sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

This is my "Fiddle Back Spider" which is a Brown Recluse. You can definitely see how it gets the that name by the large "fiddle" on its back.

Many thanks to Bill for loaning me his M42 to RMS adapter which arrived today and I mounted the 4X microscope objective onto the camera for this shot. You can also see the mounting pin that I used to pin it to a business card. Keeping the microscope objective in proper alignment makes a huge difference compared to the makeshift ways I was using it.

You can also see all of the trash that critters collect on them too which I also find quite interesting although there are techniques that describe how to clean specimens but that's beyond me right now and especially on something like this which is quite small.

As always, thanks in advance to all that view and your comments, suggestions and critique are highly appreciated for that's how I learn.

(Download)

tinusbum Loc: east texas

nice shot! whats that black ball thing between the head and body?

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

That's the head of a mounting pin. I have him staged in a vertical position where I took a business card and poked a hole in it. The mounting pin is not much thicker than a hair and I stuck it into the spider and through the hole in the business card. As it passed through the card, I stuck it into a small piece of styrofoam as a backer to keep the mount in place.

My tabletop camera rig is horizontal (I mounted it to a piece of plywood sitting flat on my counter top) so I need to improvise the subject staging to shoot anything vertical such as it is when looking down on a subject as opposed to an eye-to-eye view. In time I'll modify my platform to shoot both horizontal and vertical.

EnglishBrenda Loc: Kent, England

Nice shot Gary, it shows the detail in the 6 eyes beautifully.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Thank you, Brenda. The tabletop technique is quite different from standing in the bog among the insects going about their business although I would much rather be doing that anytime. I must say that it's nice to walk up the stairs for a fresh cup of coffee whenever the mood strikes me though.

I've practiced with this dearly departed subject several times trying different settings and techniques. This is my first attempt at the vertical view with the microscope objective as my lens.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Nicely done.

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

Very good! Your methods are excellent.
There are various methods to pin a specimen for photography so that the pin does not show. One is to bend the pin at right angles and run it thru lengthwise. Then at the bend have it come out straight down at the sternum & into the card. Cant do this for small specimens.
Do you know about minutien pins?

entobob53 Loc: St. Peters, Missouri

This is an extremely difficult spider to get rid of since it becomes entrenched in virtually all areas of structures. It lives for 6 months with no food or water. Although shy, it is a hunting spider and that makes it easier for humans living within an infested structure to recieve a bite. As hunting spiders go, it is a wimp and it's main food source is dead insects. During the warm Midwest months, we regularly tent homes to kill all the spiders and their eggs.