Here's a shot of the Anterior Median and Anterior Lateral Eyes of an adult female Phidippus putnami. I actually found (and photographed - see here) this spider as a sub-adult on July 9th, and to my delight, a few weeks later - found her again as a matured adult!
She must have just molted as she was in absolutely immaculate condition - perfectly clean eyes, no lost scales, no messed up hair... and to top it all off - she was quite cooperative while I photographed her! Of course, (like nearly all salticids) she made a few leaps to the camera and my hands - but in general - she was pretty easy to work with. I was able to capture the image above once she backed up into a little "cave" in the folds of my t-shirt (which I had removed and layed out on a railing). Once she settled down and relaxed in the darkness, I very slowly and gently moved some of the cloth out of the way with my left hand (as seen in the reflection in her eyes) and proceeded to fire away with my right.
I realize many of my photos don't really have imaginative or dynamic compositions, (I often fall into the trap of just photographing things centered, straight on, and level) but I don't take these photos to create works of art - I take them to provide clear, accurate, and informative views of these astounding animals for the public. Understand that the subject is the source of the beauty and the photograph is completely secondary. The photo above (a crop) is a manual focus stack of 4 images taken at about 4:1 with the 28mm reversed on extension tubes at f/8.
Follow the link below for more images and information of this truly fantastic spider:
To read more about jumping spider vision on Wikipedia (with a photo of mine), go here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_spider#Vision
And Dr. Wayne Maddison has a fantastic page about salticid vision over at Tolweb here:
tolweb.org/accessory/Jumping_Spider_Vision?acc_id=1946
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In other news - a photo I took of the eyes of a female Maevia inclemens (here it is...) is going to be featured (in some manner or another) in the October issue of Popular Photography magazine! I'll make sure to post a photo when the magazine comes out!
Alex_14, xbn83, rob's lensonlife, and 285 other people added this photo to their favorites.
View 20 more comments
Jοey 45 months ago | reply
Another masterpiece.. great work!!
laverrue 45 months ago | reply
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Crème de la Crème/Cream of the cream, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
mikebaird 45 months ago | reply
Seen on the LightStalking Blog - I'm most impressed!
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http://www.lightstalking.com/macro-bugs (?)
goodwood fos 45 months ago | reply
Just stunning, absolutely amazing, flippin fantastic...may i ask what lens you were using?
HisPhotographs.com 45 months ago | reply
Insane series! That has got to be the closest, sharpest spider macro I've ever seen! Unreal capture!! Thanks for sharing :-)
Eric Webb 44 months ago | reply
Your work is OUTSTANDING~!! Congratulations on having your photos on MSNBC Incredible Insect Photos. Well Done~!!
FissionMailed.com 44 months ago | reply
Great work!!
-Randy- 44 months ago | reply
superb!!
Dalantech 44 months ago | reply
Actually I think the composition does work -if the subject fills the frame (and it does) then centering it doesn't present a problem. The hardest part about making an image like that one work is the light, and I think you have it down ;)
atderrick 44 months ago | reply
wow. the master at work. endless flow of perfect macro shots.
Mellow-D-Marsh 43 months ago | reply
That's the best macro of a spider's face I've ever seen! Beautiful!! Colors are amazing!
avoxtar 43 months ago | reply
Amazing work!
jszakmeister 38 months ago | reply
Just incredible.
Ana Claudia - Friburgo 35 months ago | reply
Wow!
barilynn (TSP) 29 months ago | reply
this is absolutely astounding. the clarity of these photos is incredible. I'm far too afraid of these guys to even get within 5 feet, let alone close enough to get images like this. I laughed as it looks like she had her own photoshoot, which i guess, essentially she did. This is amazing!!!
A.Alshatti 26 months ago | reply
awesome
T570-Photography 19 months ago | reply
great shot
Charlyae 18 months ago | reply
Genial!! las mejores fotos!!
Esta es mi modesta foto de estos bichos tan fascinantes.
Horacio Ruidiaz 16 months ago | reply
Great photos, your photos really inspires us all we macrography to seguirmejorando every day to achieve excellence in your photos, I admire you and admire your work greetings from Argentina
LesMeister 15 months ago | reply
Absolutely amazing capture..!!
Unbelievable detail and clarity..
must have made it high up on explore..!!