Nursery Web Spider, Iscorama anamorphic
Nikon D60, Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8 lens fitted with an Iscorama anamorphic compression module, with the objective from a junk Tele-Astranar 400mm f/6.8 lens reverse mounted on the Isco. Lighting provided by a SB-20 Speedlight flashed through a diffuser made from the bowl that comes in a frozen dinner. Working distance = 10".
This is a Nursery Web Spider I captured in a neighbor's garden shed and released on my pine pollen dusted Forsythia bush. The neighbor phoned me and begged me to come over and get rid of the largest spider she had ever seen. She sounded really upset, telling me she'd picked up a jacket that was left in the shed and the spider scurried out from under it, disappearing into a bunch of flower pots. I frequently have folks call to have me rid them of spiders and in almost all cases the size of the creature is grossly overestimated. I asked her how big it was and she assured me it was at least the size of a large mouse. After grabbing my usual "capture container" I went over to help her deal with this "creepy intruder". She showed me where the shed was, and from her back porch watched me as I went to work. I found the thing sitting atop a balled-up rag. Although it wasn't "large mouse" size, it was about as big as a small mouse, if you consider its largest dimension across the span of its legs. What made it appear even larger was the fact that it was exceedingly "plump", probably full of eggs. It was so fat that in walking about, its hindmost legs had begun to wear the hair off the sides of her abdomen. After quickly covering it with my small clear plastic container, because of the irregular surface of the rag, I had a bit of difficulty sliding a file card under the container to complete the capture without pinching one of its legs. She was captured without injury, and I went over to show her to the woman, who, upon seeing me walk toward her with the cup, went into the house, locked the outside door, and we had our conversation through the screen. She clearly didn't want this creature escaping confinement and getting into her house. She knows I capture some spiders that I encounter, photograph them, then release them into my back yard, and was worried that as soon as it was released it would make a bee-line for her garden shed. I assured her that she'd never see it again.
Here it's sitting in the exact spot it landed after I dumped it out of the cup. I had expected it to scoot away and hide, but it didn't. About 15 minutes later I looked out my kitchen window and could see it still sitting in the same spot. I fetched my camera and popped off a few shots using different close-up lenses, finishing up with one that provided almost no working distance, causing the spider to scoot away.
DSC-0197-WS
Nursery Web Spider, Iscorama anamorphic
Nikon D60, Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8 lens fitted with an Iscorama anamorphic compression module, with the objective from a junk Tele-Astranar 400mm f/6.8 lens reverse mounted on the Isco. Lighting provided by a SB-20 Speedlight flashed through a diffuser made from the bowl that comes in a frozen dinner. Working distance = 10".
This is a Nursery Web Spider I captured in a neighbor's garden shed and released on my pine pollen dusted Forsythia bush. The neighbor phoned me and begged me to come over and get rid of the largest spider she had ever seen. She sounded really upset, telling me she'd picked up a jacket that was left in the shed and the spider scurried out from under it, disappearing into a bunch of flower pots. I frequently have folks call to have me rid them of spiders and in almost all cases the size of the creature is grossly overestimated. I asked her how big it was and she assured me it was at least the size of a large mouse. After grabbing my usual "capture container" I went over to help her deal with this "creepy intruder". She showed me where the shed was, and from her back porch watched me as I went to work. I found the thing sitting atop a balled-up rag. Although it wasn't "large mouse" size, it was about as big as a small mouse, if you consider its largest dimension across the span of its legs. What made it appear even larger was the fact that it was exceedingly "plump", probably full of eggs. It was so fat that in walking about, its hindmost legs had begun to wear the hair off the sides of her abdomen. After quickly covering it with my small clear plastic container, because of the irregular surface of the rag, I had a bit of difficulty sliding a file card under the container to complete the capture without pinching one of its legs. She was captured without injury, and I went over to show her to the woman, who, upon seeing me walk toward her with the cup, went into the house, locked the outside door, and we had our conversation through the screen. She clearly didn't want this creature escaping confinement and getting into her house. She knows I capture some spiders that I encounter, photograph them, then release them into my back yard, and was worried that as soon as it was released it would make a bee-line for her garden shed. I assured her that she'd never see it again.
Here it's sitting in the exact spot it landed after I dumped it out of the cup. I had expected it to scoot away and hide, but it didn't. About 15 minutes later I looked out my kitchen window and could see it still sitting in the same spot. I fetched my camera and popped off a few shots using different close-up lenses, finishing up with one that provided almost no working distance, causing the spider to scoot away.
DSC-0197-WS