# Papilio's photo thread



## papilio

.

The magnificent rufilata! by _papilio, on Flickr




Hi all!  

I was finally talked into tossing some of my photos up here on AB.  I've been posting them on flickr for about the past 6 months ... but this is a much tougher crowd!

Nearly all of these photos have been taken since late Summer when I got my current camera, a Nikon D7000.  The lens I use primarily for Ts is a Tokina AT-X PRO 100mm F2.8 D Macro, which I've found to be a fantastic performer.  Most of the photos (not including the following one, for reasons explained there) are fairly high resolution, so if you'd like the best view of a particular photo I'd suggest that you click through to flickr, then click on the blue link immediately beneath the image to open the 1920px png which I uploaded.  Unfortunately it takes an image that large to begin to display the detail visible on the full-res images.

Just this past week I've begun experimenting with an improvised 18mm wide-angle macro, as I've always been keen to get that somewhat fisheye effect which is typical of most point and shoots in macro mode -- I think that it gives a far more dynamic feeling to the image than is possible with a long-focus macro.  This lens is actually just a cheap Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR kit lens combined with a Nikon PK-11a extension tube, adding a mere 8mm between the body and the lens.  I found that this allows the lens, at the 18mm point in its zoom range, to focus as close as a cm rather than its normal 12 inches or so.  For a more detailed description please see the notes below this image by clicking through to its flickr page ...





Are you my mother? by _papilio, on Flickr




By modifying the aperture tab on the Nikkor, I'm now able to use this lens at about f/8 rather than the f/32 to which it snapped during the initial tests, and my first photo shoot with this lens turned out as well as I could have hoped ... I really love the feel of the perspective it gives!  I'll begin this thread by posting some from that session, photos of a very friendly 2.5-inch GBB.  It kept climbing up onto the lens!  

I used key back-lighting for these images, provided by an 8" by 10" diffuser on a stationary optically triggered slave, with the strobe on the camera bracket at its lowest setting just to provide some soft fill.





Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 2.5-inch juvie, wide-angle by _papilio, on Flickr





Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 2.5-inch juvie, wide-angle by _papilio, on Flickr





Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 2.5-inch juvie, wide-angle by _papilio, on Flickr





Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 2.5-inch juvie, wide-angle by _papilio, on Flickr





I need a hug! by _papilio, on Flickr





Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 2.5-inch juvie, wide-angle by _papilio, on Flickr





Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 2.5-inch juvie, wide-angle by _papilio, on Flickr





Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 2.5-inch juvie, wide-angle by _papilio, on Flickr





Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 2.5-inch juvie, wide-angle by _papilio, on Flickr




... as they say on eBay, Thanks for looking!

Reactions: Like 8 | Love 1


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## mcluskyisms

*EPIC!!!*

Awesome shots, I shall be keeping an eye on this thread.


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## papilio

Thanks mcluskyisms!!  Very kind!


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## Protectyaaaneck

Wow, really nice shots man! Keep it up.


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## matt82

You've picked a few quality shots to start of there Michael, that rufilata pic is fantastic :clap:   Incredible sling/juvi GBB pics too.
Looking forward to seeing the updates on this thread, a few diversipies shots wouldn't go amiss!


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## jbm150

Don't stop there, must post MORE!


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## papilio

Protectyaaaneck said:


> Wow, really nice shots man! Keep it up.


Thanks a lot Jason!   

Big congrats on your L. nigerrimum!!  I got Vitaliy's last three, 2M, 1F ... sadly at about 2.5" lost the female in a bad molt.  But the fantastic photos of your F are what inspired me to get them, beautiful work!!  



matt82 said:


> You've picked a few quality shots to start of there Michael, that rufilata pic is fantastic :clap:   Incredible sling/juvi GBB pics too.
> Looking forward to seeing the updates on this thread, a few diversipies shots wouldn't go amiss!


Thanks a bunch Matt!    The rufilata is one of my faves, had it made into a poster-size print.

You're right, I should probably put a few of the diversipes up soon -- I'm thinking I'll post by species rather than just dumping everything here at once.  



jbm150 said:


> Don't stop there, must post MORE!


LOL Jeff, thanks!    There are plenty more where they came from.

Sorry to see about your H.mac ... hate to sound here as if all my Ts die, but I lost a gorgeous P. tigrinawesseli juvie to DKS a few months ago, whatever that is I hate it!!


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## papilio

*A. diversipes and P. ornata*

Here are some small slings ...



A. diversipes, 1-inch and smaller.


JAG pose by _papilio, on Flickr





diversipes mohawk by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia diversipes sling, 0.75-inch, soft light by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia diversipes sling, 0.75-inch, soft light by _papilio, on Flickr

Full-res detail crop.





Deep Throat!  Avicularia diversipes sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia diversipes sling on velvet, 0.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr




And a P. ornata, 1-inch.  These look best in the 'Original' view.


Sri Lankan Blue! 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Poecilotheria ornata 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

5 stacked images.

The detail on this one is quite fine, 'Original' view highly recommended!





Face shot, Poecilotheria ornata 1-inch sling. by _papilio, on Flickr

8 stacked images.





Poecilotheria ornata 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr





Fringed Ornamental by _papilio, on Flickr

Reactions: Like 3


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## crawltech

Awsome pics!......like a bunch of neon lights!...very style-ish!


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## Storm76

*gasp* What equipment do you use?!


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> *gasp* What equipment do you use?!


The camera is a Nikon D7000 ... IMO pure magnesium-bodied magic!    The lens I've been using most is a Tokina AT-X PRO 100mm F2.8 D Macro, which is about half the cost of the equivalent Nikkor, according to the reviews just as sharp, though I've noticed some very subtle color problems.  It's extremely well-built, and Tokina was started by a group of ex-Nikon optical designers.  The GBB photo shoot was my first use of an improvised 18mm macro lens (a modified Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR kit lens), providing quite dynamic wide-angle images.  For extreme close-ups (only one posted here so far, the diversipes chelicerae), I attach a Raynox dcr250 micro lens to the front end of the Tokina macro.

And I use a couple of inexpensive Yongnuo YN560 strobes with LumiQuest diffusers, designed similarly to a 'beauty dish' in order to minimize the diffuser's hot spot..

I process the RAW images with Nikon Capture NX2, save as tiffs and post-process with Corel PaintShop Pro X4 (a remarkably capable alternative to PS, at not much more than a tenth the cost).



crawltech said:


> Awsome pics!......like a bunch of neon lights!...very style-ish!


Thank you crawltech!


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## Storm76

That's quite THE equipment you have there, man! Sounds like you're into photography already for some time, since I can't imagine you got the cam and the lenses only to make pictures of your T's?

However, you're doing an AWESOME job! It's amazing to see the high-detailed macro shots there...keep it up and "feed" us more, please


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> That's quite THE equipment you have there, man! Sounds like you're into photography already for some time, since I can't imagine you got the cam and the lenses only to make pictures of your T's?
> 
> However, you're doing an AWESOME job! It's amazing to see the high-detailed macro shots there...keep it up and "feed" us more, please


Thank you Storm76!  

I have a lot of fun with my toys!    Actually I've only been into photography for a couple of years since I began taking photos of the Ts, but it's so fun and challenging (especially chasing the little slings around with the lens  lol), and I got hooked on it.  I know it's a bit hard to justify everything just to photograph my collection, but oh well, I love doing it!!

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## papilio

*P. bara slings and P. subfusca highland juvies*

Yeah mcluskyisms, sometimes I'm powered by boredom too!    So I might as well get a few more photos posted ...




Some of my P. bara slings, now approaching 2 inches.


Poecilotheria bara sling, 2nd instar 0.75-inch, setae_detail crop, Remastered by _papilio, on Flickr

9 stacked images.





