The Dark Knight

[shane shacaluga]

Xysticus spp adult male.
Nikon D7000 with Nikon Micro 105mm 2.8 VR
F16 and 1/100 with inbuilt flash
spot AF . 25% crop
Sharpened a bit on LR

[Maureen Allen]

Very cool looking spider, Shane. He seems a little tight in the frame. I wonder if you might post this a bit larger. It's hard to see much detail at this size.

[shane shacaluga]

Will re-crop the original and post a higher resolution picture later. Was having some issues with my flickr so posted the pic from a forum which reduces the size and quality.

[Bob Miller]

Shane....very sharp in front appendages ...can't tell on the body.....very tight in frame....leave space all around....you can add canvas with CS5 and content aware . I like your low angle....Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

[shane shacaluga]

Have given it a bit more room and uploaded to flickr with higher quality

Photo URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/5303787...n/photostream/

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Shane and welcome to the Macro forum! The repost is much better! This is an interesting looking spider and you have nice sharpness around the eyes where you most need it. You might consider cloning some of the flash-generated spectral highlights. In the future you might try a diffuser on your flash which will soften the light and give you fewer spectral highlights and softer shadows. I hope to see more of your work here in Macro!

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks for that Steve. Will remove those and see how it looks

Getting a flash with diffuser setup is the next thing on my agenda as the flash is really noticeable on shiny insects. Need something small enough to carry though as I do all my macro shots hand held in the field and the nikon 105mm VR micro is heavy enough already!

Any suggestions?

[Steve Maxson]

Getting a flash with diffuser setup is the next thing on my agenda as the flash is really noticeable on shiny insects. Need something small enough to carry though as I do all my macro shots hand held in the field and the nikon 105mm VR micro is heavy enough already!

Any suggestions?

If you are using a single flash, there are a number of companies that make mini soft boxes that attach to the front of the flash unit - or you can make your own. These work best when mounted off-camera and placed as close as possible to your subject. Here is a link to a site that should give you some ideas: http://orionmystery.blogspot.com/ Look under Recommended reading/More Macro Rigs to see what other folks are doing. I hope this helps.