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Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Challenge 68: Xtreme (host: Nico Conradie) >> Eligible > The Watcher
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19-MAY-2006 Jim H.

The Watcher

Canon EOS 20D ,Canon MP-E65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro
1/250s f/14.0 at 65.0mm iso200 with Flash hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time19-May-2006 14:53:36
MakeCanon
ModelCanon EOS 20D
Flash UsedYes
Focal Length65 mm
Exposure Time1/250 sec
Aperturef/14
ISO Equivalent200
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Mode
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programprogram (1)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto
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allon kira07-Jun-2006 14:57
What a great macro with wonderful bright tones! Rgds, allon.
alexeig30-May-2006 23:48
Something terrible and menacing. Well done
Canon DSLR Challenge29-May-2006 04:21
A perfect spider macro! The dark hollow black eyes contrast nicely with the white surroundings. ~kt
Guest 26-May-2006 04:58
Really marvelous macro. While I've never had the specific desire to be quite this close, I'm kinda enjoying the experience. -Michael
Canon DSLR Challenge22-May-2006 19:50
My 10 yr old daughter's response was multiple, "Wow!"s. She said it's a jumping spider. Said she could tell by the eyes and its personality. Leave it to her! LOL! ~ Lonnit
jnconradie22-May-2006 09:47
Jim, I already added that lens to my wish-list after seeing your macro in the Jeans challenge. Now, I marked that wish-list entry as "xtremely urgent!" :-)

What I can I add to what has already been said? Excellent. Beautiful. ~jnconradie
Canon DSLR Challenge22-May-2006 09:30
Thanks everyone. Yes, I used the Canon MT-24EX twin-lite flash mounted on the lens for this. This was a very tiny little jumper. I'd say that including the legs, he was probably around 1/8 to 5/32 of an inch (about 3.4mm) in length. I suppose it's a baby. The ones I see outside seem to be larger, generally, but I get a lot of little ones in my office for some reason.

Thanks Victor for the good information about these wonderful little critters. They are very fun to play with and just watch. They do track you and are very quick. I was able to harass this guy for a while and get a number of shots before he finally vanished into the maze of wires that feeds the computer stuff on my desk. Every time I'd take a shot, he'd move suddenly and I'd have to find him again. I have had them jump onto the front of the lens before :)

I think that the lens was so close to this guy (this shot was taken with the lens set for 4X, I think) that he probably didn't know exactly where to look so that accounts for him not looking right at the center of the lens.

For a number of shots, he'd crawled into the white plastic cap off of a spray can (the cap is about 1.25" in diameter) so he effectively got inside of a miniature light tent which gave him a very nicely diffused overall lighting. For some shots, when he was down deeper inside, the light is very diffused and you cannot see any flash reflections in his eyes. Those shots are neat, I think, but for some reason, i like this one caught as he was crawling up to the edge of the cap.

I think the twin catchlight is kind of interesting but it is a giveaway as to the flash system used :)

Jumping spiders are a favorite of people who shoot macros. They have such neat eyes and they are just a lot of fun to watch.

I posted more from this "session" here:

http://www.pbase.com/jimhwy/jumping_spiders

Jim H.
Canon DSLR Challenge22-May-2006 06:52
To Mr/Ms Anonymous,
Just look at the reflections in the eyes to see the lighting used. Looks to me like a pair of flashes mounted over the left and right of the lens. Maybe a Canon Twin Lite flash? -- Victor
Canon DSLR Challenge22-May-2006 06:39
This is really really good! Better than good. Technically super, composition is terrific. Did you diffuse your flash in some way to prevent the usual blown bits I see in most other macros?
Canon DSLR Challenge22-May-2006 02:40
I just love jumping spiders. Here is some information about jumping spider vision. All eight eyes use simple lenses. Six of them are wide angle lenses. The two large, forward facing ones are telephoto lenses that give the spiders visual acuity comparable to a cat's.

All the lenses are fixed to their carapace and cannot be moved. However, the housing of the telephoto lenses are long cones, which can be moved around in order for the spider to look in a precise direction.

They also have 4-layer sensors, each layer sensitive to a different wavelength range. So they probably can see a greater color range than we can.

This is a great photo. I'm a bit surprised the spider wasn't looking right at the camera, though. Maybe it was looking at some photographer fingers?

Sometimes I like playing games with jumping spiders, "talking" to them with two fingers acting as front legs.

By the way, I think the depth of field is perfect for this shot. Congratulations on an excellent capture.

-- Victor
Canon DSLR Challenge22-May-2006 01:26
COOOL spider. Wonderfu macro.
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