Alright! It's been far too long! I nearly ran over this wonderful little female with my bike while returning from a book sale this weekend. Initially, I wasn't quite sure if she was a salticid or not as I careened around her, but after momentarily debating turning back – I decided to do so and was instantly ecstatic upon realizing that the little speck of arthropod I’d instinctively avoided killing was none other than the most resplendent salticid of them all – Phidippus mystaceus! And not only that – she was in absolutely wonderful shape with fantastic hair coverage, a plump abdomen, and clean eyes!
The shot above was achieved by letting her hop on a sunflower leaf and holding her up to the sky to get a blue-sky background bright enough in the exposure. The image is a focus-stack of three images taken at about f/11 or f/16 with my old (now scratched) 50mm prime reversed on extension tubes. Also noteworthy is the fact that this is one of my first salticid shots taken with the new Pentax K-x body and in RAW nonetheless (all my previous work was shot in jpeg!). She ended up being quite cooperative and didn’t require too much pain or toil on my part – working with salticids is always a pleasure - even when difficult!
Apologies for the infrequent uploads lately, I’ve just been busy outside of the macrophotography world – but be assured – I’m still taking shots and searching for subjects and likely always will.
In other news – Bugshot 2011 with Alex Wild and John Abbott was a resounding success and proved to be a wonderful opportunity to hear and learn from a variety of entomologists, macro photographers, and more. Should it happen again next year – I’m fully behind it and consider it an invaluable resource.
philphotosite, ALFONSO SÁNCHEZ, suddenly, here, fattyu, and 614 other people added this photo to their favorites.
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leonardrodriguez 11 months ago | reply
MAGNIFIQUE! So beautiful Thomas! Thank you!
coyrooster 10 months ago | reply
Fifty years ago when Stan Lee co-created Spider-Man for Marvel Comics most likely he had no idea his character would've been much more marvelous as a jumping spider endowed with eight eyes, four in front and four in back, to survey the world as a true superhero should. But how was he to know? He hadn't seen your photos. You weren't even born at that point.
In the meantime you've compiled an amazing collection of 'costumes' for the next generation of superheros. Some were featured last month by The Smithsonian while others appeared in National Geographic. How you keep up with all your activities makes me wonder if you are perhaps part jumping spider, darting from macro workshops to your Twitter site to your Flickr secret identity and main website to your arachnid & arthropod hunting grounds in Oklahoma.
With today's profusion of digital tools spawning countless movies and video games it would come as no surprise to see a supernatural lentil-sized Spider Woman begotten on the basis of this fetching female Phidippus mystaceus. Imagine an action-packed (or mystical) movie and spinoff game called Phidippus X.
I am an Admin for *ABW* Gallery -- one of the best kept secrets on Flickr, and we would be honored to display "Adult Female Jumping Spider - Phidippus mystaceus" with our collection of phenomenal photography. Please visit *ABW* Gallery home page to see that your image will find excellent company.
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Tmatogal 8 months ago | reply
She sounded like she was happy to pose for pictures! :) Fantastic shots!
Greenbelter 5 months ago | reply
Wonderful photograph!