A fine specimen

All good things goes to he who waits...

I wasn't going to settle for the images of a wounded jumping spider.
The set I took of a specimen with three legs was a start.
Somehow or rather, I knew that I would chance upon the healthy male jumper which I had last seen with a prey on its mandible.

This is a common jumper and can be found easily in gardens and wooded areas...

Second time lucky...

I combed Michelle's Jasmine tree and found the spider I was looking for. 
It was prowling on the branches and worked its way to a stalk and steadily positioned itself on a leaf.
That was the break I was looking for.
I picked it up and worked with it over a few shots.
To get things going, I started with 1x magnification on my Canon MPE-65 macro lens.
Slowly, when I got the hang of things, I increased the magnification to 2.5x and also stepped up the flash power output to get a stronger exposure.
After getting off a few good shots, I placed the jumper back to the Jasmine tree.

Tree-quarter side profile

Face-to-face

Post-processing..

I used the Adobe Lightroom 4 to post-process the shot.
For the most of it, I darken the shot to get the colour and contrast.
It worked for me as I can see the rich contrast and sharpness.
With an MPE-65, you focusing skills are vital. If its out of focus, you end up with a blur shot.
And there's no two-ways about it.. 
On the whole, I am very happy with the find and this adds to my collection of jumping spider images.

The wounded warrior

Not quite the jumper I've expected...

I spotted a jumping spider prowling on Michelle's Jasmine tree.
She planted this outside our gate and it's been thriving ever since.
The spider I saw was a healthy male.
While looking for it, I managed to stalk one that is rather slow and moving in a precarious manner.
And upon closer inspection, all its limbs on one side of its body was missing.

Gallery

Portrait of pain: the wounded warrior

Adapt, or die: An Apex predator, the spider is now vulnerable

Part of it is missing: the jumper

It's gonna take a lot for this spider to regenerate its missing limbs.
Maybe when it molts its exoskeleton, the legs and pincer may come back...

The Fighting Spider II

A surprise find..
I was searching for bugs and found a male fighting spider prowling on a leaf.
In the insect world, the fighting spider is on top of the food chain. 
You can equate this little fella that measures no longer than 10mm in length as the 'panther' of the micro world.
The fighting spider feeds on smaller insects and is active during daytime.

Three-quarter side profile on 2.5x magnification

 Skittish creature
Its not easy capturing a fighting spider on camera.
Either you have luck or patience.
The spiders are easily spooked and will jump away to save its own skin.
So, you have to set up your camera correctly and wait for the moment.
Since the fighter's feature is very different than most salticidae, its compressed head and flat body made it hard to focus.
Even a face-to-face shot can be hard to frame and with a size below 10mm, the only way to get a decent shot is by zooming-in to the spider's face.

Face-to-face: 2.5x magnification

 The perils of high-magnification
To set up a high-mag shot, you will need a proper lens that is able to close-in on the subject.
At a 2.5x set-up, flash exposure needs to be compensated to -+1.5 stops.
This means, increasing your flash power output to get a proper and balanced exposure.
The spider's black exoskeleton and its blue iridescent markings made it a real interesting subject to capture.
So far, I have yet to capture a fighting spider in combat which I think: would be the holy grail for a macro photographer. 

The Fighting Spider

Ahhh, the memories...
When I was a kid growing up in Kuala Lumpur, I remember spending my afternoons trying to catch the fighting spider (Thiania bhamoensis) or Phau Foo in Cantonese from overgrown shrubs and creepers in abandoned buildings.
I followed my childhood friends Wah Chai and his brothers Ah Nor and Ah Nong around the Jalan Raja Bot area and spent our time in spider derbies at a Chinese Temple in Jalan Haji Hussein.
It takes some skills to spot the jumper that made its lair in between leaves.
The spider skilfully constructs its habitat with its silk and can be spooked easily when startled.
One way of looking for it is by placing the leaf under the sunlight.
Once a shadow is casted, the leaf is carefully removed and kept in a matchbox or a cough lozenges tin.
With a life expetancy of anywhere between three weeks to a month, the spider is fed water and 'live' food like ants and houseflies.
Spider derbies would take place during the short term holidays.
Two spiders, mostly males, would be pitted against each other.
A display of prowess and strength is shown as both arachnicds locks in battle.
In the short display of aggression, the victor will vanquish the loser that runs away for cover..
Well, what I am telling you, is a tale that is three decades old.
Nowadays, the fighting spider remains as a memory from a distant past...

A full body shot of the Thiania bhamonensis

Capture on camera
I must say that the Thiania is one of the hardest specimen to photograph.
Unlike most jumpers, this one has a flat head and a very low-profile abdomen.
Its hard to spot in the wild and if you can score a shot of the jungle-dwelling Thiania, its a bonus because its marking is just amazing!
So far, I've only been able to capture a few set and my recent visit to the Sungai Tua nature park in Selangor, I managed to get a close-up shot of the Thiania.

Face to face with a warrior

I think there's still plenty room for improvement when it comes to capturing the Thiania in its full glory...
Hopefully, I would be able to catalog more fighting spiders as I intensify my hunt for them...


Gallery

Found this little fellah around my office (taken in February 2010)

Shot with my MR14EX ringflash in Bukit Tinggi, Pahang

My most recent capture in December 2011, Sg Tua nature park, Selangor

Macromania Returns..

Inspired by Santi..
My Thai bro Santi Senarat has been working hard with his camera.
I saw some of his pix today and seeing the weather is hot, after bathing the dogs, doing laundry, I got inspired...


Back to the usual hunting ground..
I knew that I can't go wrong at Gasing Hill in Section 5, Petaling Jaya.
Since its smack in the mid-afternoon, the place isn't crowded. Its also pretty cooling underneath the jungle canopy.
I don't know if I still have what it takes to use the Canon MPE-65 macro lens.
This baby can really get you some awesome close-ups! 
I mean, at a 5:1 magnification ratio, anything that is smaller than 10mm in length is dead centre in the viewfinder...

On location.. 

A different landscape.. 
Gasing Hill is even more beautiful now.
Some folks had landscaped the entrance.
You get flowers growing as well as introduced ornamental plants and edible herbs.
My first subject was a Lynx spider.
This was a good sign.
I must admit that I don't have a high expectation of today's outcome in the trail.
And as usual, I packed my EF-50mm F2.5 macro lens together with the 100mm F2.8L and MPE-65 lenses for this exercise.
For the full flash photography, I used my trusty MT-24EX and MT-14 Ring flash.
These are my most reliable source of controlled flash devices.


Lost and found
It didn't take long for me to locate some fine specimens.
And I am happy to report that the spider population in Gasing Hill is healthy.
I was not disappointed with my find along the trail. 
There were some really good shots especially a close-up of the Salticidae or Jumping Spiders.
I also managed to snap a juvenile Tiger Beetle along the way.
With the shots working, I am rigging up for a night macro session at Gasing.. Yep, no more buying bicycles, its Macromania and its back! 


Samo's Macromania Gallery

A juvenile jumper

Another fine specimen: a Salticidae

Close-up shot

The juvenile, taken at 3:1 magnification..