Spider in My Garden

Howdy,

Don't know what kind .
Didn't realized I had goofed the framing, so I'm sorry to post an image where the original didn't have all of the legs in the shot . Lots of purposeful cropping of the sides though.
Those spider legs look just like King Crab legs. Butter anyone .
T2i, 100L, 1/13th, ISO 100, f/11, tripod, natural morning light.

Do you think I should have up'd the ISO to 400, gone with f/16 and increased the speed to cover for slight breezes? It just doesn't look as sharp as I had hoped.

nice shot,and yes more shutter speed would of helped.

yeah I would have tried around f/8 to f/5.6 and bring up the shutter speed. If there was a slight breeze, chances are the spider was moving in it, so the 1/13th most likely caught his motion thus being a little soft.

I think that's some kind of orb weaver

Lovely capture- like the light
Brian v.

That's a great shot of a really intriguing spider.

Great work.

Lovely shot, light is good.

Howdy All,

Thanks for the feedback and comments . (Thanks Big Dog : He's an Orb Weaver)

Not sure I like it more than yesterday's but here's another try from just before 8am this morning (yesterday's was 9:30am). T2i, 100L, 1/60th, f/20, ISO 400. Tweaked in Lightroom 4.1 for for exposure, sharpness, noise, etc.
Tried adding a bit of light with a remoted 580II and Rogue Flash Bender. Not sure if it helped or hindered. Looks a little "flashy". Gonna have to work on a better flash mount and modifier for macro, especially with portrait positioning.
I cropped the left side because of a horrendous background strip of white painted wood along that whole edge . The top and bottom were ony about 10% cropped.
I went with f/20 trying to get a bit of depth between his mouth parts and his back but only with so-so results. I probably traded too much by hitting the diffraction wall . It looks soft and the look of his fuzz doesn't appeal to my eye. Just after a got a few shots the breeze began and that pretty much ended it.

All-in-all, I think I liked yesterday's available light more.

It was interesting to see him chase down a tiny insect and then return to the exact spot so perfectly re-positioned that I didn't even have to move the framing .

I have never taken a proper macro shot so won't pass comment. I fancy trying my hand and like the sound of the 100L. Your shots are without an extension right?

Cheers
Simon

P1Fanatic wrote in post #14878215
I have never taken a proper macro shot so won't pass comment. I fancy trying my hand and like the sound of the 100L. Your shots are without an extension right?

Cheers
Simon

Howdy Simon,

Yep, no extension although I do have a set of Kenkos . I doubt that my talents have yet to squeeze-out the true performance of the "L" over the regular 100m Macro but I do like the stabilization when using it handheld. I also enjoy the overall feel of its mechanics and I do tend appreciate superior build quality wherever I find it.

Nice looking spider, Dave. Someone (I think Brian V.) did an excellent series of comparison shots a year or two ago, showing DOF vs defraction at various f-stops. Since then, I use f/11 almost exclusively for my macro shots. I'll see if I can find the thread.

edit: found it.... https://photography-on-the.net …p?p=10623485&po​stcount=31 Mmmm but that doesn't show higher f's like f/22. Some more examples in this thread: https://photography-on-the.net …ghlight=defract​ion&page=2

LV Moose wrote in post #14878268
Nice looking spider, Dave. Someone (I think Brian V.) did an excellent series of comparison shots a year or two ago, showing DOF vs defraction at various f-stops. Since then, I use f/11 almost exclusively for my macro shots. I'll see if I can find the thread.

edit: found it.... https://photography-on-the.net …p?p=10623485&po​stcount=31 Mmmm but that doesn't show higher f's like f/22. Some more examples in this thread: https://photography-on-the.net …ghlight=defract​ion&page=2

Thanks !

If you shoot macro hand held then do not allow the shutter speed to be any slower than 1/200. Also I usually stay at f/11 or greater. You can do a 2 shot focus stack if you need to get more into focus at this magnification, just pan forwards and backwards shooting multiple shots and then stack them in photoshop later. I doenjoy the natural light in the first image of the spider, my backgrounds are usually blacked out I have not had much success with natural lighting.