Poecilotheria bara 1.5-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

6 stacked images





Poecilotheria bara 1.5-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

7 stacked images.





... I hate getting up this early by _papilio, on Flickr





Poecilotheria bara 1.5-inch sling, back-lit by _papilio, on Flickr





Rug surfing by _papilio, on Flickr





Leg setae detail, v.2 by _papilio, on Flickr

Most of these P. bara slings were back-lit ... I love how it makes the hairs blaze with color.  Look at those tiny translucent blue hairs!
This image is a full-res crop taken from the image 2 back.





Poecilotheria bara 1.5-inch sling, back-lit by _papilio, on Flickr

5 stacked images




And some of the P. subfusca highland juvies.


Poecilotheria subfusca (highland) sub-adult female, Ivory Ornamental by _papilio, on Flickr

I suggest the 'Original' view on this one too!





Subfusca in HDR by _papilio, on Flickr

6 stacked images





Poecilotheria subfusca (highland) juvie, 4.5-inch. Ivory Ornamental by _papilio, on Flickr

This beautiful T looks 3D in the 'Original' !





Poecilotheria subfusca (highland) juvie, 4.5-inch. Ivory Ornamental by _papilio, on Flickr





Poecilotheria subfusca highland, 5-inch male by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

Very nice Michael! I'm glad you started a thread here. I love the _A. diversipes_ sling side carapace shot! It's insane!


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## papilio

advan said:


> Very nice Michael! I'm glad you started a thread here. I love the _A. diversipes_ sling side carapace shot! It's insane!


Thanks Chad!    That's one of my fave A. diversipes images ... don't really know how I managed to get it, and sure I couldn't again if the lives of myself and everyone I knew depended on it!


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## papilio

*P. regalis*

After a dozen A. versicolors took my sling virginity, my next to raise were six P. regalises, housed communally.  Almost from the start one was strikingly larger than the others, and is the one which I kept ... now a magnificent female at 8+ inches.  As she was the largest juvie I handled her quite a bit, and even now she is incredibly mellow ... I don't recall once having seen her make a quick move other than when feeding, and even then she's quite leisurely.

Several months ago I began another commune of six slings, just so that I could get a photo document of their growth.

In my experience the perfect beginner Pokie, and I still have to say one of the prettiest.  





Poecilotheria regalis adult female, 9-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Frosty Poecilotheria regalis sling, 1.5-inch legspan by _papilio, on Flickr

16 stacked images





Poecilotheria regalis sling, 2-inch legspan by _papilio, on Flickr





Approach of the Regalis!  Adult female, 9-inch legspan. by _papilio, on Flickr

16 stacked images





Poecilotheria regalis sling hangout. by _papilio, on Flickr

4 stacked images





Poecilotheria regalis sling, 2-inch legspan by _papilio, on Flickr





Poecilotheria regalis, adult female, 9-inch legspan by _papilio, on Flickr

8 stacked images





Poecilotheria regalis adult female, 9-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Protectyaaaneck

Oooh boy, that's a pretty girl! Very nice shots.  Is it easy to stack photos?


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## mcluskyisms

Loving these images, the contrast between photography, art and angles are fantastic! Well done!!!


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## papilio

mcluskyisms said:


> Loving these images, the contrast between photography, art and angles are fantastic! Well done!!!


Thank you mckluskyisms!!  Honestly, that's super-good to hear ... on flickr my photos are considered somewhat 'impressionistic', and I wasn't sure my particular style would fly here on AB.  With all the tight macros and close cropping (most of which are yet to come), for the most part they're not really what would normally be considered specimen shots.

So I'm sincerely gratified that you're enjoying them!



Protectyaaaneck said:


> Oooh boy, that's a pretty girl! Very nice shots.  Is it easy to stack photos?


Yeah Jason, she's quite the sweetheart!    Though I'm working at it, my collection's still rather pedestrian, and she's the one which makes all visitors gasp.  I was really falling in love with my female juvie P. tigrinawesseli, she was so beautiful and I considered her my second fave, but I lost her to DKS.  (I now have 4 slings from Pat, which he was offering at a great deal of course, and at just under 2 inches now I see that three are females.)


Just give stacking a try for yourself! It's a blast and absolutely incredible to watch the software render a clear image out of the stack of predominantly out-of-focus images.  I just can't get myself to put up with all of the diffraction at f/16 or higher when shooting macros -- even f/8 is starting to get obviously soft.  So stacking is a Godsend for me. But then I'm something of an amateur optical designer, so I'm probably a bit anal about less than tack-sharp images.   

I'd suggest getting the fully-functional demo of Zerene Stacker, far and away the best software, and just start playing ... if you're like me you'll be amazed at the results you get right from the start, regardless of the fact that they'll not yet be perfect.

Is it easy, yes and no.  The software is a breeze, just a few clicks and it does all of the work, aligning images which are likely to vary all over the frames from image to image, and can even de-rotate to some extent.  The only thing it generally can't handle as well, for obvious reasons I think, is if the angles from which the images happen to have been taken vary more than very slightly.  But even there it often surprises.

Though I was getting satisfying results before I did any reading on technique, you might want to start by going to http://macrostop.com/ and downloading their free PDF e-books -- in particular 'The Art of Focus Stacking'. I would only differ with the writing on one point, the author's demand for a stable platform ... not really an option when shooting our wildlife.  I do eveything hand-held, unless (as with the regalis and most terrestrials ... of which I have very few) the T is something of a pet rock.  Then I'll use a monopod and actually turn the focus ring slowly as I snap a stack.  But more often its just random luck, normal hand-shake brings the focus to different planes on the subject, and then it's a matter of trying to find at least 6 or so fairly evenly spaced focal planes on the T while you're culling the images, and re-naming the files so that they're in order.  Much easier and more likely to occur than that may sound.

Anyway, this is where a lot of practice comes into the equation ... it's not unusual to snap the shutter several hundred times or more for just a few good stacks when I'm working with hyper little slings.  But that's still only about a 15-20 minute photo shoot.  And to me at least the results are (usually) quite satisfying, well worth the effort.

Of course if the T is really stationary, a tripod and focus rail are wonderful.  If you'd care to check it out sometime, http://www.flickr.com/photos/41721083@N03/6694571555 is a dead B. lat with which I used a rail and took a stack 32 images deep at f/5.6.  The full-res image which you can view at the link there, though still falling short of what the equipment is capable of due to my less than good technique, has quite remarkable IQ I think.

Sorry Jason, maybe way TMI, but if stacking suits your style I think you'll see where my enthusiasm for it comes from.  


And BTW, as you'll read in the above book, focus stacking is by no means useful only for macro shooters.

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## Protectyaaaneck

Very cool man, thanks for the very informative response.  I'm going to try and get to know my camera a little better here in the coming months and maybe then I'll be able to put out pictures half as spectacular is yours, haha.  You do some awesome work, keep it up.  Also, I wonder if any of those slings are from my hatchings.


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## papilio

Protectyaaaneck said:


> Very cool man, thanks for the very informative response.  I'm going to try and get to know my camera a little better here in the coming months and maybe then I'll be able to put out pictures half as spectacular is yours, haha.  You do some awesome work, keep it up.  Also, I wonder if any of those slings are from my hatchings.


Wow, that'd be so cool if they were!

The only ones I don't know about are the regalises, I bought them from Raul.  Chad and I both just happened to get our (now mature) P. subfusca highlands from Vitaliy, my P. baras are from Anastasia and the A. diversipes slings are from a MM which I gave to Jamie.

Thanks again for the compliments, _very_ much appreciated!!    Forgive me please for not leaving many comments, but I've spent no small amount of time gazing at your photos!!


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## matt82

Great progression shots of he P. regalis, Michael, excellent looking Pokie!  

