The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Asters are an important food source for many small critters as they prepare for winter. While I walked in the woods yesterday, I saw lots of activity around 3 or 4 different species that bloom this time of year. One was bent low and I thought it would make a good candidate for a photo and then this little one came into view. Of course I got right in there despite the breeze.
This one has added some red/rust to the abdomen, but remains the usual yellow. I also love how they manipulate petals to assist with the ambush. In this case, the petals are secured with silk to provide a more stable platform rather than a hide. What a very patient spider it was, too, not only with me in its face, but with just waiting for some prey to come close.
Specific Feedback
Two things - first I left the color saturation where it is all throughout the photo because I really like the vibe. How’s it working? It’s so late summer and feels gentle and forgiving in the lead up to the relatively unforgiving winter. Second, the stack of two isn’t perfect. Would it be better to just go with the shot with only the eyes crisp or does the slightly expanded sharpness help even though it has a small gap?
Lr for basic improvements globally including denoise & raw details, sharpening and some texture and clarity. Zerene for a DMap stack and then some masking in the TIFF to bring out the spider a bit clearer and a crop to eliminate some spent flowers on the left.
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Wonderful find!! I never thought spiders would use webbing for stabilizing a launch platform – clever! The colors are so nice with the BG repeating the color on the spider but not overpowering it. And the flower is such a lovely delicate color but holds its own very well. The bent petal is a very nice feature. I don’t see any issue with the stack. The only tiny nit might be to remove the piece of bud in the UL corner as it is a bit of an eye magnet. The stems there are fine – it’s just the darker bud that I notice.
Keep the fall colors coming – it’s still late summer dull brown here and then one day it will start raining and everything will be gray.
This is excellent, Kris. The only place I noticed the stacking gap was the last segment of those two legs on our right and that’s so minor that I’d keep the stack for the advantages it gives elsewhere. The colors and saturation are excellent, so I certainly wouldn’t mess with them.
Kris: I’ll start by being lazy and just saying ditto to @Diane_Miller but I also wanted to comment about the comp. Cutting off the petals on the top really emphasizes the spider and renders the flower complementary which I think works really well. I like your stacking decisions and find your choices of POF just right. I would make the bud in the ULC go away but that’s a pretty small nit and this is just a marvelous result overall. >=))>
Oh wow, Kris, what a nice look at this cute little guy. He looks like he is smiling at you. Such great details in him and the flower. Really well done.
Thanks @Diane_Miller, @Dennis_Plank, @Bill_Fach & @Shirley_Freeman - glad the color is a win for this photo. I just couldn’t tone it down since it was so lovely. And also thanks Bill for the composition remarks - I did deliberately slice those off since they weren’t really adding to anything. In terms of POV, this was my second position since the spider didn’t move at all during my first few shots. I like this one better for sure as you can clearly see the eyes. Also bud now magicked away.
You really got the DOF right on this by using a small stack, Kris. Colors and comp are very attractive. And your interesting description makes the shot even more compelling. Next time I see a crabbie I’ll look out for silk supports.
Thanks @Mike_Friel - I’d love to see similar behavior in your part of the world if you have this, or a similar, species. I saw something on you tube about spiders recently that indicated they are moving away from webs in a larger sense with more species going back to ambush hunting. They still make silk and have spinerets though so silk continues to be useful.
