.........*screams, then faints*

*^^* Whaat? He's tiny! And really cute! Hehehehe. *^^*~

I have slight arachnophobia.... x-x

aww look at the cute spider x3

wonderful photo ^^~

Thank you! *^^* Glad you like it.

Hehehe. Spiders. //\\..//\\ <3!

wow how did you manage to get such a good quality close up without making it all blurry? The detail in the photo is amazing!

A lot of it is in the settings of the camera, and having a good light source.

Basically, shooting at f/16 (stopped down for greater depth of field), with 1/200'th of a second shutter speed (eliminating hand shake/blur), with an off-camera flash firing for more light. That, combined with a macro lens for the closeup is what does it. *^^*~

interesting have to tell my grandfather about this (he does photography as a hobby)

Hi Fred!

And Fred would be correct, since this is a male. :)

A lovely example of Agelenopsis sp. :D

Also you got incredible lighting here. Do you mean, by your description, you used the vivitar with another flash as slaved?

The composition here is perfect as well. Spiders make wonderful subjects when they are cooperative.

Woohoo! Somebody who knows spiders. I'm absolutely horrible at identifying them, honestly. Thanks for the identify! *^^*~

The lighting setup is pretty easy, honestly. This was taken with the..uum...zen photography tactic known as "I look like a goob" pose. IE: Camera in right hand, flash in left hand above my head, set to 1/4 power.

I actually use radio slaves, not dual flashes. Its a device that sits on top of the camera, sends a radio signal to the receiver unit attached to the remote flash, which fires it. Only limitation on the set that I have is I have a max synch/shutter speed of 1/200'th of a second due to the radio signal lag.

Hehehe. Fred was actually -very- cooperative. He didn't mind being photographed. Or, rather, he felt the vibrations on the deck as I was setting up the shot, thought it was a bug in his web...and came out and waited. *^^*

Hehe, I do love the spiders.


I'm limited by my built in flash at the moment, but I've been looking into the idea of an off-camera flash cable and macro bracket. I don't think I can get away with holding the camera with one hand, so the bracket seems essential for me.

You, on the other hand are doing quite well with this setup. :)

*^^* If you don't mind shooting manual on the camera, you can get an older flash for fairly cheap. But,the drawback is just that - fully manual. The thing to watch for, though, is that some of the older flashes have a triggering voltage that will fry newer dSLRs. So...use them with a voltage regulator, or with radio triggers, like I do. The 285's are one of those, btw.

The best part is the cost, though - the 285's run about $70 on Ebay, and the radio triggers are about $60 a set. In contrast, my canon 430EX's are about $280 per flash.

Hehehe. After awhile, though, you learn "This needs to be shot at f/16, 1/200'th, ISO 100"...you kinda get an eye for it.

As far as a bracket...I'm trying to rig one up for myself. Handholding isn't the greatest of options, but it works when ya don't have anything else. *^^*

I pretty much do all my macro shots in manual anyhow. :D

*scurries away* Eeeek! Cute...but freaky!! D:

Cute. I like tiny spiders, unless I'm in Australia, then I'm shit scared and kill it straight away! (the smaller the deadlier in that country)