Golden Silk orb weaver 2

[Connie Mier]

Shot in a creek on Biscayne Bay. I particularly liked this one because of the mangrove trees in the background. With the flash, I was able to increase the shutter speed and increase the dof a bit while attempting to keep the canoe still. I posted another shot of same spider a few days ago, shot without the flash where I used a very narrow dof on it.

Sony a700, Sigma 180mm macro lens
1/400, f5.6, ISO200, handheld, external flash for fill flash (can't remember, but I believe I had it at -1 compensation), PP, no crop used and some selective sharpening on spider's body.
Connie

[Julie Kenward]

Connie, I definitely think the flash helped! You have more DOF here although it still appears your focal point landed on the back half of the spider again. Still, I do like the Bg as you pointed out - and there is more clarity to this image over the last. Did you try any selective sharpening on the front half of the spider?

[Ed Cordes]

This is a nice image with good colors. The BG is complimentary. I agree the head is a bit soft.

[Vida van der Walt]

I definitely like this one best Connie. The blue and green of the bg is great. I like the comp as well and the spider stands out nicely against the bg.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Connie. I too like this one better. I like the diagonal positioning of the spider, the visibility of the web, and the OOF green in the background to give the image context. I think the image would be even stronger with a little more DOF - though not so much that it brings up detail in the background leaves.