Writing Spider

Rathbone · Jul 22, 2006

That's what we call it, I don't know the scientific name for it.

LaFoto · Jul 23, 2006

What does it write?
Where does it write?

I have never seen a spider of this kind but it looks really interesting ... would the eight legs normally be more symmetrical or do they always have two pairs out at the front and two out at the back like we are seeing here?

You do really well with your totally blurred and all-only-just-big-colour-blobs backgrounds!

Rathbone · Jul 23, 2006

Thank you! I was so afraid every one here would be so highly skilled that you would find all kinds of things wrong with my images that I couldn't see, but although I was right about the highly skilled part thie people on this forum are very positively oriented! I am pleased.

The spider is always as you see it here, they all look just like this, but differ in size. The heavy white portion of the web differs in width and pattern slightly however, which is where they get the name "writing" spider. There is a superstition that if you see your name written in it's web you're going to have good luck, or is it bad luck? Ah well, I've never seen my name so I guess it doesn't matter lol.

midget patrol · Jul 23, 2006

Another great shot.

How do you blur your backgrounds so effectively?

Rathbone · Jul 23, 2006

midget patrol said:
Another great shot.

How do you blur your backgrounds so effectively?

I never used depth of field as a compositional element until I bought my Nikon D50, then it just started working to my advantage. At the moment I shoot in either Aperture priority mode or in the Action mode(because I like to shoot moving insects so much...) and I think maybe the 55-200mm lens I use has some effect as well, I started using that lens after bought the D50 in spring because bumblebees were out and the 18-55mm lens that came with the camera needed for me to get right up on my subject and that just wasn't gonna happen when I was shooting a swarm of bees on a blooming apple tree! So I started getting the blurry backgrounds and I liked it so I began to take that into consideration while I was lining up certain shots. Lately, I've been putting more post production work into my photos, mainly by upping the contrast way beyond what I used to, to bring out the rich tones which made the blurry backgrounds often explode with color. If you are familiar with the fantasy artwork of Boris Vallejo, he used to color his backgrounds with rich tones in an almost abstract way but would enhance the overall effect of his paintings compositionally. I like to think I'm doing something similar.

But if I can earn some money with this hobby, I'd like to break down and buy myself a macro lens to get some of the remarkably detailed shots like some of you are getting here!

Alex06 · Jul 23, 2006

Ooo, I like the psychadelic background! We have those spiders here too. They're huge. I think I read somewhere that the bright white portion of the web appears as ultraviolet light and lures the bugs in. Everytime i've seen this spider it has it's legs together in pairs so it looks like it only has four legs.

Rathbone · Jul 23, 2006

What's funny is to see them bounce on the web, if you blow on them they will start to bounce. Why, I'm not sure. Ultraviolet rays, huh? I didn't know that!