"Approach of the Regalis" is an amazing shot, the *original view* has a ridiculous amount of detail!


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## papilio

matt82 said:


> Great progression shots of he P. regalis, Michael, excellent looking Pokie!
> 
> "Approach of the Regalis" is an amazing shot, the *original view* has a ridiculous amount of detail!


Thanks a lot Matt!    I got pretty lucky with that "Approach" shot, she was absolutely motionless while I got _two_ very deep image stacks ... in the first one I missed a 'step' so there was a blurry band there, and on the second one she decided to move just enough to make further stacking images impossible right as I had reached the back of the carapace!

Just as with most of my Ts, the photo was taken through the regalis' acrylic housing ... I'm thinking of turning my bedroom (minus my bed) into my T room so that for the first time I'll have a safe, large area of floor space, so that I can take the Ts out to photograph them, I'd expect the sharpness then to be quite pleasing.  

But I was quite happy with this photo ... just wish I had known the merits of diffused lighting back then!


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## papilio

*Alien ornata*

When I fed it last night, this tiny sling went wild and snagged four roaches in its fangs within seconds.  I had planned on this being just another focus stack, but considering the sling's attitude I thought maybe I'd take the image in an opposite direction than usual ... I left off the upper layers of the stack, leaving the sling's eyes in a sort of mindless, zombied blur and letting the sharp focus of the eerily infant-like roach eyes become the image's rather morbid point of attention.





Poecilotheria ornata 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

7 stacked images

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## papilio

*The latest love of my life.*

I've wanted one for a long, long time, a truly white adult female H. mac.  I'd never actually seen one in person, and I know as well as anyone how difficult it is for photos to tell the truth, so I was ecstatic to see her when she arrived yesterday looking exactly as I'd imagined!

What a an elegant stunner ... and so far I'd have to say that she's as docile as any T that I have.





The new love of my life! by _papilio, on Flickr





Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr





Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

She's gorgeous! Enjoy her now before she gets settled in!


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## papilio

advan said:


> She's gorgeous! Enjoy her now before she gets settled in!


Thanks!  I am, she's sitting here quietly on my desk so I can just stare at her!


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## jbm150

Gorgeous H. mac, I was going to ask if you had one.  I'd have loved to see your photos of it and sure enough


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## Protectyaaaneck

papilio said:


> Wow, that'd be so cool if they were!


Since you got your P. tigrinawesseli from Pat I figured that some of your other T's might have been from my hatchings last year. But I guess I was wrong lol.  Nice shots of the H. mac!


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## papilio

Thanks guys!  I'm pretty excited about her ... she's on the small side, but somehow that even seems to add to the pristine appearance.


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## matt82

Great new addition Michael, H. maculata is also a T that's right up there on my want-list; an amazingly camouflaged species in the wild I reckon!  Are they similar in LS to a Poeci or a little on the smaller side?  Fantastic pics as standard!


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## papilio

matt82 said:


> Great new addition Michael, H. maculata is also a T that's right up there on my want-list; an amazingly camouflaged species in the wild I reckon!  Are they similar in LS to a Poeci or a little on the smaller side?  Fantastic pics as standard!


Gracias!    She's just as I'd always wanted ... I've raised them myself from slings in the past but they all came out more tan, not too interesting.  She's really quite small.  This is actually Thad's!  Check out his photos with her beside a dime.    That kind of threw me at first, it looked so tiny (seems larger in real life) that I also had him pick up and send me another female from a neighbor of his!  But that one's going on the auction block, it's about an inch larger but doesn't have the same elegance as his.

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## papilio

*E.  cyanognathus*

... and another T which I found in Thad's care package, a 3-inch juvie Blue Fang, which he was kind enough to just give to me since it's a male.  Still great for photos though ... but what a monster!  Took me forEVER to get just a few useable photos!!  




Ephebopus cyanognathus juvie male, Blue Fang by _papilio, on Flickr

6 stacked images





Ephebopus cyanognathus juvie male, Blue Fang by _papilio, on Flickr

5 stacked images

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## advan

Very nice Michael! Be sure to let me know when he matures!


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## papilio

advan said:


> Very nice Michael! Be sure to let me know when he matures!


Cool, thanks for reminding me Chad!  I def will!   

Any chance of your getting your hands on a MF L. nigerrimum?  I've got a male which should be maturing before too long now.    How's your experience with pairing Asians?

And speaking of trying it with my H. maculata, I actually have a second female which I bought at the same time and is about an inch larger than this one, but not quite so pretty (just a bit darker coloration).  Would it be a better idea to pass on a 'size' gene or a 'pretty' gene?


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## papilio

*More  H. mac*

_"One who's never kept a Heteroscodra maculata cannot be said to have truly lived."_





Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*A few random photos*

Here are some older photos of mine which have interesting aspects to them I think, but don't really fit into any other particular groups except one of their own.  





Psalmopoeus cambridgei post-molt colors. by _papilio, on Flickr





What's holding these? by _papilio, on Flickr





Acanthoscuria geniculata, carapace rear by _papilio, on Flickr





Stromatopelma calceatum sperm-web palp charging.  Featherleg Baboon by _papilio, on Flickr





Backlit Avicularia amazonica eyes on exuvium by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*Take five*

Once he'd run out of venom-dripping threat poses, finally got the shot I was after ...





Ephebopus cyanognathus juvie male, Blue Fang by _papilio, on Flickr


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## Prometheus

Michael these are by far the sickest photos on AB bro! People should bring their T's to your house to get them photographed. Keep up the professional work, I am deffinetly going to be back to this thread.

Cheers,

Chris

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## papilio

Prometheus said:


> Michael these are by far the sickest photos on AB bro! People should bring their T's to your house to get them photographed. Keep up the professional work, I am deffinetly going to be back to this thread.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Chris


Wow, thanks Chris!!  Super nice of you to say and MUCH appreciated!   

Boy it would be a blast to run a T portrait studio.  I keep running out of models ( nice rationalization to buy more Ts   ).


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## Trogdora

These photos are incredible. If you do decide to open a "T portrait studio" I'll be your first customer!


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## papilio

Trogdora said:


> These photos are incredible. If you do decide to open a "T portrait studio" I'll be your first customer!


Thanks so much Trogdora!  

Do you live in or near the Twin Cities?  Advan just hooked me up with a local T group, 'MinnVerts', I'll be attending my first meeting with them in a few days.

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## Trogdora

papilio said:


> Thanks so much Trogdora!
> 
> Do you live in or near the Twin Cities?  Advan just hooked me up with a local T group, 'MinnVerts', I'll be attending my first meeting with them in a few days.


Yes I do, I'll be there as well.  It should be a good time.


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## Prometheus

papilio said:


> Wow, thanks Chris!!  Super nice of you to say and MUCH appreciated!
> 
> Boy it would be a blast to run a T portrait studio.  I keep running out of models ( nice rationalization to buy more Ts   ).


Hahaa yeah I like where your heads at with that rationalization. I also like to use the one where I wake up in the morning and realize "Hey it's Sunday!" Surprisingly that one seems to happen every week... I can not argue with logic


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## papilio

*A. versicolor*

These look best in 'Original' view at 1920px.





Versicolor anemone, hard light by _papilio, on Flickr

3 stacked images.

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia versicolor sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

5 stacked images.

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

3 stacked images.

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia Exuberance! by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia versicolor sling at the starting line by _papilio, on Flickr

4 stacked images.

Open the 1920px Original

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## papilio

*P. rufilata*

These are 3.5 to 4.5-inch juvies which I received from Pat.





Rufilata Encounter by _papilio, on Flickr

2 stacked images

Open the 1920px Original





Prowling rufilata! by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Poecilotheria rufilata female juvie (3.5 inch) by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Don't tread on me! by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Grooming by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original

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## Trogdora

Lovely new sets. I especially like Avicularia Exuberance and Grooming - great captures!


