[BrianR]

A Misumena vitia found under a Rudbeckia. I was hoping the spiders nonchalant attitude towards gravity would be apparent, but I'm not convinced the angle doesn't feel just a little bit wonky (but I might also be ok with that)

I was aiming to get both the left and right legs over a green background to help them stand out, but given their camouflage skills I'm ok at missing her right set. I think the darker hairs and claws keep them from disappearing.

I'm kinda regretting the direction of light here, or not putting a reflector on the left (it's lit with a flash firing through a diffusion panel camera right and a little below). The water droplets on her back don't pop out without a reflection on them and might make her back look lumpy, something you never want to do to a lady model. The eyes get a little lost too, partly a function of their size and partly how they're lit

I'm open to any comments, critiques, or general impressions.

Attached Images

 

[baro-nite]

Your Flickr profile pic is brilliant.

This is a tough subject. As you say, the eyes get rather lost, even though you have them in good focus. Those water droplets would definitely give you direct reflections from the flash if you had the flash on the left, or a reflector as you say. But this is such a low-contrast subject the lighting already seems too flat, and adding a reflector wouldn't help. Perhaps the key light to the left, not quite as diffused, with a bit of on-axis fill (could even be the pop-up flash with a diffuser on the end of the lens). Good find and good concept to use the contrasting green to get away from the crab spider's ordinarily very effective camouflage. Great colors and nice composition with the opposing angles of flower and spider.

[BrianR]

Your Flickr profile pic is brilliant.

Thanks

But this is such a low-contrast subject the lighting already seems too flat, and adding a reflector wouldn't help.

I went with a low contrast lighting setup for a couple of reasons- it felt more natural for lighting under a flower and it tends to de-emphasize the intricate gross bits of a spider to put the emphasis on it's overall shape instead. Recently I have been aiming at making images of creepy critters that might have appeal to people not so enthusiastic about creepy critters, and de-emphasizing the gross bits seems like a good idea. I may have overdone the low-contrast though, and your input is definitely appreciated

I did a small 4x6 print and the eyes ended up turning up much better than on screen. The catch lights show up much better in print (though still miniscule!) and there's a whack-pile of leading lines going to the face that helps offset their tiny size somewhat.

[Alliecat]

I like the light & the colours, and the lines; the star pattern of the flower kind of echoes the shape of a spider.
I agree the head is a bit lost. Maybe it's the lack of contrast, but it makes the area around the head seem not quite sharp to me. My eye keeps going to the spines on the leaves & stem, which appear much sharper -- an optical illusion maybe because of their shape.
I've seen yellow spiders in the garden... so I Googled. Interesting, & I didn't know they could change colour.