 Vikas Shivanker |
Photographing Spider Webs
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Brian A. Wolter |
What was your f-stop set to? A small f-stop like f2.8 will have a smaller depth of field and will keep the spider in focus, but have everything around the spider blurred out. If you want the web in focus also, you must go to a higher f-stop to get more depth of field.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Very fine things like a spider web show up better when there are highlights from a light angle. Also, brighter colors for a background make it harder to see.
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Bob Cammarata |
Both of the above responses are correct. The best time to accomplish this is early in the morning on a cool fall day. The wind will be minimal ... allowing for the use of a smaller aperture and long shutter speed (with a tripod, of course). Try to position yourself with the rising sun in front of you, but at a slight angle to the left or right. This will accentuate the web, and create a halo of light around the spider (if he's home). Also, you can use flash to illuminate the web. This is best when it's cloudy or if the web is in deep shade. Use a small aperture and fast shutter speed to illuminate only the web. Everything else will be black.
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Daniel J. Nolan |
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eric brown |
Mist the web with a little water. It won't hurt the spider, and the water will pick up the light coming through the web.
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Bob Cammarata |
If you arrive early, around sunrise in autumn (about the same time the leaves are changing), after a clear cool night, you can be assured of at least a good hour of shooting time before the sun burns off the dewdrops and the wind picks up. I've noticed that large arachnids like this garden spider will usually build their webs in a position to maximize the warming effects of the rising sun. They will position themselves on the web where their metabolism will increase in the least amount of time. During these early-morning hours, they can be approached to within inches for some great close-ups. The attached photo was taken from a distance of about 10".
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Bob Cammarata |
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David |
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Ryan Glaze |
I shot a lot of spider webs last year. A couple of ideas that I used were to wet the web with a fine mist of water (from a handheld sprayer or a fine mist with a water hose). The other idea is to position yourself so that something dark is in the background (like a window with the lights off on the inside of the house) ... and as stated before ... use a flash. If you're patient, wait until something flies in the web and watch the spider attack its prey. It is very quick, so be on the lookout!
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Yall need to quit harassing spiders with water bottles for your own benefit.
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anonymous |
Gregory, I'm sure spiders aren't worried about a bit of water! They live outdoors!! If they were, then they would build their webs somewhere more sheltered. Not like they are cutting up the web or chopping off the spiders legs.....
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Ganesh G |
Hi everyone, Sorry for butting in because I am not a professional photographer and can offer no advice. I just thought I ought to comment on this because this is one of the VERY few threads on the site which has atleast a word of humour in it. I guess you can consider this an indication that the site is getting far more technical and far less interesting. By the way. Wouldn't it be simple to shoot the web/spider and everything else with a simple handheld autofocus point and shoot camera? (See, I am getting technical too. Had to use four adjectives to describe a camera...This thing is contagious). If I do that, what would be the problem?
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Daniel J. Nolan |
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Daniel J. Nolan |
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Norbert Maile |
The water mister works great. If you do not want to use a flash, don't forget about using a reflector. The macro setting on your lens will probably be ok, but the best investment would be a dedicated macro lens if you don't have on already. Just depends how close you want to get. Some large webs may need a 50mm. Norbert
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