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## papilio

*A. avicularia*

This evening Chad came over and lent me a couple of Avics, an avicularia and a purpurea, giving me some much-needed variety.  Thanks Chad!  




Boy this one was mellow, after having spent the past month or more chasing Pokie slings!


Avicularia avicularia 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

10 stacked images

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia avicularia 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia avicularia 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

3 stacked images

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia avicularia 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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Avicularia avicularia 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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Avicularia avicularia 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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The Avic strut by _papilio, on Flickr

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Avicularia avicularia 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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Avicularia avicularia 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Hendersoniana

Beautiful photos, they look unreal! I love the photo set of the avic versi and p rufiliata. The grooming shot of the rufiliata where the fang is visible is very amazing


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## jbm150

I agree, love the fang shot of the rufi.  I can't begin to know how you catch pics like that without spooking the Ts


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## papilio

The rest of the A. avicularia photos are up.



Hendersoniana said:


> Beautiful photos, they look unreal! I love the photo set of the avic versi and p rufiliata. The grooming shot of the rufiliata where the fang is visible is very amazing


Thank you Hendersoniana!  



jbm150 said:


> I agree, love the fang shot of the rufi.  I can't begin to know how you catch pics like that without spooking the Ts


Thanks Jeff!  Other than slings and small juvies, like the GBB, I take just about all my photos through the enclosures.  Blurs the image a bit unfortunately, but not nearly so much as I'd expect.

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## advan

Very nice shots! It shows how nice looking this common species really is! I love how the setae "pops"!


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## papilio

advan said:


> Very nice shots! It shows how nice looking this common species really is! I love how the setae "pops"!


Thanks a lot Chad!    Yeah, the back-lighting really did the trick on this one!


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## crawltech

WOW!...awsome pics!


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## matt82

It's great to see al of these shots in a thread on here now, the new A. avicularia photos are probably some of my favourites I've seen of yours man, just quality shots :clap:


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## papilio

*P. cambridgei, 2nd instar*



crawltech said:


> WOW!...awsome pics!


Thanks a lot crawltech, much appreciated!  



matt82 said:


> It's great to see al of these shots in a thread on here now, the new A. avicularia photos are probably some of my favourites I've seen of yours man, just quality shots :clap:


Cheers Matt!   
Kinda hard to take a bad pic of something as cute as an Avic sling!  




Probably a couple of my toughest pics, I needed really deep focus stacks and the little guy thought it was so funny to keep running circles around the edges of the stone.


Psalmopoeus cambridgei 0.5-inch sling, 2nd instar by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus cambridgei 0.5-inch sling, 2nd instar by _papilio, on Flickr



I decided that I like the composition of this one with the image flipped ... it helps break the mind from recognizing something familiar, allowing instead a more immediate attention to the form, hues and textures.

And it's kind of an inside joke with myself ... this speedy miniscule P. cam got away from me during the shoot, and I was sure that I'd lost it under (or somewhere inside?) the sofa -- a couple of hours later I was lucky enough to notice it walking across the ceiling.  


11 stacked images
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## crawltech

people have no idea how *hairy these spiders really are!!!!!!!*

love the pics man!...keep em comin!


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## papilio

*C. cyaneopuescens*



Trogdora said:


> Lovely new sets. I especially like Avicularia Exuberance and Grooming - great captures!


So sorry Trogdora, just happened to notice that I forgot to thank you for this comment!  :8o

Was really sad to have had to miss this weekend's meet up. Chad got some great images didn't he?!
Hope to see you next month!  



crawltech said:


> people have no idea how *hairy these spiders really are!!!!!!!*
> 
> love the pics man!...keep em comin!


Thanks again!    I recently discovered the magic of back-lighting ... especially with some slings such as the Pokies and the grizzled Avics, I just love how it makes the hairs glow!  





Seeing Chad's new photos of his fresh ultimate MM GBB ... _love_ that carapace shot! ... thought I'd put these similar images up.  This is the molt where she lost her flamingo legs.



Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens freshly-molted juvie, 2.5-inch. Green Bottle Blue by _papilio, on Flickr

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Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens freshly-molted juvie (2.5-inch) by _papilio, on Flickr

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Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens freshly-molted juvie, 2.5-inch. by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*More P. cambridgei slings*

I had several P. cam images taken while the sling was moving its chelicerae and grooming it's front legs after taking a drink from the moat which I use to contain slings while photographing, so I wasn't able to do any stacking.  Well, it kept leaping into the water anyway.  lol  I rather like these photos so I'll share them here -- then I promise to move on to other Ts!  

Again, I put the Raynox dcr250 lens on the Macro for these closeups.





Psalmopoeus cambridgei 0.5-inch sling, 2nd instar by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus cambridgei 0.5-inch sling, 2nd instar by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus cambridgei 0.5-inch sling, 2nd instar by _papilio, on Flickr

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## matt82

Epic sling-shots mate, I love that green sheen on the abdomens of Psalmo-slings.  Love that pic with the fangs too!  Again, the originals are pretty amazing. such good detail...!


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## crawltech

lovin eye cluster detail these days!...its hard to capture!


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## papilio

matt82 said:


> Epic sling-shots mate, I love that green sheen on the abdomens of Psalmo-slings.  Love that pic with the fangs too!  Again, the originals are pretty amazing. such good detail...!


Thanks so much for all the compliments Matt!    I pretty often have a chance to get grooming and fang shots like that (though I have to use burst mode to catch them!), the slings almost always head down to the moat for a drink and then clean themselves.  





crawltech said:


> lovin eye cluster detail these days!...its hard to capture!


Thanks crawltech!  Actually not so hard when I take 500 shots just to get about ten good ones.  HA!  Doesn't take much camera shake to end up way off focus.


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## crawltech

ya i here ya there!...some days the camera hand is so steady, and sometimes it shoots em staright!


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## advan

Nice _P. cambridgei_ shots Michael! The fangs shots are crazy! Now that you have a little more time with the _A. purpurea_, get some shots! 

p.s. The P. cams are 3i.


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## papilio

*A. purpurea sling*



advan said:


> Nice _P. cambridgei_ shots Michael! The fangs shots are crazy! Now that you have a little more time with the _A. purpurea_, get some shots!
> 
> p.s. The P. cams are 3i.


Oops, how embarrassing!  ::

Thanks Chad, really glad you liked the P. cam photos!  



Here's another sling which Chad was nice enough to lend me for a photo shoot.  Don't know what's wrong with me, first time I tried they refused to show any color!





Avicularia purpurea 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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Avicularia purpurea 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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Avicularia purpurea 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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Avicularia purpurea 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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Avicularia purpurea 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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Avicularia purpurea 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

Came through once again with great shots! The eye cluster(4th pic) is my favorite! Good job!


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## Storm76

Your pics are so freaking AWESOME, man! LOVE them...so much detail...great macro shots!!


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## papilio

*P. rufilata*



advan said:


> Came through once again with great shots! The eye cluster(4th pic) is my favorite! Good job!


Thanks a lot Chad!    Those slings were all great fun!  (I like that photo a lot too )




Storm76 said:


> Your pics are so freaking AWESOME, man! LOVE them...so much detail...great macro shots!!


Thank you Storm, very nice to hear!  



My largest rufilata, 5-inch, was out of his hide (for once), so I decided to get a head shot.



Poecilotheria rufilata by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

Nice shot! I love the "tuffs" of setae they have at their eye clusters.


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## papilio

*P. irminia*



advan said:


> Nice shot! I love the "tuffs" of setae they have at their eye clusters.


