Jumping Spider, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Singapore.
Hand-held shot of an unidentified jumping spider along a jungle trail in Bukit Timah. I had to shot one handed as my other hand was holding the stem of the plan...
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Hand-held shot of an unidentified jumping spider along a jungle trail in Bukit Timah. I had to shot one handed as my other hand was holding the stem of the plant the spider was on.
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Mar, 2018Views
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davidscottrobson
June 28, 2019
Thanks - it was tricky as I had the camera in one hand resting on my knee and was holding the plant in the other hand - so I was really pleased it came out so nice!
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davidscottrobson
July 04, 2020
Thanks - was a bit tricky as I was holding the camera one-handed at the time (other hand was holding the plant stem to keep the leaves out of the way)!
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Behind The Lens
Location
Bukit Timah, Singapore.Time
12-noonLighting
Canon 600 EX II RT flash with custom built softbox as shot in low light jungle.Equipment
Canon Eos 5DsR, Canon 100mm L, Raynox 5320, Canon 600EX-RT & custom softbox/diffuser. Shot hand-held.Inspiration
It was more that I find macro very challenging & hold a particular fascination for Singaporean spiders & other insects.Editing
Cropping, some sharpening, noise reduction.In my camera bag
Depends on what I'm shooting. Travel: Sony A7R ii, Sony 16-35mm, Sony 24-105mm, Godox Flash, 6x Sony Batteries, Leica M Typ 240, 7Artisans 28mm, Zeiss 50mm, 2x Leica Batteries, 8x AA batteries, 12x 32GB SD cards, Zomei & Polaroid ND grad filters (ND4 & ND10 usually). Long-haul travel & Macro trips: Canon Eos 5DsR, Sigma Art 35mm, Canon 100mm L, Sigma Sport 150-600mm, Canon 600EX-RT flash, 5x Canon batteries, Raynox DCR & 5320 Pro macro adaptors, 1/2 a plastic cup (used as a lens diffuser), customised lumiquest softbox, Sony A7R ii, Sony 16-35mm, Sony 24-105mm, 6x Sony Batteries, Velbon tripod (very light and a great macro tripod), Military tactical Black Hawk kneepads, 3L Camelback water carrier.Feedback
Don't worry too much about the gear - most cameras nowadays will capture a decent macro image; worry more about the lighting and how you diffuse that lighting - and it doesn't have to be expensive - any softbox will do. I seal the edges to prevent light leak and tape some additional diffuser material to the inside of the softbox. I also recommend an additional diffuser on the end of the lens - most of the time I'll either use a cheap white reflector or half a coffee cup tied to the end of the lens with an elastic band. I quite like the reflection of the flash in an insects eyes but I'd recommend dialling the flash down as low as you can otherwise you can get a lot of light spots on the subject. I try to keep the shutter speed & ISO as low as possible although in this image I was shooting one-handed as the other hand was holding the plant that the spider was on.Try not to rely on auto focus as you really want the 'face' in focus and auto can often lock the focus on the wrong part of something so small, use live view and move the camera back and forth until you get the bit you want in focus. It's difficult recommending settings as each situation is very different - I do tend to shoot around f/16-f/22 as I use Raynox macro adaptors and they can really narrow the area in focus but it depends very much on the available light. My main recommendation is really to experiment with different camera settings and flash levels (I try to keep mine around 1/64-1/128) to find something you're comfortable with as there's no right or wrong setting. Learn about the behaviour of your subject - different spiders (and bugs in general) behave in different ways but the more you observe them and understand their behaviour, the easier it is to photograph them. Above all; don't stress out or hurt the insect - some photographers will capture and even euthanise insects - all mine are living creatures taken in their natural habitat. Finally, don't worry about taking millions of pictures - after all: Practice makes perfect :)
