Macros of Spiders

Taking macro photos is a lot more difficult than I expected. I thought I'd try taking some insect photos by looking at some spider webs in a shrub outside our front door. I took this photo of a tiny spider -- about a quarter inch long body. At first glance, I thought the spider was hanging there quietly waiting for something to stumble into the web. But when I looked at it magnified, the spider was busy cleaning itself (or maybe waving at me). The spider was moving its legs a lot. The Flickr comments criticized the focus. Actually, the focus was good, but the depth of field was poor so not much of the subject is in clear focus.

When I came home a couple days ago, a new spider had made a web just outside the door. The orientation of the web was such that I could easily position the camera on our deck perpendicular to the web. The spider was a little bigger and a lot more sedate too. I grabbed my stuff and gave it another try. The web was about a foot in diameter and connected to some flexible branches that were moving in the breeze. I took about 40 photos with various settings to be sure I'd get some with a good focus. I used a small LED flashlight at an angle to give a shimmer to the strands of the spider web so they stand out a bit more from the background. The shot below is the best close up of the bunch. Click on the image to go to a larger view. It's no spider like this one at the Eclectic Studio Cafe, but I think it's an improvement over the first attempt. I also took this shot from further away to give a better sense of the web itself. Look closely and you can see the concentric circles of the web. Now I need focusing rails, a shutter release, etc. Shsssssh. Don't tell Dianne.