Little Jumping Spiders

[MarkSturtevant]

Here are three species of Jumping Spiders. They were taken as staged shots on the 'ol dining room table. Short manual focus stacks with a Canon 100mm + a Raynox 250. I am very lucky in that I can regularly find various Salticids around the yard.
This is a male Familiar Jumping Spider (that is one of its common names), Platycryptus undatus. I love the eyelashes!
Familiar Jumping Spider by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Familiar Jumping Spider by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

Female Zebra Jumping Spider, Salticus scenicus. I modified the 2nd picture by using layer masks to create translucency gradients that reveal a darker copy of the picture underneath. This effect can create a sense of depth and help emphasize the subject.
Zebra Jumping Spider by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Zebra Jumping Spider by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

Female Dimorphic Jumping Spider, Maevia inclemens. A jumper can become more cooperative if they have something to eat.
Dimorphic Jumping Spider by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Dimorphic Jumping Spider by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

Thank you for looking!

[mbf]

Fantastic close-ups - especially the last ones with its prey.

I love these spiders with their big, reflective eyes - but I am not sure if this is a pro or a con, because it is quite impossibe to hide the camera setup...

[MarkSturtevant]

Fantastic close-ups - especially the last ones with its prey.
I love these spiders with their big, reflective eyes - but I am not sure if this is a pro or a con, because it is quite impossibe to hide the camera setup...

Agreed! Here you can plainly see my old dual flash diffusers. I find the reflections to be a bit distracting, and I've more recently moved on to a single flash head with a diffuser just because of this issue. You can even see the Raynox lens 'wings'.

[dy5]

Very nice images, Mark! The last two are especially nice. Manual stacks can't be easy with those guys.

David

[FotoChris]

What a bunch of cuties!

The last photo is most impressive, well done!! The amount of detail in the hairs is crazy!

[mbf]

Definetly.

I am impressed by the possibilities of modern technology. Some time ago, jumping spiders had been some kind of holy grail in spider photography and today we are talking about focus stacking of live ones.

This doesn't rate any modern picture down, there is still quite some knowledge necessary to achieve a high image quality.

But for my part, I am happy with the possibilities and I try to max out my potential. And sometimes I am reaching the limits of the technology. But not too often...

[Guppy]

Hi Mark
Very nice pictures in a super resolution, everything clear and recognizable.
Kurt

[Bob-O-Rama]

They are all wonderful, the predator / prey shot is great ( though not for the little green guy ) I just don't have the patience for live subjects, so I'm always amazed by work like this.