C.M. Simpson: Art and Photography: garden orb weaver

Thursday, 19 November 2015

Daily Photograph: Garden Orb Weaver

So, one of the hazards of an Australian summer is that the critters that normally keep to themselves, sometimes find us a useful resource for survival. This little gal, for instance, was on a piece of washing, until I noticed her, and then put the piece of washing back on the line until she crawled back home... on the washing line.

I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for her when I bring the next load of washing in. It's summer, and the washing provides shade, as well as shelter from the birds.

Australian garden orb weaver

Sunday, 4 January 2015

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:

C.M. Simpson: Art and Photography

Monday, 30 November 2015

Daily Photographs from November 2015

Thursday, 19 November 2015

Daily Photograph: Garden Orb Weaver

Wednesday, 29 April 2015

Daily Photographs April 2015

Thursday, 16 April 2015

Daily Photograph, April 16, 2015 - Australian orb weaver

Sunday, 4 January 2015

First Night Shots of a Spider - January 2015