International Jumping Spider Day!

[adammaniam]

Today is International Jumping Spider Day. To celebrate, here are 10 photos of these beautiful creatures, all shot with the EM-10mk1 and 60mm. Most are with the Raynox-250.

I am lucky to live in a country (Singapore) where these guys are quite easy to find. They are honestly great macro subjects because of their huge eyes and the way they seem to stare right at the camera. Different species have different personalities and require different techniques - some will sit happily and let you stack shots, while others are very skittish and require you to anticipate where they will turn to and get ready with your shot.

I am also lucky to have stumbled onto the M43 system when I picked up photography 4 years ago. The camera was meant to be to take photos of my daughter, but along the way, I rediscovered my old love for spiders and insects. Unbeknownst to me, I had chosen the perfect system for macro - small, light, stable, increased reach, more depth of field while still maintaining superb IQ. Some complain that the working distance of the 60mm is too short but for me, it's just right and enables me to use a small and light diffuser to encapsulate my subject. A greater working distance will necessitate a bigger setup.

Anyway, Happy International Jumping Spider Day! Enjoy and please feel free to share comments and thoughts.

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[Kalifornier]

Fantastic, as always!

 

[RichardC]

Amazing pictures.

 

[Tool Crazy]

Very impressive!!
I'd like to see a picture of your macro setup.
Are most of these single pictures or stacks?

 

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

And any day now it will be “photos of jumping spiders day” and you can post some more of them then.

 

[pdk42]

Great shots. Loved em all!

 

[adammaniam]

Fantastic, as always!

Thank you!

 

[adammaniam]

Amazing pictures.

Thanks!

 

[adammaniam]

Very impressive!!
I'd like to see a picture of your macro setup.
Are most of these single pictures or stacks?

Thanks! This is what the set-up looks like. I generally followed the tutorial at mirrorlessmacro.blogspot.com

Total cost for the DIY diffuser is probably around S$10 (about USD7).

Flash is a Nissin i40, usually used in manual mode.

The photos where the EXIF data is visible are single-shots. The other photos are stacks. Whether I stack or not depends on the spider in question (how large, how skittish). Also, for a full body shot, there usually isn't a need to stack because I'm further away. If I want to get really close, the need to stack increases.

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Here is a different kind of spider, stack of 7-8 shots. It is larger than the usual jumping spider and also kept absolutely still, enabling me to stack a few shots.

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[adammaniam]

And any day now it will be “photos of jumping spiders day” and you can post some more of them then.

Looking forward to it!

 

[adammaniam]

Great shots. Loved em all!

Thank you!

 

[pdk42]

Is it me, or do some of these look cute?

 

[adammaniam]

Is it me, or do some of these look cute?

I'm afraid your statement is not quite accurate- ALL of them are cute

 

[0000]

Is it me, or do some of these look cute?

It's interesting to contrast the difference in impression created by the very different catchlights created by the use of a ringflash, as in these: Spiders (and other Arachnids)

 

[Jeff Storck]

Wow, these are awesome.

 

[Alberta Dave]

These are really fantastic shots. Not sure I would class them as "cute". Rather class them as "Wow that lives out there, glad I'm not small enough to tangle with it LOL.
Very cool pictures, masterfully done

 

[drd1135]

Aside from the amazing technical quality, it's the eyes that fascinate me.

 

[adammaniam]

Wow, these are awesome.

Thank you very much.

 

[adammaniam]

These are really fantastic shots. Not sure I would class them as "cute". Rather class them as "Wow that lives out there, glad I'm not small enough to tangle with it LOL.
Very cool pictures, masterfully done

Thank you, very kind of you to say that.

Aside from the amazing technical quality, it's the eyes that fascinate me.

Thank you! And yes, I love how much expression there seems to be in their eyes.

 

[adammaniam]

Thank you @barry13 for the kind feature. It is always a pleasure and honour to be featured on this excellent site.