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Gehyra

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Location
Coolatai NSW, AU
After along day driving across the state I arrived back in the 'burbs and had to get back to nature (I am a zoologist, after all). A short trip around my father's back yard revealed this beauty- of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder..
Just a reminder that nature photography is very accessible!
http://www.pbase.com/image/26424606
Comments/criticism welcome.
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
 
http://www.pbase.com/image/22304841/medium
Freaky
Gehyra said:
After along day driving across the state I arrived back in the
'burbs and had to get back to nature (I am a zoologist, after all).
A short trip around my father's back yard revealed this beauty- of
course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder..
Just a reminder that nature photography is very accessible!
http://www.pbase.com/image/26424606
Comments/criticism welcome.
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
Click to expand...
--
Blurred reality http://www.pbase.com/firelink/blurred_reality
France http://www.pbase.com/firelink/france2003
Travel http://www.pbase.com/firelink/winter_0304
 
What you have there is a close relative of the spiders, but as it has the thorax and abdomen fused into a single portion, it is actually an Opilionid, often referred to a a Harvestman. Sometimes they are called "Daddy long-legs", but there are flies and spiders which are also called that. Opilionids are regarded as "primitive" relatives of spiders. Unfortunately, I don't have my library with me so I can't tell you much more than that! But thanks for sharing!
Firelink said:
Gehyra said:
After along day driving across the state I arrived back in the
'burbs and had to get back to nature (I am a zoologist, after all).
A short trip around my father's back yard revealed this beauty- of
course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder..
Just a reminder that nature photography is very accessible!
http://www.pbase.com/image/26424606
Comments/criticism welcome.
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
Click to expand...
--
Blurred reality http://www.pbase.com/firelink/blurred_reality
France http://www.pbase.com/firelink/france2003
Travel http://www.pbase.com/firelink/winter_0304
Click to expand...
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
 
Gehyra said:
After along day driving across the state I arrived back in the
'burbs and had to get back to nature (I am a zoologist, after all).
A short trip around my father's back yard revealed this beauty- of
course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder..
Just a reminder that nature photography is very accessible!
http://www.pbase.com/image/26424606
Comments/criticism welcome.
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
Click to expand...
No pic, but I used to have a huntsman spider that lived in my kitchen when I lived in Canberra. My house mate and I named it Wilberforce. We had no idea whether it was even male. It disappeared for a while and a smaller one took its place as guardian of our kitchen. I found poor old Wilberforce one day when I opened the freezer and there he was frozen into the frost. Do spiders in general, or at least huntsmen in particular, like to find cool places to escape the heat?

Cheers from Adelaide, John
 
These are great critter photos and your comments are also good. You should think of putting together the pics with the comments into book form.
Will


Gehyra said:
After along day driving across the state I arrived back in the
'burbs and had to get back to nature (I am a zoologist, after all).
A short trip around my father's back yard revealed this beauty- of
course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder..
Just a reminder that nature photography is very accessible!
http://www.pbase.com/image/26424606
Comments/criticism welcome.
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
Click to expand...
 
Gehyra said:
After along day driving across the state I arrived back in the
'burbs and had to get back to nature (I am a zoologist, after all).
A short trip around my father's back yard revealed this beauty- of
course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder..
Just a reminder that nature photography is very accessible!
http://www.pbase.com/image/26424606
Comments/criticism welcome.
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
Click to expand...
--
Member of the 'I own a Canon and a Sony' Army
 
Oh cool, I didn't know that,

It really freaked me out when I saw it as I was about to enter my door, took out my camera and photographed it.

Anyways, it's long been dead. Beaten burned poisoned and still crawling, then I just threw a brick at it. Sorry for any creature lovers.
Gehyra said:
What you have there is a close relative of the spiders, but as it
has the thorax and abdomen fused into a single portion, it is
actually an Opilionid, often referred to a a Harvestman. Sometimes
they are called "Daddy long-legs", but there are flies and spiders
which are also called that. Opilionids are regarded as "primitive"
relatives of spiders. Unfortunately, I don't have my library with
me so I can't tell you much more than that! But thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...
--
Blurred reality http://www.pbase.com/firelink/blurred_reality
France http://www.pbase.com/firelink/france2003
Travel http://www.pbase.com/firelink/winter_0304
 
I love macro photography, and spiders especially.

I think you left a little unused quality in your shot. A little levels, contrast, and FocalBlade sharpening and compare them:





The sharpening was less refined on the small version.

Hope you don't mind.

Ted
Gehyra said:
After along day driving across the state I arrived back in the
'burbs and had to get back to nature (I am a zoologist, after all).
A short trip around my father's back yard revealed this beauty- of
course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder..
Just a reminder that nature photography is very accessible!
http://www.pbase.com/image/26424606
Comments/criticism welcome.
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
Click to expand...
--
Good photography comes with experience. Experience comes from bad photography.

TJB



My Website: http://svphoto.us
 
John down under said:
No pic, but I used to have a huntsman spider that lived in my
kitchen when I lived in Canberra. My house mate and I named it
Wilberforce. We had no idea whether it was even male. It
disappeared for a while and a smaller one took its place as
guardian of our kitchen. I found poor old Wilberforce one day when
I opened the freezer and there he was frozen into the frost. Do
spiders in general, or at least huntsmen in particular, like to
find cool places to escape the heat?

Cheers from Adelaide, John
Click to expand...
Hi John,

like most invertebrates (with the exception of some ants) spiders like to keep their temperatures at a reasonable level. But how on earth it got into a freezer is beyond me, unless it was sitting on the seal between the door and the freezer and ran in when the door was opened, somehow without being noticed. I certainly doubt it would have frozen itself deliberately! It's not like people usually keep beer in the freezer!