Thanks again Chad!    Yeah, those are really cool ... just about every T seems to have them, wonder why?



I hope everyone's not too tired of seeing irminia pics!    I've had 2 juvies for several weeks, one was really active last night ... I hadn't taken any photos for a while so I grabbed the camera and got a few nice shots before bed.



Psalmopoeus irminia juvie, 3-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus irminia juvie, 3-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus irminia juvie, 3-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus irminia juvie, 3-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus irminia juvie, 3-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## matt82

Super  P. irminia photos man, wow!  All amazing images but that second one stands out as my pick of the lot.  I like how you've captured the iridescent green colour, stunning spiders :clap:

Downloaded my Pokie wallpaper earlier Michael, looks great.


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## Storm76

Oh my gosh! *gasps* I love P. irminia and those shots are...*epic error, user out of words to describe*


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## papilio

*A. purpurea sling*



matt82 said:


> Super  P. irminia photos man, wow!  All amazing images but that second one stands out as my pick of the lot.  I like how you've captured the iridescent green colour, stunning spiders :clap:
> 
> Downloaded my Pokie wallpaper earlier Michael, looks great.


Thanks a lot Matt!    I was really surprised by all that color.  (That's my favorite one too.  )
Glad you like the wallpaper!  



Storm76 said:


> Oh my gosh! *gasps* I love P. irminia and those shots are...*epic error, user out of words to describe*


LOL  Thanks so much Storm!  Really nice to hear ... err, not hear.  




Wanted to just get a couple more close-ups of Shaggy before I have to hand him back over to Chad.  

Be sure to check out the Originals on these!  




Avicularia purpurea 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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Avicularia purpurea 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*Missing photos I*

Woops!  Sorry, I keep nuking my pics, whenever I make a change to a photo and replace it on flickr the URL changes.

(Whenever this happens I'll try to replace them in later posts such as this  )




E. cyanognathus (post 34)


Ephebopus cyanognathus juvie male, Blue Fang by _papilio, on Flickr

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A. purpurea (post 66)


Avicularia purpurea 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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P. rufilata  (post 69)


Poecilotheria rufilata by _papilio, on Flickr

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## fatich

papilio said:


> I've wanted one for a long, long time, a truly white adult female H. mac.  I'd never actually seen one in person, and I know as well as anyone how difficult it is for photos to tell the truth, so I was ecstatic to see her when she arrived yesterday looking exactly as I'd imagined!
> 
> What a an elegant stunner ... and so far I'd have to say that she's as docile as any T that I have.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The new love of my life! by _papilio, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr


For all the pictures, one word "*Awesome*" 
Especially i liked these shots!

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## Storm76

Tbh - I'd like to know what equipment you use and how you do those awesome shots anyways?


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## papilio

*Watching my first sac pull!  *



fatich said:


> For all the pictures, one word "*Awesome*"
> Especially i liked these shots!


Thank you very much fatich!!  



Storm76 said:


> Tbh - I'd like to know what equipment you use and how you do those awesome shots anyways?


I use a Nikon D7000, which seems like pure magic to me.  It doesn't show up so much in these reduced, or even the 1920px images, but the sharpness, depth and realism at larger resolutions are quite striking ... I'm far from being able to use this camera to anywhere near its potential, but I'm learning!    I've also been experimenting with lighting quite a bit lately, with some real breakthroughs.  A good diffuser is essential ... was a real revelation to me the first time I tried diffuse lighting.  And lately I've found what a dramatic effect can be created by backlighting.  I use a Yongnuo 560 speedlight, very affordable and I really am happy with it.  For diffusion I use various sizes from LumiQuest. 

I've mounted this strobe at the end of a Manfrotto Magic Arm, for its extremely stable and versatile lighting placement. 

I'm also quite impressed with the Tokina 100mm macro lens -- Tokina was started by ex Nikon optical designers, the build is as good or better than almost any Nikkor lens, as is its sharpness, though it has a very, very slight color problem under high-contrast situations.

For my Close close-ups I add a Raynox dcr250 screwed onto the filter threads of the Tokina, which gives about 2.5 times the macro's 1:1 .

If you'd like, take a look at http://www.flickr.com/photos/41721083@N03/6694571555 for photos and comments on various aspects of my equipment.

I do everything, including focusing, manually (actually just moving the camera itself on the closest macros), and since that leaves me just guessing most of the time, believe me most of the stuff coming out of the camera is pretty bad!  LOL  I just take TONS of pictures during a shoot, enough that I can count on the occasional happy accident giving me images which even surprise me when I first see them flashing at full res across my monitor.    All of my favorite images have been the results of inadvertent chance happenings, and even mistakes. 

If I have any special skill it's in the processing vastly more than it is the actual photography.  And quite honestly, ultimately it's the Ts which deserve the credit for giving me good images when they happen.

In any case, Thank you VERY much for your compliments!  I began photography shooting Ts, it's still all I do with the camera, and I'm genuinely thrilled when others enjoy the images!




Chad and Beth gave me a special treat yesterday, they pulled the sac from Chad's P. cambridgei.  I'd never seen it except in pictures ... thanks a ton Chad, now I'm psyched!!  

Here are a few of the shots I took while I was getting in their way ...




EWL, Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 3mm by _papilio, on Flickr

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And these are Chad's lovely new pulchers  


Psalmopoeus pulcher, 1st instar sling, 0.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus pulcher, 1st instar sling, 0.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Trogdora

Great pics of the babies! I hope to get into breeding soon so I too can see such things in person, but for now I'll happily settle for your incredible photography.


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## Protectyaaaneck

Wow man, ridiculous shots of the pulcher and cambridgei babies! holy moly


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## Hendersoniana

Ur photography skills are amazing!! Such nice clear shots of the slings .


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## papilio

*P. cams and Widows*



Trogdora said:


> Great pics of the babies! I hope to get into breeding soon so I too can see such things in person, but for now I'll happily settle for your incredible photography.


Thank you Jen!    Yeah, _must_ give this a go ... I have a MM H.mac on loan right now, not quite sure what I'm doing yet but wish us luck!  




Protectyaaaneck said:


> Wow man, ridiculous shots of the pulcher and cambridgei babies! holy moly


LOL  Thanks a lot Jason!  It's just not possible to take a bad photo of a baby.  




Hendersoniana said:


> Ur photography skills are amazing!! Such nice clear shots of the slings .


Thank you Hendersoniana!  




Just two more shots of Chad's Grandkids 


Psalmopoeus pulcher, 1st instar sling, 0.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus pulcher, 1st instar sling, 0.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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_Latrodectus hesperus_


And Chad lent me a miniscule Black Widow sling, just 1mm legspan ... sheeeeesh!!  ::
Def a lesson in frustration, but what  beautiful little things!!  



Latrodectus hesperus sling, 1mm legspan, 'Black Widow' by _papilio, on Flickr





Latrodectus hesperus sling, 1mm legspan, 'Black Widow' by _papilio, on Flickr





Latrodectus hesperus sling, 1mm legspan, 'Black Widow' by _papilio, on Flickr

Reactions: Like 4


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## advan

Wow Michael! Incredible shots! Shots like these leave you speechless! :worship::worship::worship:


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## papilio

*Embryo cannibalism*



advan said:


> Wow Michael! Incredible shots! Shots like these leave you speechless! :worship::worship::worship:


  Thanks a lot Chad!  Thank you for the sling, really a fun photo shoot!  




After Beth had opened the sac, Chad had great eyes, quickly noticed this cannibalism occurring among a clump of eggs.



Dark Side of the Embryo by _papilio, on Flickr

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Dark Side of the Embryo_zoom by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Protectyaaaneck

Looks tasty.


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## jbm150

You gotta be kidding me with these pics!


