Spider is not interested

[renaud]

I assume everybody has seen spectacular pictures of small crab spiders capturing much larger prey, so when I spotted this spider waiting, I relished the idea of doing the same in UV.

 

 

However, bee after bee landed on the flower, and the spider wasn't interested.

 

 

Sometimes it would even hide under the petals.

 

 

My interpretation is now that the silk net (visible under the spider's legs) contains eggs. The spider was protecting its brood instead of feeding. I blame parental care for a missed photographic opportunity, please correct me if you think of a better culprit.

 

[Andrea B.]

What a wonderful series, Renaud !! Very nice work.

 

It certainly could be that the Spidey was protecting eggs. It is very pretty in UV, isn't it?

[Damon]

Pretty neat! Thanks for sharing.

 

-D

[colinbm]

Beaut story Renaud, & fantastic photography.

Col

[renaud]

Thanks for the kind comments. Andrea, the spider looks quite pretty in visible as well.

 

[nfoto]

Would you care to share the gear and methods used here? As commented upon by several members already, image quality is really good and I'm certain we all could learn from your experience.

[renaud]

Sure, the camera is a Nikon D200 converted with a UVR Optics "Andrea-U" ICF replacement. The lens is a 105mm UV-Nikkor, I may have used an extension tube but I didn't keep note of this. I shot this handheld and the light is provided by two Metz 32 Z-2. These small flashes can be had for 15-20€, the yellow Fresnel lens easily pops out and once naked they output a decent amount of UV. They're not very powerful so I use a flash bracket to place them close to the subject (the tubes sit roughly either side of the front lens).

Image quality is fine on a small picture but the noise is levels are high, both random noise erasing some details, and banding in the dark areas (not in this series), so I have now replaced this camera with a full-spectrum Panasonic GX7.

[Andrea B.]

Thanks, Renaud, for the equipment update. The GX7 must be a nice change after the D200 which did have its limitations. Having Live View is nice for UV/IR work.