The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
More for Arachtober! Hope you don’t mind, Shirley.
In August I was outside on the deck when I saw a cute little jumping spider (female Hentzia mitrata) on my laptop. For a while I just watched her walk all around exploring and despaired of her ever sitting still. Then I remembered that jumpers are naturally pretty curious and will stop and examine something new in their area. So I got the camera and waited. Here she leans for a look at the LED panel that’s on a flexible arm positioned right next to her (the arm is on the hot shoe). A 2-image blend. IRL she is about 4-5mm long.
Specific Feedback
Too weirdly artificial or is her cuteness enough to sell it? And yeah, I could have done an better job with the stack. Maybe I should do over.
Technical Details
Handheld w/the LED panel for some additional light and pop
Lr for initial processing for color, contrast & detail. Then into Zerene for a quick stack (PMax), Photoshop to remove an atrocious amount of crap on my lens. Jeez.
A Jumping Spider, of course I don’t mind, Kris! These guys are just the cutest things. I love this capture. That pose of her leaning out of curiosity of your lighting just tells of their curious nature they have. That blue BG just makes her pop. Lighting you used is really good. Those eyes on them are so reflective, that if you don’t have your lighting right, it can show in the eyes. You have mastered the lighting. Nice details of the jumper too!
This is really very cool! Wonderful subject, lighting and colors. I didn’t expect a spider to be leaning like that – quite interesting. Details, DOF and focus blending look perfect to me! And the “rock” she is perched on commands immediate interest – well done!
The stack looks fine to me, Kris, though I’m sure at the photographer you can find flaws. I like that perch-makes me wonder what on earth it is. Well done.
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman, @Diane_Miller & @Dennis_Plank - she was a pretty cooperative model after a bit and I’m glad I got this funny little pose. The lighting is tough sometimes, but dialing up the right intensity on the panel, plus using the silicone diffuser that comes with it works well. The closer it is to the subject, the larger it will be in eye reflections, too. The perch is pretty great considering it’s my laptop, can’t remember what the bg is exactly…probably the deck railing or something. They say the key to better wildlife photography is to learn your subject’s behavior and that goes for these guys, too. They are quite curious and sometimes seem fearless and so getting close to them can work if you engage that curiosity by giving them something novel to look at.
Nice, Kris - you’re lucky to get jumping spiders; I see very few here in Korea. Could it be leaning to get some heat from the LED panel? As others said, the lighting is good. If you’d had your on-camera flash to hand it might have given more balanced lighting, but I like the effect of heat coming from the right.
Thanks @Mike_Friel - jumpers are so cool, sorry they are thin on the ground where you are. They are so engaging and funny to watch sometimes. Plus cute. I think all spiders are fabulous, but there is something about jumpers. Even arachnophobes can deal with them.
I hadn’t thought about heat as a possible attractant, but it being an LED panel I don’t think there is any from it. Maybe she thought there might be and leaned in to check. Either way, I love the pose. And I like the directionality of an LED panel for a lot of close up work - it isn’t even, but sometimes contour and texture show up much better than using an on-camera flash. I use both though and maybe should try them together one of these days.
