keithpassaur

Black and White Jumping Spider

Black and White Jumping Spider
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Canon EOS 5D Mark II

settings

Aperture 11/1 ISO 100 Shutter 1/160 Focal Length 100/1

upload_date

Aug, 2016

Views

1486

Likes

+229

Awards

Contest Finalist in Monthly Pro Vol 24 Photo Contest

Peer Award

+107

Superb Composition

+17

Absolute Masterpiece

+14

Top Choice

Superior Skill

All Star

Magnificent Capture

Outstanding Creativity

Emotions

Impressed

Top Ranks

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 20 rank

Top 20 rank week 3

Top 10 rank week 2

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 3

Top 10 rank week 2

Top 20 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

I took this shot at Medard Park outside of Tampa FL. This spider is alive and in the wild.

Time

It was shot mid afternoon.

Lighting

It was shot with Canon 580 EX II flash on a bracket with a custom made diffuser. The diffuser is actually a ss dog food bowl with a piece of white nylon as a reflector. One key to getting shots like this is to get the flash as close as possible to the subject to utilize a short flash duration.

Equipment

I shot this with a Canon 5D MK II, a 580 EX II flash, a custom bracket and custom diffuser. The bracket is unique in that I made it clamp around the flash instead of connecting it with the shoe mount. This concept came from an old Strobroframe model from the 80's. What it really does is balance the weight of the flash when it is tilted at an angle. This makes it very stable and secure.

Inspiration

I'm in shooting macro shots as it is sort of the "Hunt" for them as well as how good of a shot can you get. Sometimes you get great opportunities and others not. When you do get the opportunity you just need to be prepared for it.

Editing

I processed this in LightRoom and then I sharpened in NIK. I then used the default Chrome Filter in ON1 Photo 10 black and white chrome filter.

In my camera bag

In my bag 90% of the time I have a 24-105 kit lens, a 100mm Macro, a 100-400 Zoom and Canon's MPE- 65 Macro. I also have a flash (models vary) a flash bracket, a flash diffuser and a set of ND filters. Most of this I just leave in the car and take out just what I am going to use. I package everything individually (lens cases and a holster for the camera) and if I want to take something extra I put it on my belt or a really cheap paper thin nylon backpack.

Feedback

I shoot a lot of bugs at 1:1 or above magnification. I have a site called www.macroshooting.com that goes over it in detail. In a nutshell the equipment is not as important as the technique - sorry this is a fact. You can shoot a macro masterpiece with a good camera and a cheap lens reversed. The first thing you need to learn is how to get the shot with no camera movement. That goes for this macro shot and all shots in general. Flash can assist in this but despite what you have read it does not always stop all camera movement. Once you can consistently get a shot with no movement it is a matter of focus and then placing what some call the "Magic Angle". You need to think of it like this. The more magnification the less DOF and it gets to the point where it is paper thin. In this shot it was not just a matter of focusing on the eyes but angling on something above and behind the eyes and something in front of and below the eyes. This angle also allowed for the eyes to be in focus which gives the perception that more DOF exists than actually does.

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keithpassaur

Black and White Jumping Spider