Little Jumping Spider

[barmstrong]

A little Jumping Spider from this summer. Not quite enough DOF but I still liked it. Canon 30D with full set of extension tubes + 105mm macro lens. F8, 1/250 shutter speed, ISO 200, not cropped.

[mrsisu]

I like this image with the clean uncluttered background. Details on face are very sharp. How big is this tiny animal?

[barmstrong]

Thanks, Don. For scale, the spider is perched on the edge of a Lantana leaf so its length is probably just under 1/4 inch.

[Photobiologist]

Great pic! I really like those little guys. Thanks for sharing!

[rpk717]

Butch,

Another great shot, those eyes are amazing.

[barmstrong]

Thanks, guys. Of all the bugs I have photographed, the jumpers are my favorites. They seem to have so much character.

[jckegley]

My first thought was that I wish the rest of the insect was in the depth of field. Now I think I like the plane of focus where it is with just the head and the front legs in focus. Nice shot. I have viewed it a couple of times.

[barmstrong]

Thanks, Joe. Would have been difficult to get much more in focus at that magnification but I do wish I could have gotten enough to get the eyes a bit sharper. This spring I am going to give focus stacking a try.

[rpk717]

Can't wait to see how the focus stacking is going to work. I know the theory but have never tried it. Thanks for sharing that idea.

[dawnita]

I like the little guy. It looks like he is trying to say something. Though it would be nice to have more of his body in focus, I think this works also.

BTW, what is focus stacking?

Dawnita

[barmstrong]

Thanks, Dawnita. Hard to get much DOF at magnifications greater than 1:1.

Focus stacking is a technique that uses multiple photographs of the same subject with different focus planes combined to give extended DOF. I like to use a freeware program Combinez5 for this. You can get a better description of the process and download the software here:
http://hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZ5/combinez5.htm