Spider!

[Mutley]

Any macro peeps out there that could give a new macro shooter some pointers would be appreciated.



All comments welcomed.

[Mark von Kanel]

Creepy!!!

[Bobobird]

Is that on a plate? Cool shot of spidey but please consider the background for future shots. This one is almost blown around the top edges.

Macro tips - resident experts are Geoff and Letrow and a few others that tag along. For good tips try the macrostop.com site lots of free ebook downloads to learn from.

[Mutley]

Thanks Bobo. It was in a casserole dish only way I could keep him still. He was a pretty nervous chap and kept trying to leg it. I did try him on the ground but he wouldn't settle and kept running off. In the end I tired of having to keep picking him up and putting him back. So popped him in a casserole dish while I took the pics.

[proseak]

"Nice" isn't the word, but you know what I mean

It's a good shot - what camera settings did you use?

Peter

[proseak]

Good thinking

[Bobobird]

Haha. I can visualise you or hims scurrying around.

[Mutley]

"Nice" isn't the word, but you know what I mean

It's a good shot - what camera settings did you use?

Peter

Peter it was with a 28-200mm lens with three (12,20 &36mm) macro tubes f/11 @ 1/30th sec. Nikon D90

[warrenjwalker]

Mutley,

This is a beautifully ugly photo! The spider looks good, although I do agree with bobobird that the background is less than interesting. I also think it would be a better picture if all of the legs were in focus.

- Jacob

[RockNGoalStar]

What worries the most about this photo, Steve, is that you're from S London. Where in the hell did you find such a horrible looking creature? I live north of the river and sincerely hope that these things can't swim! I am petrified of spiders if you hadn't guessed!

What kind of spider is it? I've never seen one in this country (thank God!)

[Mutley]

Thanks Jacob I'll try and get better DOF next time, and yes the background kinda blows but as said he was an awkward little critter.

Tommy I'm afraid i have no idea the exact type of spider but, they're as common as muck here in the UK. Maybe you'd recognise it better from this angle:

[Bobobird]

Now that 2nd one is a much much better shot. Not perfect but you got it more right then wrong here. Keep at it...

Is spidey on call for you?

[Mutley]

Thanks Bobo. No he's not on call I took this at the same time in the same casserole dish

[ktuli]

Steve,

This is definitely a good start for spider macros. It looks to me to be some sort of wolf spider maybe, but I'm not sure.

As for pointers - if you're looking to do insect and spider macros, definitely check out the following threads:
- Post your insects
- Post your Spiders
- https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/fo...hotography.htm
Both of the first two threads hold literally hundreds of fantastic examples and often times very good discussions on how many of the shots were achieved, lots of hardware discussion, etc, etc, etc. The third link is the Discussion Category link for 'macro photography' and links to a lot of threads with macro discussions. It is a lot of info sift through, but you'll get to see a lot of phenomenal images in the process.

That is the next piece of advice I have for you - look at tons of photos. See what you like about them, see how they're composed, if possible look at settings (but don't focus only on that), etc... then keep those photos in mind when you're creating your own. For example here - macro work is much the same as any wildlife photography - get to eye level with your subject and you'll see things change dramatically!

One major piece of advice I can offer is that you have to slow down dramatically when working with spiders and insects. Observe your subject - let them get comfortable. While I do relocate spiders and insects, they are much much easier to work with in their own environment, so try starting there. They'll be less likely to run on you. Spiders in particular don't really like to be out in the open, so getting them somewhere they can 'hide' but still give you a good angle to shoot them is a good thing (I don't have any reliable answers here as each spider is different in that respect).

If you're interested, here is a link to my spider posts on my blog - http://www.ktuli.com/photography/taxonomy/term/8

Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with!

- Bill

[Geoff F]

Sharpness is OK but the leg tibias are out of focus particularly on the right side so I would probably try cropping a little closer to concentrate more on the spider head/thorax. This would mean using a different size image ratio.

You have a bit of 'white eye' but that often occurs with flash use. Sometimes, I have tried 'painting in the eyes' but it rarely looks convincing to me.

Going by the abdomen markings on the second image, I would suspect a rather pale female Tegenaria spider. Or possibly a juvenile of that species.