Green Lynx Spider on Thistle

[Marina Scarr]

Well a little something different from the butterfly. I am not a fan of insects, to say the very least. However, I must admit that the Florida Master Naturalist program has really opened my eyes to other subjects and helped alleviate my fear of insects. So here is a picture of a Green Lynx Spider which I really enjoyed photographing and even got pretty close to. He appeared to stay on this particular thistle for at least the 2 weeks I visited this site, so I wondered whether he may have laid some eggs inside. He was quite accommodating and I believe quite beautiful.

I found this image difficult to sharpen b/c I wanted to sharpen only the spider. It was very difficult with all those thin legs and, on some of them, I simply gave up.

Canon 1D4, Canon 70-200L F4 IS with ext tube
F14, 1/125sec, ISO 640, manual mode
Flash @ -1.6, handheld, full frame

C & C always welcomed and much appreciated.

Marina Scarr
Florida Master Naturalist
www.marinascarrphotography.com (http://www.marinascarrphotography.com)


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[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice (natural) lighting, good composition and a fine background. I would love to see the image sharpened a little more. I appreciate the spider is very much camouflaged with the flower head but I think if the two legs on the left were a little more prominent it would tend to help isolate the spider. I really like the natural look of this image very much despite the fact the spider is not readily isolated. I am looking forward to more of your macro work Marina.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Marina. What a colorful spider! I like how the spider blends into the thistle head despite those colors. Very sharp where it most needs to be, nice comp, a good background, and nice use of the flash. Good luck learning to appreciate insects and spiders. :S3: I find them endlessly fascinating - both behaviorally and morphologically. This image is very well done!