Blending in

[Steve Maxson]

This white Crab Spider was hard to spot on the white Ox-eye Daisy flower - which is why they are successful in capturing flies and bees that come to feed on these flowers. :S3: 5D II, MP-E 65 mm, 1/80, f/16, ISO 400, MT24-EX macro twin flash (diffused), HH. I cleaned up a few bits of debris on the flower (but decided to leave the yellow pollen grains intact) and ran NR on the background. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[John Storjohann]

Steve, great eye in spotting this..and a great job in maintaining white on white detail and texture. I'm torn between wanting to see a "clean" flower so that the spider more clearly keeps the center of focus instead of having the yellow pollen grains draw my eye away from it and, like you, wanting to leave them intact. I've never seen a white crab spider before...it's an almost eerie presence on the daisy! Thanks for sharing!

[christopher galeski]

very nice image Steve,like the comp,nice detail in the whites,nevre seen one of these spiders till now,think I would call it a ghost spider:S3:,well done.

[bhavya joshi]

Nice you spot the look invincible white spider in white flower.nice details and comp.. Nice image.:S3:

[Jim Bridges]

I don't see how you saw it...they are so small anyway and being the same color as the pedal I'm not sure I'd seen it at all:eek3:

Love the detail on the head! I've read that it takes them several hours to change to the colors of the flowers they hide on.

[Jason Stander]

Great shot Steve... love detail... I would leave the pollen... as they are messy buggers... I am though two minded about the comp... maybe I would also crop the top to balance the crop on the RHS... I would slightly burn the LHS legs as they disappear slightly... otherwise great work as per usual!!!:w3

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Steve,
I like Jason's idea of a slight burn on the legs.....just for a hint more seperation! I could go either way with the clean up......it's amazing to see how well they blend in! A winner in my book!

[John Platt]

I would never have seen that spider without your image, nice job on the tones. The separation is really nice.

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions folks. :S3:

[Anita Bower]

This is really an excellent example of camouflage--including that bit of yellow on the spider. Wow! This is not an image I'd want to hand on my wall, but it is excellent at making a point.