The Nursery

[Mark T Helm]

Spider Nursery (http://mhelm.com/blog/?p=1279)

by Mark Helm (http://mhelm.com/blog/?author=1) on Jun.05, 2011, under Insects (http://mhelm.com/blog/?cat=8), Macro (http://mhelm.com/blog/?cat=6)
I was out on safari today, I made it 6 feet from my back door when I noticed a small yellow blur in a spider web. I got low and was pleased to see a group of about 100 or so tiny spiders with yellow abdomens with a dark patch. I fell into the shooting zone and in what seemed like no time I had shot 197 frames. I used the Olympus E-3 and Sigma 150mm F/2.8 mounted on a Newport linear rail on a manfratto tripod with a cable shutter release. This is a 36 frame Focal stack processed with Zerene Stacker and PSCS5.
The major problem in the image is 100 odd spider staying still during the sequence, I was pretty lucky and most of them did not move but there was some movement resulting in some blurred edges.

[bhavya joshi]

Lots of baby spider and lots..of movement, nice catch mark. I think This nursery is of
Black and yellow garden spider.(Argiope aurantia) Thanks for sharing this interesting nursery. :S3:

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Mark,
Really like the comp.....interesting that you were able to stack this with all the movement. Would pull back on the yellow a touch in a few places.....but very cool shot and nicely done!

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Mark, how's that for daycare! Great work on the stacking, too bad about the blurs from the movement. I
m amazed that you pulled this off!

[Don Lacy]

Hi Mark, I really want to like this image since it is such a cool concept but I find the blurring distracting and I find the spideres to close to the frame on the right.

[Brendan Dozier]

Very interesting study shot of this spider nursery, Mark. Agree, the blurs are a bit distracting, but you did pretty good considering the movement.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Mark. This is a very cool image. Nice diagonal comp (though a bit more room on the right would be nice) and I like how well all the strands of web show up. True, if not for the blurs, this image would be WAY over the top - but I almost like the blurs in that they show that this mass of tiny spiders is not static, but rather in continuous motion. :S3:

[Mark T Helm]

Thank you for the feed back I did a different stack to see if I could get rid of some of the blurring, comments.

[Mark T Helm]

Lots of baby spider and lots..of movement, nice catch mark. I think This nursery is of
Black and yellow garden spider.(Argiope aurantia) Thanks for sharing this interesting nursery. :S3:
thanks for the comment and the ID but I think they are garden orb spider Araneaus diadematus

[RakeshDhareshwar]

The repost is sharp . Hats off to your determination to get this one !!!