[Kerridwyn]

Little Spider on a plant leaf - Melbourne, Australia
Camera: Canon EOS 350D

I had to entice this spider with a stick to get him into this position and once I did he stood stilll, I was in awe, and I took about 100 photos of him, this one being the best

He wasnt to impressed with me picking on him though as you can see by the exspression on the little guys face

* Make: Canon
* Model: Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL
* Shutter Speed: 1/400 second
* F Number: F/5.6
* Focal Length: 55 mm
* ISO Speed: 400
* Date Picture Taken: Oct 22, 2005, 2:54:12 PM

[Don Schaeffer]

What face? That's a face?
--Don

[Kerridwyn]

What face? That's a face?
--Don

As they would say ... "A face only a mother could love"

[shuttertalk]

Nice, but I'd watch the DOF - personally I find too much of the spider is not in focus...

Oh and make sure he doesn't jump on you! Wouldn't want to drop all that photo equipment!

[Don Schaeffer]

Not even spider mommies like them.

[Kerridwyn]

Nice, but I'd watch the DOF - personally I find too much of the spider is not in focus...

Oh and make sure he doesn't jump on you! Wouldn't want to drop all that photo equipment!

I would have better luck with a Macro lens or one of those screw on filters that help you do close up work

[Kombisaurus]

Nice shot Kerridwyn, but I second what ST said about the focus.

But I don't necessarily think it is a DOF issue. Certainly a deeper DOF would put the spider in focus as ST states, but I think you could've got this shot right without losing the lovely shallow DOF you have.

If you look at the leaf as it extends in front of the spider you can see it is nicely in focus. If you perhaps focussed on the spider's middle legs instead of its front legs then this "wasted DOF" in front of the spider would be used to put more of the spider in your DOF instead of just using half of it. I know the 350D and kit lens isn't the most accurate combination in the world when it comes to precise focusing, but if you take plenty of shots and re-focus for each one then the odds are some of them will do what you want

I'm not saying you shouldn't get a macro lens, but Looking at this shot I don't think a macro lens would've given you any better results. Sure it would let you get closer and take a different shot (which might be a better shot?), but it wouldn't do anything to address the DOF/focus issue of this shot. You aren't too close to the subject for the kit lens as is shown by the fact it is focusing in front of the spider.
In fact, the kit lens is still the most effective "macro" lens in my arsenal. Despite other lenses having longer focal lengths, I can make a small object appear largest with the kit lens because I can get much closer to it. For what it is, it is actually a very versatile little lens.

But the other elements of your shot.. the colours, the bokeh, the spider itself.. they are all lovely

[Kerridwyn]

ok

Well I went through the series of photos I took and found the following, let me know what you think

[shuttertalk]

I can see the challanges you were up against - so top marks for your attempts. #2 would be my pick, but again, the focus isn't too great on the front legs. On the other hand, the body and head have nice definition, so well done there.

[Kombisaurus]

Excellent!
The focus is much better on these.

They do show that ST's advice about a touch more DOF is also necessary to get this image "perfect" (in a technical sense), as even when the focus is very good (as it is here) the DOF is perhaps a tiny bit too shallow to get the entire spider sharp... but I'm nit-picking now, and at least there is no "wasted DOF" in these shots and they are much sharper than #1.

#3 is my favourite. Not just for the sharpness, but also the pose of the spider and angle of the shot. Its fantastic.

These kind of shots make excellent practice for macros I guess... especially when the "model" is happy to sit there and let you take lots of shots.

Cheers
Adrian

[Kerridwyn]

I have some top down shots if your interested to see some??? This is earlier when the guy was lower down the leaf, I believe he was feeding on a aphid