The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
No, not the band, this lovely mother-to-be! A wolf spider (possibly Gladicosa gulosa) will first carry her egg sac with her and when the babies hatch, she carries them, too, but on her back. Many spider mothers actually protect and nurture their spiderlings and this mother will continue to hunt as usual as her babies first hatch and then drop off to live their spidery lives. She is less than 1 inch with all the legs (2cm). I think that’s a tree flower next to her, possibly an oak. You can see the thread of it under her and running left.
After I worked with her on the driveway for a while, I gently moved her to a leaf which she promptly jumped on then scooted under. I relocated the the leaf to a shady spot since she was following me to get in my shadow. I was on the driveway photographing Six-spotted tiger beetles which are about her size, but ferocious predators so I didn’t want her to fall victim and that was another reason I moved her.
Specific Feedback
An improvised stack using a few photos that had slightly different focus points - does everything look ok? Mostly I wanted to show her and the egg sac clearly. Probably could have used some fill flash. Maybe next time!
Technical Details
Handheld
Lr for a crop and wb adjustment. The usual S-curve to manage luminosity. Added some texture & sharpening, lens correction and then into Zerene for a stack. Learned a valuable lesson - don’t crop any of the shots you intend for the stack as they will be different sizes and rejected by Zerene. Crop later when the TIF comes back to Lr. When it did, I massaged the color and contrast again.
Kris, I like that you really got down to her eye level for this shot. Wonderful details in her, and I love how the drive pebbles compliment her colors nicely. She sure posed in just the right place to include the little flower, which in itself is amazing to be there on the cement driveway. How stuff like it can grow where it seems impossible, it’s a mystery. She looks a bit uncomfortable with her egg sack. Thank you for sharing about how when they hatch she still will carry the babies on her back. That was kind of you to move her to safety and shade.
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman - I was in a deep squat which is my norm for chasing these kinds of critters. I could walk around her pretty freely without her moving too far so that helped. I imagine the egg sac is a bit awkward, but with eight legs, who knows. The spiders will move off of her when they have their first molt. Until then I think they have tiny “yolks” for lack of a better word, to feed from and they come off with the exoskeleton. I seem to remember that is the case with certain nursery web spiders like the big momma fishing spiders on our dock. There are literally thousands of spiderlings on it some summers when more than one nest is present. They are very cute even if mom and dad are a bit daunting.
Oh and the bit of flower fell from a tree I think, it didn’t grow there. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.
Kris, what a great image and story you shared here. I had never seen a spider with her egg sac in such beautiful macro detail. The focus stacking you did really enhanced the sharp qualities of your image. I think everything looks great. The DOF is top-notch, especially by using the crop allowing more room in the back of the photo. I don’t know what you could have gained with a flash. The shadows are fine for my eyes. You accomplished your goal of highlighting the spider and its egg sac clearly.
About that, whether focus stacking or not, cropping is always the last thing I do in my edits. I never know what final size I will want at any given point.
Kris, it’s really neat perspective and nice surface she’s on, the surface looks more like course sand that we use for landscaping and erosion control, it doesn’t have that typical concrete look and that makes this seem more nature based rather than manmade.
I appreciate the story of how they carry their young even after babies hatch.
And I appreciate the story about moving her to a safer location!
I witnessed a mother wolf spider accidently get smacked by falling construction debris a few years ago and wow, baby spiders went “Everywhere”, there must have been at least a hundred, or more!
Knowing now that mother carries her young on her back explains why I saw so many babies scurry from her location when that happened.
I think I now know who to contact when I need information on such things
BTW, I don’t feel that fill flash is necessary for this one IMHO, it seems well lit underneath where the egg sac is (if that’s the concern).
Lighting is pretty much global and pretty even but that’s not a detraction for me at all.
As they say,: It’s not a bug, it’s a feature"
Hi Kris,
wow, that looks awesome. I love the composition with the spider and the yellow flower. And the depth of field is perfect.
Thanks also for the interesting information you always provide about the photographed objects. I enjoy these very much. And they transform a critter that many might find disgusting into a creature you want to learn more about.
BTW, “Wolf Spider” sounds kind of dangerous.
I’m curious how long the spider patiently sat there and posed for your photo. Sounds like she enjoyed being in the spotlight.
I don’t think an additional fill flash would have helped. To show the egg sac more clearly you should have removed the yellow flower because it steals the show a little bit from the egg sack.
But I love the image as it is.
There is one little detail that distracts my eye slightly: the very bright spot in the lower right of the frame. I would darken it or clone it out. But this is really nitpicking.
Thanks @EgĂdio, @Merv, & @Jens_Ober - glad you guys found it engaging and educational. I have a love of spiders and so always try to make them relatable since they are so important for our ecosystems. We have real wolves, too, and they are about as dangerous to us as these little spiders are - just named for their hunting prowess although it is solitary not cooperative like their namesakes.
She was pretty chill and maybe a bit tired from dragging her eggs around so she stopped quite a bit instead of running, lucky for me. Maybe if I’m lucky I can see one with babies this year. And that no tragedies ensue (that incident sounds sad, Merv).
