Male Phidippus jumpers

kyrontf · May 10, 2012

I found two of these guys today. I'm thinking they're probably Phidippus johnsoni, but I'm not completely sure. C&C welcome!

First male:

1.

2. He was very active while I was photographing him and managed to catch himself a small crane fly.

3. Closeup, still with his meal. I tried to do a focus stack here but his fangs and palps kept moving so I had to do the stack by hand. Ended up pulling bits from about 4 images.

4.

Second male:

5.

6. He really liked this fir cone and hid out in it for a while.

Dracaena · May 10, 2012

beautiful set of images. Especially like the last one. Which setup if I might ask ?

kyrontf · May 10, 2012

Dracaena said:
beautiful set of images. Especially like the last one. Which setup if I might ask ?

Thanks! I'm using a Sony A65 body with a reversed 18-70mm kit lens. On-camera flash with a simple DIY diffuser.

Dracaena · May 10, 2012

kyrontf said:
Dracaena said:

beautiful set of images. Especially like the last one. Which setup if I might ask ?

Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm using a Sony A65 body with a reversed 18-70mm kit lens. On-camera flash with a simple DIY diffuser.

Damn, that's amazing work with that setup. Really congratz!

groan · May 10, 2012

Must get myself a reverse adapter.
now.

Where in Canada are you that you found these? All the jumpers I've come across are dull grey, brown or black. I yearn for some color!

Off to search Ebay for an adaptor!

kyrontf · May 10, 2012

Dracaena said:
Damn, that's amazing work with that setup. Really congratz!

Thanks.

You can get a lot of milage out of reversed lenses!

groan said:
Where in Canada are you that you found these? All the jumpers I've come across are dull grey, brown or black. I yearn for some color!

I'm in BC. These Phidippus spiders are pretty common here. I'm pretty sure you've got some Phidippus species over there too. P. clarus for sure. Sometimes jumpers look dull from up top but have extraordinary colours at eye level!

groan · May 10, 2012

I came across a zebra-striped one the other day. Didnt turn out well though. I think my extension tubes cause some softening, or my hand just wasnt steady enough. I'll have to do some tests.

I always try to greet them at their level.Those eyes look like they are looking right at you.

Thomas Shahan has taught me a few things in my quest to become as good as him. Your shots above are on par!

I swear I had a reverse adapter. I couldn't find it so I'll have to order another one.

mjhoward · May 10, 2012

These are quite good. Just goes to show, it's not all about the gear. Good job and keep shooting!

kyrontf · May 10, 2012

groan said:
I came across a zebra-striped one the other day. Didnt turn out well though. I think my extension tubes cause some softening, or my hand just wasnt steady enough. I'll have to do some tests.

I always try to greet them at their level.Those eyes look like they are looking right at you.

Thomas Shahan has taught me a few things in my quest to become as good as him. Your shots above are on par!

I swear I had a reverse adapter. I couldn't find it so I'll have to order another one.

Zebras are some of my favourites. I saw a male the yesterday but didn't get a chance to photograph him. Softening can be a problem... I used to use (and may again) a couple of reversed prime lenses on extension tubes and had some serious softness issues at high magnifications. Still do, though it's less with the 18-70mm I'm using now. Were you using flash? That should largely eliminate the need to keep things steady.

Agreed about their eyes. It's really neat how they track you as you move around too.

A good chunk of what I've picked up about Arthropod macro has come from looking at Thomas Shahan's work and watching his videos! I've been on a similar quest... still got a long ways to go though, I think!