In my pic you can see the spider manipulating what is left of it's food with two small leg-like structures called palps. In the female, they just look like two small legs. In mature males, however, the last segment of the palp is considerably enlarged, so it looks a little like a club. This is true for all spiders, and although you often have to look closer than you might want to, it is a good way to tell the difference between the sexes.

Cheers,
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
 
William Carson said:
These are great critter photos and your comments are also good. You
should think of putting together the pics with the comments into
book form.
Will

Click to expand...
Thanks Will!

(Sorry I can't ID your bug for you- apart from saying it is a "true bug", a Heteropteran with sucking mouthparts).

One day.. when I find the urge to write more compelling than the urge to photograph!
Cheers
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
 
You really have to work on your fears, mate!

The reason I got into spider photography was specifically to confront my fears after an episode in which I had about a hundred huntsman spiders fall on me from beneath a bit of bark when I was looking for lizards as a teenager. The pic I posted was taken looking up the trunk, and as these spiders are capable of jumping (there is footage of a relative doing this in the movie "Spiderman") it took a lot of courage for me to do this. I feel a better person for it. I could have taken the picture from a lot further away, but I had to let my rationality take over my emotions- the spider doesn't want to get into a confrontation with me.

You might be interested to know that when outdoors you are probably never more than a couple of metres from a spider at any one time (Except when parachuting, on the water, or hang gliding). They are generally harmless and in fact they do good stuff like eat disease carrying mosquitos.

Being especially horrible to something because you are frightened of it is not morally healthy. This is how wars start- and are sustained! Learn about them; they are really quite interesting.
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
 
Thanks for the help, Ted. You have certainly brought out the "hairiness" of the spider, and I will look into FocalBlade- is it a PS plug-in? Is it available for Mac? I'm personally not so sure about the levels adjustment, the original was much more as it was in life, the spider and the trunk having a reddish hue.

Photography is an art, and as such, opinions as to what contitutes a good picture are artistically subjective. Having said that, there are technicalities which can be improved. Thanks for your input. :-)
Ted B. said:
I think you left a little unused quality in your shot. A little
levels, contrast, and FocalBlade sharpening and compare them:





The sharpening was less refined on the small version.

Hope you don't mind.

Ted
Gehyra said:
After along day driving across the state I arrived back in the
'burbs and had to get back to nature (I am a zoologist, after all).
A short trip around my father's back yard revealed this beauty- of
course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder..
Just a reminder that nature photography is very accessible!
http://www.pbase.com/image/26424606
Comments/criticism welcome.
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
Click to expand...
--
Good photography comes with experience. Experience comes from bad
photography.

TJB



My Website: http://svphoto.us
Click to expand...
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
 
that Focalblade is for PC only. Check out http://www.thepluginsite.com to see for sure. I agree that all adjustments are very subjective, but I looked at the original and just wanted to see more for some reason, like there were unseen qualities in the photo.

At least it gives you an idea of what can be done. Others may have taken a different approach. I did not take steps to preserve the original colors after the levels command (edit/fade/levels:luminosity).

Ted
Gehyra said:
Thanks for the help, Ted. You have certainly brought out the
"hairiness" of the spider, and I will look into FocalBlade- is it a
PS plug-in? Is it available for Mac? I'm personally not so sure
about the levels adjustment, the original was much more as it was
in life, the spider and the trunk having a reddish hue.

Photography is an art, and as such, opinions as to what contitutes
a good picture are artistically subjective. Having said that, there
are technicalities which can be improved. Thanks for your input. :-)
Click to expand...
 
Do either of you know what species of spider you have there (they look like the same sort)? We have something that looks vaguely similar here, in the family Argiopidae, which are sometimes called "cross spiders" on account of the cross shaped pattern that they often decorate their webs with. Both of you have illustrated females, the males of this group (if I have put them in the right family) are substantially smaller and sex for the male is a decidedly hazardous undertaking. He's basically there for genetic diversity and providing food to kick start his offspring if he's lucky enough to get close enough to mate.

The argiopid spiders have poor eyesight and rely on information transferred through their web to identify prey.

Keep posting spiders (on the web).. err.. I mean not through the postal system.

Cheers,
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
 
They're commonly called Orb Weavers or Writing Speders.

Yes, mine was a female. Reportedly, a very much smaller male lives nearby to these beauties. Mine made her home in a butterfly bush in my yard. I discovered her one day when I noted some monarch butterfly wings on the grass below her web. They appear in the late summer and fall here in my part of the world. I hope her offspring make their homes in the bush. I , like you, am somewhat unnerved by these creatures. As long as they are not inside my home, I am OK.
Gehyra said:
Do either of you know what species of spider you have there (they
look like the same sort)? We have something that looks vaguely
similar here, in the family Argiopidae, which are sometimes called
"cross spiders" on account of the cross shaped pattern that they
often decorate their webs with. Both of you have illustrated
females, the males of this group (if I have put them in the right
family) are substantially smaller and sex for the male is a
decidedly hazardous undertaking. He's basically there for genetic
diversity and providing food to kick start his offspring if he's
lucky enough to get close enough to mate.
The argiopid spiders have poor eyesight and rely on information
transferred through their web to identify prey.

Keep posting spiders (on the web).. err.. I mean not through the
postal system.

Cheers,
--
Gehyra -the lizard that sticks
http://www.pbase.com/gehyra
Click to expand...
--
Please visit me at:
http://www.caughtintimephotography.com

 
Some other type of shot besides nature macro shots. Phew I don't believe it for a second :-)). Something very special about nature and how it makes us feel.

Anyway, you are soooooo right IMO.

Danny.

-------------------------------------------------
Macro, what a world we get to see.
.................................................
http://www.macrophotos.com
 
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