Arachnophobes don't look now

Here's one for comments please. It was taken on a DS, can't wait to see what the K10D will do with a similar shot.

Nest with hatchlings at top, 2 babies in view near mother.




F9, 1/640, 170mm macro, ISO 800 (will try 200 next time)

Image is about 1:1 scale

when you say 1:1, do you mean on CCD or on screen?

if the latter, remind me not to come to Wiltshire in future, that would take the prize for the largest spider I've ever seen and I thought I'd seen some biggies working in abandoned houses!

edit: sorry, the grammar on that last sentence is appaling, I was working in the abandoned houses, not the spiders. Although I imagine the spiders would contend that they were working there long before I turned up.

When I say 1:1 I mean on screen - what you see here is the size of the actual spider She was about 3" long

Luckily we don't see many of these working on houses in Wiltshire, mind you at that size you could use their legs for scaffold!

that is a large spider!

I have seen the front legs of one which might have been larger, but neither she nor I was very much inclined to stick around and get to know the other so I never saw her full size. I'm not generally particularly scared of spiders, but when you start to think to yourself "I wouldn't need a glass to catch you so much as a mixing bowl", I tend to consider discretion to be the better part of valour.

Spending the following 3 days surveying a house with holes all over the floor and ceiling, boarded up windows and no lights, with the certain knowledge that there was at least one house spider the size of your outstretched hand floating about wasn't too much fun though.

nice shot btw, very nice capture with the babies in view as well

Nice one. This is where those long macros come in handy, so you don't have to get TOO close.

G

I think we can assume that Impotent Spider had nothing to do with this.

G

either that or he's just being overly modest

I can assure you chaps I have nothing to do with the above image, I have never met Rodger, I did not put him up to the shot, Nor did I plant a spider the size of an outstretched hand in ANY house....etc etc etc.

All I can say about the image is, CUTE! she is a beauty and can come and live in my house anyday, as long as she doesn't leave cobwebs all over the place!

I wasn't suggesting you were in any way photographically responsible. It was the paternity of the little beasties that I was alluding to.

G

mmmm come to think of it the spider I saw was probably big enough to wield a camera, and with Pentax's tradition of small and light cameras they would be the obvious choice

You don't live in Bedford do you IS?

Sorry George, I'm a bit slow tonight . I think "delicate surgery" not only makes you fat round the middle it slows your brain cells as well

Rodger,

That is an exceptional shot - the rest of the guys beat me to the punch line.

Mike

Thanks for all the great comments.

Maybe I should get one as a pet but finding somewhere to keep one that size : I'm sure you can guess the size of the web it makes.

Apparently the female eats the male after mating - that's the shot I want next

My wife refuses to even get near one - she'll do a 50yd detour rather than go near it.

Great image. I assume it was indoors. Hand held?

Is she part of the World Wide Web : : : :



Howard

Hi Howard

Nope - shot outdoors hand held but the subject was fully lit with no fence or glass in the way.

I don't like taking pictures of captured animals (seems wrong somehow) so any I post will be truly wild.

BTW Like the WWW joke