Carl, I've been re-reading your post and trying to envision the setup, and I'd like to commend you on getting a good shot under trying circumstances. You really did manage to capture a lot of detail in this little beast -- those hairs on the legs are pretty fine.
From personal experience, though, I have to caution you about getting
too far out on a limb with your camera and your body.
I still have fairly vivid memories of the day I wanted a closer shot of the spider in the window over my kitchen sink.
I couldn't quite get to where I thought I needed to be, and after some squizzling around, I ended up sitting on the edge of the counter, feet in the sink, leaning forward with my elbows propped on my knees. It was a very stable photo platform, and I shot several pics with my Canon Digital Rebel and Sigma 105 macro. Stable, that is, until I sat up -- and overbalanced ever so slightly backward.
It took several seconds for the disaster to play out. First I tried to spin around and get a foot out of the sink. Failing that, I grabbed for the only good grip around, then realized I was holding the removable head of the faucet. You know, the ones that pull out about 4 feet on a nice flexible hose? I remember thinking, "Well, that's not going to work!"
Having run out of time and options, I decided to just "assume the position" and ride it out. So backward I fell, feet still up on the counter, camera & lens held safely in the air, head tucked tight to my chest. THUMP!
The camera was fine. The ribs took a while to heal. And the photos? Well, there's the annoying part. The flash effects were so bad the pics weren't even worth saving. I deleted them. Sigh...
You be careful now, with that "straddling the bathtub" stuff.
--Rik
You did a fine job on it Carl.