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## Hendersoniana

Oh my! What do u use?! A microscope? Haha, seriously, beautiful photos, what lens are u wielding?


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## crawltech

crazy close ups....wowzerz!!


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## mcluskyisms

This is officially my favourite picture thread ever, awesome photos.

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## fatich

mcluskyisms said:


> This is officially my favourite picture thread ever, awesome photos.


I totally agree with you!!


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## Kris M

This thread is insane!  These pictures are the most amazing picture I think I've ever seen, and I'm being dead serious.

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## Eldric

I had fun pulling that sac and meeting you that day. Hope you are able to come to many more meets.  
I may have to let you borrow my male widow sling, he has a bit of striping to him. Hmmmm I'll keep my eyes open for neat critters that would be good macro's. Thanks and if I have any Ts you want to photograph, let me know. I'll bring them to the next meetup.

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## Storm76

That equipment is already quite pricey compared to what "normal" people have at home! You're doing a great job capturing T's! Probably should think about maybe selling some as posters even...I'd get some of those for sure...

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## papilio

*P. cambridgei wrap-up (for now)*

You guys with those compliments, wow!!    C'mon, makin' me blush here!  LOL  Thank you so much!  :worship:
Honestly though, it's just that I've been having the opportunities to capture some really wonderful, dramatic scenes lately.  



Hendersoniana said:


> Oh my! What do u use?! A microscope? Haha, seriously, beautiful photos, what lens are u wielding?


Thanks Hendersoniana!  No, not quite yet!  hehe 
I went into more detail on the equip I'm using back on post2011867, but briefly I use a Tokina 100mm Macro lens, with a Raynox dcr250 attached up front to increase its magnification by about 2x for the tighter close-ups.  Should I be lucky enough to begin having some success in breeding and have more chances to shoot EWLs and 1st instars I'll have to buy a Raynox msn202 attachment lens, that would give me another 3x gain over the magnification I'm getting now.  Fun!!  




bethr said:


> I had fun pulling that sac and meeting you that day. Hope you are able to come to many more meets.
> I may have to let you borrow my male widow sling, he has a bit of striping to him. Hmmmm I'll keep my eyes open for neat critters that would be good macro's. Thanks and if I have any Ts you want to photograph, let me know. I'll bring them to the next meetup.


Thank you Beth, it was a great day!    Oh no, not ANOTHER piece of lint with legs!!  LOL  Sure, bring it on!    I should probably get that new Raynox lens first for that one!  




Since I've been on those P. cam slings of Chad's for quite a while, thought it would be a logical time to dig back into the flickr archives and post a few older photos of my own cambridgeis.



Psalmopoeus cambridgei adult female, 6-inch.  'Trinidad Chevron' by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus cambridgei juvie female, 3.5-inch,  'Trinidad Chevron' by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus cambridgei threat pose.  'Trinidad Chevron' by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus cambridgei post-molt colors. by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Robotponys

AMAZING photos!! So detailed and colorful!

I'm getting into macro photography when I order a macro lens for my iPhone. They're only $15 online. If I like it, I'll upgrade in December (birthday/Xmas). The info on this thread is priceless!  The photos are so beautiful!


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## Storm76

I'm dead serious - make some deal with a poster company and have them sold! I bet a lot of hobbyists would drool to get one of those as a huge poster hanging on the wall!


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## matt82

These recent shots are phenomenal :clap:, well done and cheers for sharing.  Those EWL pics are insane!


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## papilio

*Macros and Posters*



Robotponys said:


> AMAZING photos!! So detailed and colorful!
> 
> I'm getting into macro photography when I order a macro lens for my iPhone. They're only $15 online. If I like it, I'll upgrade in December (birthday/Xmas). The info on this thread is priceless!  The photos are so beautiful!


Thank you!    You're going to love macrophotography ... such stunning surprises are in store for you when you first see the images flashing up on your monitor!

For anyone wishing to try macrophotography and who has a camera (DSLR or otherwise) which will take standard (52-67mm) filters, check out the $75 Raynox dcr250 on eBay ... for the money the performance is remarkable.  They clip on to the end of a zoom/telephoto, the longer the focal length the higher the Raynox magnification.  See the stunning photos at http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/dcr250,raynox/Interesting.

Focusing with this lens requires moving the _camera_, either on a focus rail or by hand ... which takes practice but, I promise, is not as hard as it seems at first ... just be prepared to take LOTS of shots, and some are bound to be in focus!!    You won't see this on the instructions, but the Raynox is designed to be used with the lens at its infinity focus.




Storm76 said:


> That equipment is already quite pricey compared to what "normal" people have at home! You're doing a great job capturing T's! Probably should think about maybe selling some as posters even...I'd get some of those for sure...





Storm76 said:


> I'm dead serious - make some deal with a poster company and have them sold! I bet a lot of hobbyists would drool to get one of those as a huge poster hanging on the wall!


Sorry Storm ... your first post came just as I was writing my previous post, and adding a second post in response to yours would have merged the two, so I decided to wait for an intervening post to come up ...

Anyway, THANKS!!    I've actually gotten all of my equip on eBay, so it's not quite as pricey as it may appear, but it turns out that photography too is mighty addictive!!    It probably looks as though I've gone way overboard with my equipment just used to photograph a bunch of spiders, but I love photography now every bit as much as collecting Ts!  

I began with lesser equipment, but as I've done optical design I'm rather anal about getting tack-sharp images as often as possible, which forced me to keep upgrading to the stuff I've got now, which I'm totally infatuated with!

For me, my T hobby and photography are essentially one and the same ... the time spent during the photo shoot and then the hours spent in processing the RAW images really make me connect in a special way to each individual T which I shoot, I get to know its personality, characteristics and appearance so much more intimately than were I to observe it merely as it goes about its activities in its enclosure.  


I have to admit that I've tended to feel it would be a bit presumptuous of me to think of selling my T pics, but other photographers on flickr too have been 'nagging' me to set up a simple 'storefront' site to offer prints, and even without that I have already sold a few.

I have them printed on 18x24" stock of Kodak's astonishing metallic paper, which makes the prints look almost like back-lit transparencies, and the colors are totally 3D!

This is an image of a print which I sold just last week ... it's a small detail crop from a much larger image (the 18x24 is actually larger than full-res from the camera), so doesn't have the usual sharpness, but is still one of my favorite images.









I'm in the process of selecting a 'gallery' style website ... probably will use http://www.photoshelter.com/, for its reasonable cost, nice templates, and they handle all of the transaction details including drop-shipping so that I can keep costs as low as possible while still making a small profit off each print.

Again, I really hate to appear self-promoting with this stuff ... I mostly just want to share my images on the web!  But if anyone might be interested in obtaining prints just keep an eye on this thread for the next week or so.

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> I'm in the process of selecting a 'gallery' style website ... probably will use http://www.photoshelter.com/, for its reasonable cost, nice templates, and they handle all of the transaction details including drop-shipping so that I can keep costs as low as possible while still making a small profit off each print.
> 
> Again, I really hate to appear self-promoting with this stuff ... I mostly just want to share my images on the web!  But if anyone might be interested in obtaining prints just keep an eye on this thread for the next week or so.



Man, it's not about "self-promotion" - you're having a talent! People can buy the most expensive, or advanced stuff out there - you'll have to agree that even with equipment worth thousands of bucks, it doesn't make you a great photographer! It's about the skill and talent how you put your equipment to use and how you're capturing the fine details of your T's that makes these pictures so remarkably awesome. There are a lot of really great pics to be found on AB and I love skimming through certain picture threads, but (and this is certainly NOT meant in any offending way!) none of those have THAT much detail and that brilliant and clear shots.

