Motherly Love

[shane shacaluga]

Spring is here and the arachnids are all hard at work procreating. Spiders will take care of their young until the second or third moult before the spiderlings leave the next. I found this false wolf spider (Zoropsis spinimana) with all her spiderlings now ready to leave the next

D800e
50mm f1.8 + 32mm ext tubes
f13
1/160
ISO100

Cropped for composition and cloned a few spectral highlights from both mum and young one

[Diane Miller]

I never thought I'd think a baby spider was cute, but you've convinced me. Very interesting shot, and details of their parenting!

[Norm Dulak]

Very nice image and story, Shane. Showing the spiderling next to the parent works well, and the image of the little one is very sharp.

[Jonathan Ashton]

It's a fine shot and a good idea - you don't see many shots like this. I made a mask of the spiderling and in Selective Colour Black - black I added a few points to emphasise the contrast and so make the spiderling a little more prominent. I appreciate too much would be false but a little I think helps.

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks for the comments. Jonathan i cannot see the RP for some reason. As you say you need to be careful because spiderlings of this size are translucent and not that contrasty. They gain colour and thickness in their exoskeletons increases in subsequent moults


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[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks for the comments. Jonathan i cannot see the RP for some reason. As you say you need to be careful because spiderlings of this size are translucent and not that contrasty. They gain colour and thickness in their exoskeletons increases in subsequent moults


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Shane I didn't actually attach an image I was just explaining what I did and as it was a matter of personal taste I thought it better not to submit an image.:w3

[shane shacaluga]

Oh ok thanks. I was a bit confused there. I wanted to see how it looked with that extra bit of processing. Will try it on my file

Thanks for taking your time to comment

[Steve Maxson]

This is a very cool image, Shane! Speaking from experience - it's not that easy to get a clean, all-in-focus shot of a tiny spiderling. You accomplished that very well here and I like that we can see the mother's eyes in the background. :S3:

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Shane,
Love this image with the spiderling sharply prominent. Really tells a story.

Allen