Turquoise fanged jumping spider

Every 30 days the site administrators will pick a favorite macro or close-up image from one of the "Macro and Close-up" galleries to be featured on the front page of the www.photomacrography.net website.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

beetleman
Posts: 3578
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:19 am
Location: Southern New Hampshire USA

Turquoise fanged jumping spider

Post by beetleman »

Hello Everyone. You probably thought I fell off the face of the earth because I have not posted for so long. First thing, I want to let you know, that I have been jumping on the forums often and I have been looking at all the great photos everyone has been taking, just not making any comments. I think I have been suffering from "Macro Depression" and I need to get out of it. I have not been using my camera for much except family birthdays and such. The other day, I spotted this subject and decided to try out the new Zerene Stacker software. I am hoping this will snap me out of my "MD" and get me going again. Lots of new talent on the board and some old friends still around also. Keep the great photos coming.

Doug

Canon 400D, Kenko tubes, Canon 100mm Macro, reversed 50mm. 63 image stack using ZS default setting. F/6.3 ISO100
Image
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Wow -- nice image to do a "comeback" with!! :smt023

Don't know about anybody else, but I was definitely wondering what you were off doing. Glad to see that you're back shooting again!

--Rik

NikonUser
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Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:03 am
Location: southern New Brunswick, Canada

Post by NikonUser »

Welcome back "beetleman", I see you haven't lost your imaging skills.
Just in time for the tabanid season in your part of the world.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives

Harold Gough
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Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 2:17 am
Location: Reading, Berkshire, England

Post by Harold Gough »

Impressive! Traditional portrait style.

Harold
My images are a medium for sharing some of my experiences: they are not me.

Graham46
Posts: 132
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 7:31 am
Location: Harford County, MD

Post by Graham46 »

Great shot! I love these spiders. I try to photograph as many as I can because the mandibles are always a different and unique color

Planapo
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Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:33 am
Location: Germany, in the United States of Europe

Post by Planapo »

Hey Doug, good to see you back! :D

Beautiful metallic blue on 'fangs' on this one. Ahh, I see, you've left the admin group to go for the monthly trophy again! :wink:

--Betty

Aynia
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:42 am
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Post by Aynia »

Great shot.

I hate hate hate spiders. This one looks like an alien from outer space or from a mad film/movie.

Hope you have your inspiration back!! 8)

beetleman
Posts: 3578
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:19 am
Location: Southern New Hampshire USA

Post by beetleman »

Thank you all for the wonderful comments. I am actually working a little bit less these days. With winter gone and the summer coming up (has been a little cool and wet spring), I have been putting a lot of time into a "Victory Garden" this spring. I have no lawn left :lol: . A lot less grass to mow but lots of weeds to pull. I have already made plans to take a hike in the woods this weekend (if the rain holds off) and see if i can take some photos and get a little "Get back to Nature" time. Thanks again Friends.

Doug
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

Bruce Williams
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Post by Bruce Williams »

That's a great shot Doug!

I had some time out too and missed your posts when I returned to the forum in early Feb.

Bruce :D

Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

Hey what a shot! A jumper with a "who done it, wasn't me" look on its well...er...uh, face. Congrats on the front page there Doug, looks great! :smt023

Wayne Baker
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Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Post by Wayne Baker »

Great image. Just curious - was the subject alive when you photographed it?

I'm interested in the ethics of some photographers who freeze or kill bugs, etc, in order to get a good image... Personally I don't condone it. However, it's difficult to hold this view as I photograph botanical specimens and could also be accused of wrongdoing by removing the specimens from larger plants in order to photograph them...

What do you all think?? It's a tough one I reckon.

Cheers!

Wayne :D

P.S. - I hate spiders! But will think about taking some photos of them! :wink:

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Wayne Baker wrote:I'm interested in the ethics of some photographers who freeze or kill bugs, etc, in order to get a good image...
I'm torn between making this a FAQ and keeping it strictly private. There are good arguments for both ends of the spectrum. But I think I'll stick to the middle ground and reply here in hopes of keeping the issue low key.

Ethics is an interesting topic.

Here is what I posted recently on another forum (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/sho ... ost7977854):
Hello! I'm new to your community here at P.O.T.N. But I wrote several of the postings that Namerifrats references at photomacrography.net. Perhaps I can help put those in context.

First, it's important to recognize that not all photographers of insects are "wildlife photographers". At least five of the people I work with are biologists who are using high magnification stacking as a way to produce high quality reference illustrations. One of them is working on identification keys for tabanid flies of eastern Canada, another on land snails of New Zealand, and so on. Trying to use the ethics of one group in the other group's work, either way, would produce some pretty strange effects.

Second, I think it's interesting to notice that the whole issue is not so much one of rational ethics as it is of perfectly valid emotional reaction. If rational ethics were all that's involved, it would be difficult to make a case for being concerned about the one insect in front of the camera, and not the tens of insects on the windshield of my car, or the thousands that got killed or displaced the last time I mowed the lawn, or the millions that got either pesticided or biologically excluded to grow the grain and vegetables in my vegan sandwich. (We won't even think about chicken salad.)

On the other hand, I completely agree that there seems to be something rather perverse about killing an insect just to make a pretty picture of it. Imagine a character in a movie saying something like "I loved this thing so much that I killed it and brought it home so I could keep it with me always and always." I don't know about you, but I think I would take that line as suggesting a character who's a bit deranged if not actually dangerous.

So there's the conflict that I confront. No matter how reviled a bug might be in normal context, if I make an attractive photograph of it, it becomes an object of attraction, and then I feel sympathy and sorrow for it.

This presents some very interesting situations. I am obligated by local law to kill the fruit flies that would otherwise make maggots in my backyard cherries. No problem, there are sprays to do that job, and everyone around appreciates the effort. (There are huge economic penalties if even a single maggot turns up in a commercial harvest. Besides, they spoil the cherries.) But if I kill one of the flies carefully and personally, and make even a decent clinical photograph of it (http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=5134, second image), then suddenly it turns from villain to victim.

I think this is a fascinating effect, in large part because I feel it too.

So what to do, what to do? One approach I use is to keep a lookout for "found specimens" -- bugs that turn up dead but still fresh enough to photograph. The spiderwebs in my windows are handy for this. It seems acceptable to salvage a freshly killed lacewing whose head is still intact. The spider, of course, ends up short on his next meal, but it's the lacewing and not the spider who gets the sympathy in this case. When I photograph the spider, it's the other way around.

Complicated, eh? And fascinating, at least to me. Something to ponder, perhaps, the next time I'm eating lunch on the lawn thinking about photography.
There is more written at http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... ?p=550#550.

It's been over three years since I wrote them, but I still like the closing lines there:
The bottom line is that any time you do anything that affects an organism's behavior, you have to accept the responsibility for making that choice, even though you really can't know all the implications.

Personally, I'm happy if people make thoughtful decisions on a case-by-case basis. By my own standards, killing a few milligrams of insects to make a beautiful and thought-provoking picture is much less troubling than the chicken salad that I had for lunch, or the probably thousands of insects that got killed or displaced the last time I mowed the lawn.
I hope this addresses your questions. As you say, it's a tough one.

--Rik

Cyclops
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Post by Cyclops »

Wow great shot to come back with!
Canon 5D and 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope

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