To make it short - it takes time for you to do those shots and work on them before you have a picture you are satisfied with. In having them printed, there's extra cost involved. So if people want a poster, it's totally alright to charge a certain amount for that. Don't feel bad the SLIGHTEST about it! I personally haven't -ever- seen any shots that brought out that much detail, that yours do! 

You're golden, man!


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## Robotponys

papilio said:


> Thank you!    You're going to love macrophotography ... such stunning surprises are in store for you when you first see the images flashing up on your monitor!


I already do, it is just very hard to take macro shots on an iphone that don't come out as a blur of color... 




papilio said:


> I'm in the process of selecting a 'gallery' style website ... probably will use http://www.photoshelter.com/, for its reasonable cost, nice templates, and they handle all of the transaction details including drop-shipping so that I can keep costs as low as possible while still making a small profit off each print.
> 
> Again, I really hate to appear self-promoting with this stuff ... I mostly just want to share my images on the web!  But if anyone might be interested in obtaining prints just keep an eye on this thread for the next week or so.


That's great! I would consider a small one.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Shell

Your pictures are absolutely incredible! The detail is amazing, keep them coming.


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## grayzone

wow... i never get tired of lookin at that photo (or any other photos of yours for that matter)... BTW.. payment for that photo is being made tonight, or 1st thing in the mornin. need ya to PM your paypal account to me again please

thanks, 
steven


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## papilio

Robotponys said:


> I already do, it is just very hard to take macro shots on an iphone that don't come out as a blur of color...


Wow, that's amazing that you can, even without this new attachment you're getting, achieve macros with an iphone!  I'll be looking forward to your new images!  


It was really funny, I show up at Chad's with my mega-rig ... he pulls out his little point and shoot and, with one hand and barely looking at what he's shooting, gets an exceptional macro of his tiny pulcher slings ... autofocused and all!!  LOL

BTW, Beth (if you see this) I'll be receiving the new Raynox msn-202 on Mon or Tues, so I'll be all set to photograph the invisible world! 




Shell said:


> Your pictures are absolutely incredible! The detail is amazing, keep them coming.


Thanks a lot Shell!  Really nice of you to stop by, and your comments are very much appreciated!  




grayzone said:


> wow... i never get tired of lookin at that photo (or any other photos of yours for that matter)... BTW.. payment for that photo is being made tonight, or 1st thing in the mornin. need ya to PM your paypal account to me again please
> 
> thanks,
> steven


Great, thanks Steven!  As I said, no hurry.    I really like your photo too, I think that crop I ended up using really helps the image's composition ... can't wait to see how it turns out on Kodak's amazing paper, with all that color it should look pretty trippy!!  




Storm76 said:


> Man, it's not about "self-promotion" - you're having a talent! People can buy the most expensive, or advanced stuff out there - you'll have to agree that even with equipment worth thousands of bucks, it doesn't make you a great photographer! It's about the skill and talent how you put your equipment to use and how you're capturing the fine details of your T's that makes these pictures so remarkably awesome. There are a lot of really great pics to be found on AB and I love skimming through certain picture threads, but (and this is certainly NOT meant in any offending way!) none of those have THAT much detail and that brilliant and clear shots.
> 
> To make it short - it takes time for you to do those shots and work on them before you have a picture you are satisfied with. In having them printed, there's extra cost involved. So if people want a poster, it's totally alright to charge a certain amount for that. Don't feel bad the SLIGHTEST about it! I personally haven't -ever- seen any shots that brought out that much detail, that yours do!
> 
> You're golden, man!


Thank you so much Storm, MOST encouraging to hear.    Yeah, I read once, 'What do you call a photographer who owns a _Nikon_? ... A Nikon owner.'  LOL

I guess that many photographers see only the shortcomings in their photos.  But false humility aside, judging by the generous comments I've been getting here and on flickr, I seem to have somehow managed to created my own photographic niche, and I might as well take advantage of that ... at least for as long as it lasts.

And yes, I have to say that a lot of work does go into the photos which I post ... though I absolutely LOVE doing it all!  The larger Ts, which I take through the acrylic of their enclosures, are generally pretty quick and straightforward ... but in chasing the little slings all over the 'studio set' I often end up with 500 to 1000 shots, and then culling, stacking (when possible) and processing, though again I consider it all great fun, is pretty labor -- or play -- intensive, especially as I typically end up with just a few post-able images.  

I guess what I meant by 'self promoting' is that my photo thread really isn't the appropriate place to bring up print sales -- I'd ask rather that anyone interested simply PM me for the URL of my site once it's up to speed, probably beginning sometime next week.




I really didn't like the idea of bumping the post without a photo, and it really had been a long time since photographing my female cambridgei, just freshly molted (since I seem to be obsessed with the sp. for the time being  ), so ...



Psalmopoeus cambridgei adult female, 6-inch.  'Trinidad Chevron' by _papilio, on Flickr

6 stacked images

Open the 1920px Original


Thanks again to everyone for the very flattering comments!   

-Michael

Reactions: Like 5


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## Robotponys

papilio said:


> Wow, that's amazing that you can, even without this new attachment you're getting, achieve macros with an iphone!  I'll be looking forward to your new images!


Aww thanks!  They're not very sharp or close up, but better than nothing!  My mom's macro on her digital camera is sooo bad. I got a few cool pics, but it is annoying and I don't want to share. 

You COMPLETELY deserve the "flattering comments!" You deserve to win the lottery...

Reactions: Like 1


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## papilio

*Just one more that I found ...*



Robotponys said:


> Aww thanks!  They're not very sharp or close up, but better than nothing!  My mom's macro on her digital camera is sooo bad. I got a few cool pics, but it is annoying and I don't want to share.
> 
> You COMPLETELY deserve the "flattering comments!" You deserve to win the lottery...


Thank you Robotponys!  LOL    And yeah, I've paid my dues with frustrating equipment too!    Still be careful though, even that's plenty to get you hooked!!  



I came across this rather surprising photo from last weekend which I didn't realize I had ... the Lone Ranger never looked so cute!



Psalmopoeus pulcher, 1st instar sling, 0.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

4 stacked images

Open the 1920px Original




My flickr friend Shari sent me this today ... she has watched the T 'migrations' in New Mexico, during which hundreds of males will be seen crossing the highways in the evenings, looking to get lucky during the night.  The locals are very protective, to the extent of lining the roads with these!  








Speaking of mating, I'll be attempting my first pairing tomorrow, a lovely couple of H. macs.  I admit I'll be awfully excited if it ends up working for me!!

Reactions: Like 3


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## Hendersoniana

I think i may have missed ur eq post. But wow beautiful pics again! I own nikon's macto lense but i can nevee achieve this kind of images. I still hve a lot to learn i guess. Really beautiful, especially all the colours u capture and your lighting is just perfect!!

Reactions: Like 1


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## papilio

*A few 'attempting-to-breed' pics*



Hendersoniana said:


> I think i may have missed ur eq post. But wow beautiful pics again! I own nikon's macto lense but i can nevee achieve this kind of images. I still hve a lot to learn i guess. Really beautiful, especially all the colours u capture and your lighting is just perfect!!


Thanks again Hendrsoniana!    Which Nikon macro have you got?  (Just curious)  If you've followed some of the equipment discussions on this thread, though I love the Tokina 100mm, a 1:1 magnification can only do so much ... Clip-on Raynox lenses work brilliantly, especially for the little bit they cost, and that's how I'm able to pull in closer than a macro lens alone can do.  MUCH better than using extension tubes!!!

And you mention lighting ... hard to think of anything which plays a more integral role in the appearance of a photo than how the lighting is involved and set up.  One of my greatest revelations was when I 'discovered' what a wonderful thing diffuse lighting is!  Just notice sometime how much effort the 'big boys' of macro spend on every minutia of the shape and behavior of their diffusers.  Once I got a grasp on the basic principles of lighting for close-ups, my images began giving me so much more satisfaction than I'd ever known before, maybe you'll notice the same.  

