The amazing jumping spider
As many of you have probably figured out by now, spiders are one of my favorite subjects to photograph. Besides the fact that they are really cool looking, most species are usually easy to photograph. Once in awhile a particular spider gives me problems, but usually they pose very nicely. Lately, I have not found this to be the case with jumping spiders.
Jumping spiders, unlike many other types of spiders, have very good vision. They need this vision to be able to attack insects with their traditional jump. They tend to stay very still and then jump on top of their prey. Many other types of insects go more on scent or on vibrations. The result is jumping spiders are very aware of both me and the camera. This can make them rather tricky to photograph, as they often do not give me their better side. They also tend not to be very large, meaning I need to use a magnification of at least 3x to get them. The following is one of the better shots I have gotten of a jumping spider. Unfortunately it entered the house so Nelya squished it while I was putting my camera away.
Recently I had another opportunity to photograph these fascinating spiders. The results after the jump.
The first attempt came on Saturday. I found a jumping spider in the lattice work on my porch and decided to try to photograph it. It evidently had different plans and decided the best location was the side of the lattice work I was not on. After walking back and forth over a dozen times, I finally got it in a corner of the lattice work.
I took several shots at a higher magnification, but unfortunately they did not come out. Here’s another that did.
All of these appear to be zebra spiders, or Salticus scenicus. I could very well be wrong though, as my book has quite a few pictures of jumping spiders.
On Sunday I had another opportunity to photograph one. This one took up residence on my kids’ teeter totter. I carefully elevated the teeter totter to convince the spider to not jump down to the grass and then attempted to track it across the seat. Unfortunately this one was not nearly as cooperative, but did like to torment me. When I gave up, it found the best pose on the seat and looked up at me. I would then attempt another shot – too tempted by the pose, and again it would climb to the opposite side of the seat. The following is the best shot I could manage.
I suspect that this one is a different (and far more annoying) species, but I have no idea which one.
Despite the difficulty in photographing these little guys, I find them one of the most interesting types of spiders. Many of them have very interesting patterns on their bodies (such as the zebra spiders) and can be very photogenic. Some other time, when I have a lot more patience, perhaps I will try moving one to a flower and see if I can get it to stay. However on this weekend there were a number of things to photograph so I soon gave up and found other subjects.
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Tags: jumping spider, macro, photography, spider
Jumping spiders are pretty amazing all right. I’ve found them difficult to photograph because they — jump. You did really good work on these.
The few times I’ve tried photographing one of these guys it’s been a real lesson in frustration – as you describe. I don’t have any photos (of these) worth showing but I’ll still give it a try when I get another chance.
Nice shots!
nice photo’s! i’m using a panasonic lumix fx-50, still trying to work the macro out, but practice makes perfect!