into Photography.. pretty much started this month, so I hope to get better soon.

Those were shot at
ISO: 200
Shutter speed: 1/5 I know that is a Terrible shutter speed for taking pictures of shrimp.. which is why the images aren't super clear, but since I had no flash, and the tank is super low light I have to use a much lower shutter speed to get enough light. If raise the shutter spped to say.. 1/60 I have to raise my ISO to get enough light in, and then the pictures turn out super grainy. So until I get a better camera and flash I have to make due..
Aperture: F/3.1


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## Zapins

Ahh yea, I hate having to make those setting choices. I think your shrimp pics came out awesomely for 1/5 !! That is a hardcore steady hand you have there.


The other problem is that water absorbs a lot of light so tank lights don't usually help light things right.

For the noise problem you could try the noise-ninja program which reduces some of the noise, its not a perfect solution but maybe worth a look if you want.

You could probably pick up a cheap strobe light off ebay for about $50-90 which would give you plenty of light. I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but my 580EXII flash works ok.

For macro pictures a high F stop helps give you a greater depth of focus. The optimum F # depends on the lens, so you'll probably have to look up what it is for your lens. For my 100mm macro lens its sharpest around F11, but it is a bit of an oddball lens, most other lenses are sharpest below this, maybe around F8. Increasing the F stop requires more light in the tank, or a lower shutter speed. 

Your camera has an on board flash though I think? If you angle the camera at a small angle to the front of the tank and a little bit pointed down to the substrate your flash will go through the glass and the reflection should bounce away from your lens, so you won't get glare. Its not perfect but worth a shot.

I'd love to see more of your pics. Keep them coming!


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## zachary908

Sorry for the late reply, Zapins! I'm actually saving up for my first "real" Camera.. a Cannon t2i or t3i, so that should help a lot, I also plan to get a remote flash and trigger. My current camera does have an on board flash, but I've never had good luck with it, I will try it out again sometime! 

I'll try to get some new shrimp shots up sometime. Also tomorrow I will dig through what I already have and if I find any good ones I'll post em up.


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## Zapins

Nice! Looking forwards to the pics.


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## zachary908

Zapins said:


> Nice! Looking forwards to the pics.


Got some new pics incoming, zapins. Uploading them to photobucket and what not now.


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## zachary908

Got some new pics! They aren't great.. camera battery was dying, so I was rushing but here they are!


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## crusty

Also,take lots of shots,a few always come out blurred.

One of my cherries on oak leaf .


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