My favourite subject.... Spideys! (not for the faint hearted)

[Kate]

Whilst I was out in the garden trying to avoid the invasion of the relatives today, I spotted a gorgeous female spider spinning herself a shiny new web. I stood and watch for a while whilst she directed the silk from her bum onto the right spot of her web with her back leg, and then ran off to get the 30D and my shiny new 430EX flash.

Was quite pleased with the results, so I thought I'd show and tell.

First off, a couple of her carefully arranging her threads:

http://www.roguesgallery.com/pix/IMG_0169-01.jpg


http://www.roguesgallery.com/pix/IMG_0179-01.jpg

I then let her settle, and got one of her guarding her new creation.

http://www.roguesgallery.com/pix/IMG_0187-01.jpg

I wanted to see what she'd do if I blew lightly on her web (they run off if you blow too hard). She positioned herself so that she was holding on to as many threads of her web as possible.

http://www.roguesgallery.com/pix/IMG_0189-01.jpg

I then left her for half and hour whilst I went to eat my apple pie. When I came back out again, she'd had a bumper harvest. There were tens of tiny bugs all trapped in her web, and she was tucking into this tasty morsel. Mmmmmm, looks lush :lol:

http://www.roguesgallery.com/pix/IMG_0219-01.jpg

http://www.roguesgallery.com/pix/IMG_0220-01.jpg

http://www.roguesgallery.com/pix/IMG_0222-01.jpg

http://www.roguesgallery.com/pix/IMG_0223-01.jpg

All C&C welcome. Thanks for looking.

And yes... I've just noticed all the dust on my sensor too :'(

[Marcel]

Number 6 for me. It's just the right angle, and epitomises the very nature of what a spider is accepted to look like...with big hairy foreboding legs..
.
.
And eating dinner :D

What lens?

[Kate]

Number 6 for me. It's just the right angle, and epitomises the very nature of what a spider is accepted to look like...with big hairy foreboding legs..
.
.
And eating dinner :D

What lens?
Hehe thanks.

:love: Canon 100mm Macro :love: Favourite lens in the world... EVER!

[HIMUPNORTH]

Disgustingly good!

I like #1 best somehow.

[dod]

Nice series Kate, 1 and 4 are the pick for me :)

[Hacker]

Excellent series Kate, all top notch.

[matty]

very nice Kate, if a little disturbing

[blackeagle]

niceeee :)

[Dena]

oooh, I like spiders and these are great shots. Thanks for sharing!
I just picked up this lens last month, I must get out and work with it.

[minimeeze]

Yuk, but nice shots nonetheless :)
Maybe a daft question...but how do you know it's a female spider? :thinking:

[digitalfailure]

Kate
you really need to get out a bit more ;)


She knows it's a female because it's made the web and is preparing tea, while the male puts his feet up all 8 of them and waits for the female to serve it up.

[ed34]

excellent shots Kate :thumbs:

[Joe T]

excellent shots Kate :thumbs:

Couldnt agree more!

[Forbiddenbiker]

well I'll give it ago.. :D



Absolutely fantastic shots Kate.... a really wonderful set to me. I agree with the others Number one and four top the lot.

Nice commentary too :thumbs: ... thanks for sharing. :)

[Fangman]

A truly wonderful set of studies of a spider - just makes me jealous of your expertese.

[IanC_UK]

Nice shots Kate, dont mind spideys, but macro shots of them give me the heebies ! lol :)

[Kate]

Thanks for all the comments guys. Like I said, I'm very pleased with these. Might get a few printed out for the spider-room wall when we move in :)

Yuk, but nice shots nonetheless :)
Maybe a daft question...but how do you know it's a female spider? :thinking:
I could give a geeky answer and say "lack of palpal emboli", but I'll just say that the females are much bigger than the males :)

[Kate]

Kate
you really need to get out a bit more ;)
Tell me about it :p


She knows it's a female because it's made the web and is preparing tea, while the male puts his feet up all 8 of them and waits for the female to serve it up.Although he clearly didn't bother coming home for lunch, so she was dining alone. Either that, or she was making a meal *of* him. Arf arf :lol:

[Oz]

[Shudders] Great pics, really clarity at real close-up... moving on quickly to other posts...

[pxl8]

Great shots Kate, these little ladies are great subjects for macro work. Last year I was went out early morning and watched one removing the dew from her web - she pushed the beads into each other so they got bigger and bigger until they fell off, very clever!

[moomike]

Really nice images Kate, freaky this close up, but really great images.