Cute lady

[Jason Stander]

Hi all... went on a macro photo shoot in my favorite macro area: Tzaneen... found this cute salticidae (jumping) spider on a streliza leave... thought the leave made for a stunning carpet... she had beautiful eyes and lashs.

Canon 60D + MP-E 65mm (+/-1.5mag) + MT-24EX Macro twin lite (diffused: velum paper tent)

Aperture: f14
ISO: 125
SS: 1/125s
Focal length: 65mm
Metering: Spot
Hand held

Crits and comments are welcome... ENJOY:w3

[Nancy Bell]

She is darling, in a bulldog sort of way :S3:. Those 4 eyes staring at you are intense. I notice that the large left one has shades of brown vs. the blacks of the others. Is that natural and maybe having them all black would be a bit more comfortable to look at. The pattern in the leaf is amazing and you are right, it would make a great carpet.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Jason, very nice capture with great sharpness. I agree with Nancy on eye color. I might try to tone down the white area on the face a bit.

[Jason Stander]

Thank you Nancy and Andrew... appreciate your views and comments:w3... different colour in the eyes is due to the way the light falls into them... either pitch black or brown and some instances it can be orange... so it was the angle at which I photographed the critter:bg3:

[Ken Childs]

Jason, I love jumpers so of course I like this image. I especially like that those hairs near the small eyes look like eyelashes. :S3:
There's a slight tilt to the eyes so you should try leveling them out with a slight CW rotation. The leaf is really interesting but I find it distracting, especially the area behind this lovely spider. I know it's completely natural but my feeble mind keeps telling me there are artifacts in the BG. This didn't seem to bother Nancy or Andrew so maybe it's just me. :e3 You might want to clone over the brown streak in the LR and if this were mine, I'd do a little more work on the specular highlights on the legs and hairs.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jason. Like Ken, I love jumping spiders - they have a lot of personality and the large eyes are compelling. I like the head-on view, the positioning of the spider in the frame, and the sharpness within your DOF. I see that you are trying some diffusion with your MT24, which is good - but you are still getting two very distinct flash-generated specular highlights in the eyes. This indicates to me that you are not getting enough diffusion - ideally, the two specular highlights should be much less distinct and should start to blend together. Here are some modifications you could try - I would start by adding another layer of velum paper to your light tent setup. You might also try taping some velum over each of the flash heads. With some experimentation along these lines, I think you will soon get it right. Another thing I would suggest with a spider like this is to reduce the power of your flash by about 2/3 stop (at your present setting, the light areas around the face and eyes are blown out - these areas are small enough that they often don't show up on your histogram or show up as blinkies so the problem may not be obvious in the field). Again, with some experimentation with your flash power settings you should quickly get it right. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm picking on you. You clearly have talent for finding and photographing cool critters and if you can take your use of flash to the next level, your photos will be over the top. :S3: :S3:

[Jason Stander]

Thank you both Ken and Steve for your positive and constructive comments and crits... I don't mind at all (so Steve you are not picking one me)... I am glad there are idividuals like you that can give good crit... it makes me grow to be a better macro photographer.

Ken: Agree on the eyes... I didn't notice at all... On the leave I don't agree as I like to keep alot of the natural elements of my image intact... otherwise thanx again.

Steve: I also love jumpers... they are one of the creatures with a delightful personality.... yes diffusion:bugeyed::bugeyed::bugeyed:... that word with a word which is so associated with the Canon MT-24EX macro twin lite... yip I have tried the paper tent with velum paper folded double and mask tape velum to the flash heads... and that's the image I got... maybe as you suggested the exposure was to high... but it seems to be rather a lucks play to get the right exposure... my macro photographic community in SA that use the MPE with the MT24 have now a new material for the paper tent that gives awesome diffusion... it is paper out of a chocolate box... I am going to try this method of the paper tent this weekend and will let you know if I have to export the chocolates to you... jokes aside...

...thank you both once again for your motivation and encouragement.:w3

[Steve Maxson]

It sounds like you've already been doing some experimenting with the flash and have some like-minded folks to compare notes with. Good! I'm a firm believer in using whatever works, so I hope the paper from the chocolate box performs as advertised - and, you'll get to eat some chocolates too! :bg3: