Jumping Spider with Rev 50 setup

Jody Melanson · Post by **Jody Melanson** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:05 pm

All are full frame (except for the one marked cropped), using my reverse 50 setup with tubes and the Sigma 150. Handheld.

1

2

Crop from above.

3

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:25 am

Impressive! Even if flash froze the movement you must have very steady hands to have framed just the eyes!

Harold

acerola · Post by **acerola** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:30 am

Very cute, I like the first for the composition, the second for detail.
The rings in the eyes are very interesting.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:53 am

The clarity or reflectivity of the eyes on these spiders always amazes me. I think that and the "buck" fangs are what gives them their personality, along with their inquistivness when you are trying to photograph them. Wonderful shots here Jody

Michigan Michael · Post by **Michigan Michael** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:27 am

Excellent!

lauriek · Post by **lauriek** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:12 pm

Unless that's an absolutely enormous jumping spider, for hand held, those are exceptional!! (Well they are exceptional full stop really!)

I always like to imagine the view these guys have! Talk about the perfect predator, those two huge front facing eyes, and more all round the head for (I would imagine) a true 360 degree view!

Could you provide a little more info on your lens setup, how much extension are you using, and presumably it's setup in this order; camera, extension tubes, sigma 150mm normal way round, reversed 50mm?

Cheers!

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:40 am

WOW---double WOW (if there is such a thing) Amazing detail, even in the crop. Jody did post a picture of his setup and it looks like he is holding a "Rocket Propelled Grenade or Bazooka"

Just look at the hairs around the eyes

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 1:47 am

Wow i've just seen these,very impressive! Is it me or does this spider appear to have pupils just like our eyes?

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:37 am

Cyclops wrote:Is it me or does this spider appear to have pupils just like our eyes?

Ah, well now, there's a story...

Some months ago, I got curious about this spider's appearance and sent email to a couple of spider experts.

Wayne Maddison, the author of Jumping Spiders of the World, Jumping Spiders of North America, and my personal favorite, Jumping Spider Vision, replied that

The spider is dead. You don't see the black and brown like this when you look into the eyes of the live spider, but I have seen the rings like this in dead spiders that are partly or completely dried. This doesn't look completely dried, as far as I can see.

It's a bit hard to guess how the soft parts inside the eye would change after death, but one guess is that the tubular walls of the eye contract inward toward the centre of each eye, thus becoming this brown rim.

You can see black and brown in the eyes of a live salticid but it has to do with looking into the walls versus the retina, and it changes as the eye moves; it's not simply a black dot and brown rim.

I cross-checked with Jody Melanson, who confirmed that the spider was in fact several months dead.

This sort of thing is one of the reasons why we now strongly encourage posters to say so in the post, whenever a specimen is dead, anesthetized, restrained, or otherwise not exhibiting normal behavior and appearance.

--Rik

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 1:12 pm

Ah very interesting Rik!

Jbailey · Post by **Jbailey** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:17 am

Fantastic photos! He sure loooks alive and menacing. I'm glad to not be a helpless victim to something like this.

Jim