Still, I used the opportunity to get a number of shots of it.  It clearly was on its last legs as it was no longer able to fly – just crawl around.  I debated a bit about what to do with it when I noticed a spider web with on orb weaver spider next to our house.  Naturally, you can guess what my idea was.

I put the moth in the spider web after some difficulty, but this turned out to be a poor choice.  The moth (which I still have not identified) was extremely strong and tore through the spider web, much to the dismay of the spider which wisely stayed off to the side safe on a leaf.

I felt bad for the spider, as this was my fault.  The moth fell to the ground and after a few moments the spider hurried back to its web to assess the damage.  It then started the long process of repairing its web, which I took several shots of.

After searching for a bit longer, I found what appears to be some type of cricket laying upside down on a leaf.  I prodded it a bit and it moved – still alive.  However, it was unable to right itself and seemed resolved to its fate.  I then decided to atone for my making a mess of the spider’s web.  I placed the bug, much smaller than the moth, in the web and the spider quickly came towards it.

Unfortunately, my photographing scared the spider a bit and it moved away from its prey.  It is also possible that the spider envenomated its prey and was simply waiting for it to pass away.  Either way, this was the only shot I was able to get off (unfortunately a bit overexposed) and I waited patiently for the spider to return to finish the job.  It was then that I got the unfortunate call that our own family wanted to eat and it was my turn to make waffles.

I left the kitchen door open and, after mixing the batter, proceeded to check up on the spider in between waffles cooking.  At last the spider returned to its prey and I ran for my camera (after starting a new batch of waffles).

Within a period of about 3 minutes (or enough time for one set of waffles to cook), I took around 60 shots of the spider in different poses.  Interestingly, I wound up with a good variation of objects in and out of focus – which enabled me to try out focus stacking for the first time.  I have other shots which at some time or another I intend to stack.

Here’s another shot of the spider with its prey.

These types of spiders are very common here around Seattle.  Almost every home has them and they are especially common around gardens.  They seem to like hanging their webs near Rhododendron bushes – where this one was found.  They also don’t mind their picture taken and I have more photos of this type of spider than any other.

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Continue for more on how I did this.

The following are the two shots I used to make it.

In this shot, the spider is in focus but not the prey.

In this shot, the prey is in focus but not the spider.

I would have liked to use a program like CombineSZ, but the problem is the shots are not aligned.  Therefore I used the following steps to combine them.

1) I copied the entire shot with the OOF spider.

2) I then pasted it over the shot with the IF spider, creating a new layer in the process.

3) I then reduced the opacity significantly of the new layer, enabling me to see through it.  Using this mode I aligned the spider and prey as best as possible.  The spider had moved a bit so I made more of an attempt to align the prey than the spider.  When finished, I changed the opacity back to 100%.

4) Using a small eraser, I carefully erased the OOF spider in the top layer, which had the effect of displaying the IF spider underneath it.

5) I then merged the layers and concentrated on the areas (particularly of the web) that looked a bit strange.

6) I used the cloning tools in replace mode to redo the parts of the web near the feet.

7) I had some problems with the right foot, so I copied the foot from a third image not displayed here.

I’m sure there are better ways to do this, but this is my first attempt and I rather like how it came out.  This isn’t the first shot of a spider with prey that I have taken (these spiders are very common around our house) but it is the one with the best depth of field.

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