Want critique Until next year 😥....but what a shoot!!!

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Sony a7iii, Loawa 100mm x2 macro lens, ISO 160, f/16, 1/200 sec, handheld, flash and diffuser

Chavezshutter

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Hello,

Last weekend I was able to get to the coast to have what may well be my last opportunity to photograph my favourite Maratus - The Tasmanian peacock spider. eliasfta eliasfta and I have had our most successful season this year getting thousands of photos and video of these tiny spiders. Any day that the weather was decent during our springtime and you could find us out in the field, crawling on the floor while shooting them😅 . We learnt a lot about how to and when to find them, saw their courtship dance and fights, etc. After a long cold winter, my shooting,editing and how to approach insect techniques were rusty to say the least 😂. I improved my diffusion and changed my post editing since then.

But on this day, the last shoot for this beautiful spider for the season all the stars lined up for this shoot. This male was the only one I saw at the place where I normal find these species and he was a perfect model, not skittish and let me get very close, gave me great angles and more importanly he would look at the lenses now and then. Male peacock spiders give very quick glances where they lock eyes with the lense giving those face, eye shots everyone loves, females on the other hand will outright stare at you making eye shots easy. It was a great shoot and I got some of my favourite shots of the season, an incredible farewell and until next year send off. I have too many to post so we will start with this one, which by the way is among a set of images which will be my first printed photos. Hope you enjoy

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Helix_2648

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That's just awesome and I fully agree that you've greatly improved your skills and technique! I'm again and again fascinated by your pictures. Especially these ones! They are so colorful, pin-sharp and wonderful framed. I'm so excited to see the pictures which you'll take next season!
 
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Chavezshutter

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That's just awesome and I fully agree that you've greatly improved your skills and technique! I'm again and again fascinated by your pictures. Especially these ones! They are so colorful, pin-sharp and wonderful framed. I'm so excited to see the pictures which you'll take next season!
If I manage to find enough species I plan on doing a calender as inspired by you, so far I have access to 5 peacock species, there are maybe 7 or 8 in my state, so gonna have to travel a bit for the 12 I need
 

lovitazoe

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Wow! Those are amazing shot! Do you have any tips how to approach them without making the scared? So far, I'm not very good in taking photos of spiders.
 
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Chavezshutter

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Wow! Those are amazing shot! Do you have any tips how to approach them without making the scared? So far, I'm not very good in taking photos of spiders.
Most spiders don't see very well, using other senses to hunt, mate, etc. These are easier to approach and tend to be active at nightime, they dont have the sense of awareness in 3d space like of some of the other species. Most jumping spiders are daylight creatures and they have amazing eyesight, 360 degree vision, 8 eyes all up - 6 from the simpler eyes around the head and 2 from the main eyes at the front. My brother and I have have observed these spiders see someone moving from over 3 meters away, turning their heads to follow a passing person. You simply cannot sneak up on a jumping spider, it does not need to turn its head to see you, but when it really wants to get a good look at you it will turn to use its main 2 front eyes, which work and see similarly to ours (pretty advanced hardware for a little spider😀).

Tips:

  • You need to spot these spiders from as much distance as possible then get low and slowly approach, get ready to do a bit of crawling in the dirt😆 , walking right up to one and then kneeling down wont work as even their simpler eyes are made to detect movement and contrast. The lower to the ground you are, the more likely your movement will be obscured by the horizon line.
  • Avoid making vibrations as much as possible, spiders dont so much hear rather they feel vibrations.
  • When out in the field dont waste too much time on unwilling subjects specially when you may have a better opportunities in front of you had you looked around a bit
  • Study their behaviour and learn when is the best time to get a shot. While eating, dancing/mating or sometimes just spacing out while sunbaking are all good times to get close for a shot
  • Don't be too greedy in getting a super close up shot on the first photo, stay back a bit and fire off a few shots and see how they react, better to have a few good shots then none at all from being too eager
  • If they start to move around give them space and back off a little, let it settle down before you try again
  • Pay attention to when and where you find them as well as the weather conditions, all of these will clue you towards what they like and increase your chances of finding them again
  • ID the spider to really find out more about it, like its habitat, diet, behaviour,etc
I have more but i think that list covers the more important ones, getting good at getting close them is just like shooting, you practice - you improve. Good luck with it and let me know if you need any more info 😁