Daily Photographs - June 2015

Well, they happened - again, not every day... and my camera decided to not record the exact date, so I'm going to have to guess the order, but there was a nice variety of things to photograph.

First Night Shots of a Spider - January 2015

I won't go into the stupidity of the last four months, but you have my apologies for the break. Even with an internet deficiency looming, I'll try and get back into the swing of things with the following pics of a spider weaving its evening web.

This is the first time I've ever shot at the darker end of dusk - and managed to get results. I tried a couple of things.

I'm not set up to shoot insects or spiders or other little things. I don't have a macro. What I have is a zoom lens and a little Canon DS. I'm still learning.

And, last night, I learnt a little bit more. I saw this little beauty weaving her evening web while I was out watering the garden. From what I can see on Alan Henderson's photograph on the 'Minibeasts Wildlife' site, this is a garden orb weaver (possibly an Eriophora biapicata) - and she stopped  me in my tracks and made me completely forget I needed to close the windows against the sprinkler I'd just set.

For those interested in the technical side, these shots were taken using a Canon DS126151 and a Canon EF75-300mm Zoom Lens. Here is a chronology of shots and what I learned along the way.

First shot was a massive failure, because I tried the sports setting and the light was too low.

Like I said - massive fail.

Next, I tried using the flash and the close-up setting. My first shot was blurred because time and spiders busy weaving their webs wait for no man, woman, or camera. This is my second shot.

And this was my third shot.

 They're okay, but I didn't like the way the spider looked so shiny in each shot, or the way the light reflected off its exo-skeleton. Take a look at the next shot and you can see reflections on both the forelegs and fangs. I get the impression she wasn't too happy with the flash or camera, but she kept right on weaving.

I remembered reading somewhere that you can diffuse the flash using tissue paper. Being a little short of tissue paper and time, I grabbed a tissue and gave it a go. The first shot held some promise for getting rid of the reflections.

It was difficult to keep the tissue in place, focus and keep track of a rapidly moving spider in rapidly failing light, but I kept trying and eventually took these, much clearer shots.

I'll try for more night spider shots over the coming weeks, and we'll see how they come out. Wish me luck - these little suckers are quite hard to find.

You can find out more about garden orb weavers at the following sites:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_garden_orb_weaver_spider
• http://australianmuseum.net.au/Garden-Orb-Weaving-Spiders
• http://www.spiders.com.au/garden-orb-weaving-spider.html
• http://www.mdavid.com.au/spiders/orbweavers.shtml
• http://www.findaspider.org.au/find/spiders/105.htm
• http://museumvictoria.com.au/spiders/detail.aspx?pid=5&pic=1
• http://www.spiderzrule.com/orbweaver.htm
• http://www.ozanimals.com/Spider/Garden-Orb-Weaver-Spider/Eriophora/transmarina.html

CROSS-POST: Australian Leaf-Curl Spider (Phonognatha graeffei)

I see them when the weather warms, and then they go away again. Autumn was when this shot was taken, and now it's winter and they are gone. I will celebrate them again in spring when they re-emerge from wherever it is they have gone.

You can find out more about the Australian leaf-curling spider here:

http://australianmuseum.net.au/Leaf-curling-Spider

Australian Spiders: The Huntsman on the Window

Huntsman spiders are nocturnal... I think I forgot to mention that. Heaven knows where they go during the day, but they certainly come out at night. This one was hunting the insects drawn to the light escaping from our foyer.

Of course, I was startled at first.,

but then I worked up the courage to wind the focus in.

The spider was quite relaxed, which is more than I can say for myself. Still, one of the most interesting and beautiful creatures around.

Non-venomous, generally non-aggressive, the huntsman has distinctive banding on its legs and is insectivorous. It is quite a common sight around Australian households, and doesn't always stay outside, but it can be caught using a clear plastic container and lid or thick cardboard, provided you don't put your hand on the base of the container when doing so. Its eyesight is very good, and it can jump over a metre. Huntsman spiders will usually try to escape from humans, rather than attack.