Oh, BTW, sorry to have to ask but what does 'eq' stand for?



Well, a very entertaining but not yet successful experience today in my first breeding attempt ... not to imply that I'm at all discouraged, they came SO close!!!  LOL  Right now my two H. macs are very peacefully co-habitating, perhaps something will awaken their libidos again later tonight.    I used Beth's advice on putting a bit of the male's webbing a corner of the girl's housing, and that's where he's comfortably 'sleeping' right now.  No signs of aggression at all from the female.  I bred my larger female, was actually a bit surprised to find out just how large she is!  The male is clearly intimidated, so I probably made a mistake in that choice.


These handsome white females have always reminded me of Imperial Storm Troopers!


Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original




And the cute little male,










Can anyone tell, is that just a light patch or is that embolus full of sperm?










After the first attempt, which I think really spooked the male (though he went right on drumming for at least another hour), this is the closest the female was able to get to him.








I sure hope this turns out well of course, but in either case they put on a great show for this newbie!!

Reactions: Like 5


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## Protectyaaaneck

Good luck man, that's a beautiful pair!


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## jbm150

Absolutely awesome pics of your mating pair.  I can't agree more about lighting, once I got better with understanding lighting and using the flash on my point n click, my pics have gotten so much nicer.  I think the next step for me will be to rig up some sort of diffuser.  The light from the flash becomes that much more natural, as can be seen in your pics.  Great stuff man!


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## Robotponys

Cool! Can't wait to see some itty bitty white slings speeding up your arms!   Maybe I'll buy some from you, if you're successful.


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## advan

That last pulcher shot was amazing! :clap: How'd you miss that one! :? 

Good luck with the H. macs Michael! Beautiful photos of them!


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## papilio

*Still waiting ... meanwhile here's an embolus pic*



Protectyaaaneck said:


> Good luck man, that's a beautiful pair!


Thanks a lot Jason!!   
So what would be your advice, reading the below?



jbm150 said:


> Absolutely awesome pics of your mating pair.  I can't agree more about lighting, once I got better with understanding lighting and using the flash on my point n click, my pics have gotten so much nicer.  I think the next step for me will be to rig up some sort of diffuser.  The light from the flash becomes that much more natural, as can be seen in your pics.  Great stuff man!


Thanks Jeff!  
My first 'diffuser' -- which was good enough for me to shout out a good 'WOW' when I saw the difference in the images -- was just a big, loose wad of polyester batting loosely taped in front of the camera's pop-up flash!



Robotponys said:


> Cool! Can't wait to see some itty bitty white slings speeding up your arms!   Maybe I'll buy some from you, if you're successful.


Good, I'll put you on my mailing list!  



advan said:


> That last pulcher shot was amazing! :clap: How'd you miss that one! :?
> 
> Good luck with the H. macs Michael! Beautiful photos of them!


LOL  Thanks Chad!    I had split up that memory card into a bunch of folders on the HD based on pulcher vs. cambridgei and image type, and these few to make the stack were found mixed in with another stack series.

What's your opinion on the behavior of this pair, just give them time?




So here's the current situation ... the male is constantly drumming, and the female responds every time, but then as she approaches ... without exception he turns (occasionally _runs_) away.  But he just keeps on drumming ... what's he expecting, SHE WANTS IT!!  

He dove right in the very first time, but that one resulted in what I *believe* was just a fall of the two of them, rather than an attack attempt by the female.  I've been watching them closely for two days now and haven't seen the slightest aggressive attitude in the female.


I did come across a post saying that a male H. mac will keep returning for successive insertions, true?




Well, to pass the time one thing I did was get this stack of one of his emboli.  
Lesson learned ... don't expect good IQ when shooting at a 45-degree angle through 1/4-inch acrylic!


Heteroscodra maculata, 4.5-inch adult male, embolus by _papilio, on Flickr

16 stacked images

Open the 1920px Original

Reactions: Like 7


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## Storm76

As usual, breathtaking new pictures, Sir!


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## Hendersoniana

Ur last photo should be on national geohraphic's last page on the "guess what this is" section, reay beautiful! 

I meant eq as in equipment, was too lazy to type out the entire thing .
My lens i use is the nikon 105mm VR macro. My photos are still far away from ur standards though. Still learning how to control the nikon SB 900. Lightin for me is still very difficulr, gotta keep reading and practising. Btw, do u set ur whitr balance on auto? My WB is auto but i cant seem to get the natur colour u get in ur photos.

Reactions: Like 1


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## papilio

*Last night's Widow pics*



Storm76 said:


> As usual, breathtaking new pictures, Sir!


Thank you Storm!!    Always so good of you to drop by!  



Hendersoniana said:


> Ur last photo should be on national geohraphic's last page on the "guess what this is" section, reay beautiful!
> 
> I meant eq as in equipment, was too lazy to type out the entire thing .
> My lens i use is the nikon 105mm VR macro. My photos are still far away from ur standards though. Still learning how to control the nikon SB 900. Lightin for me is still very difficulr, gotta keep reading and practising. Btw, do u set ur whitr balance on auto? My WB is auto but i cant seem to get the natur colour u get in ur photos.


Thanks a lot Hendersoniana!  
Nice lens!  

I use a couple of Yongnuo YN560 strobes, which is a great light for the price, but no TTL so I just have to adjust the power to get approximately the correct exposure, then tweak it later with software.  Yeah I have the camera set on auto WB ... the camera can balance in different ways depending on the shot or a person's taste.  For some reason using diffusers always seems to warm the image considerably though, so just as a matter of course in CaptureNX 2 I always right away move the temp slider to -20.  But in any case I've quit trusting auto WB either as a camera or software function and just muck around with the colors till they look right to me ... there are two primary adjustments I've realized, first the image temp of course, but then also the overall color cast, which is usually a matter of moving the green/magenta slider back and forth.  (It's kind of funny though, I need to take Adderall and it totally messes with my color perception.  So I always need to double-check my work when the med has worn off!)

I've no doubt that modern cameras' auto WB works quite well in most situations, but I don't think it's so useful with macrophotography ... we macro shooters have to do just about everything manually, which is one reason I think it's so much fun!

Reactions: Like 3


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## Trogdora

The new widow pics are really outstanding, Michael. And good luck with those H. macs! I think your photos have actually made me want one.


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## Storm76

Love the latter 2 shots with that amazing blue background. Great contrast!


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## Hendersoniana

I always let my camera do the auto wb, but the colours always turn out to be very 'fake'. Ur photos show the tarantula's true colours, like ur H mac, if i were to take the same spider, it will be slightly blueish or somth. Lighting is really provin to be a real headache for me. Still gotta keep readibg and practicing. Does raynox fit all cameras? Im thinking of getting that also but im not sure how it works. Nice slings btw, really like the blue effect u played with there.


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## zonbonzovi

I always wondered what the results would be w/ the Raynox msn-202.  The dcr-250 is nice but has limited range for us cheap folk w/ a prosumer cammie.


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## papilio

*Mopping up flickr   *

I haven't posted for a while, and am going through one of my burn-out phases in taking new photos, so I'll just post what I think are the better remaining flickr pics -- still a lot there which I haven't posted, but nothing interesting so I'll leave them out of the thread.

First though, Chad pointed out that my black widow photos don't belong on a tarantula pictures thread!  DOH, that hadn't even occurred to me ... thanks for reminding me Chad!  So Shell, could you delete the relevant posts for me, or move them to the appropriate forum?  Thank you, I really won't mind in the slightest.    Sorry about that!!




Trogdora said:


> The new widow pics are really outstanding, Michael. And good luck with those H. macs! I think your photos have actually made me want one.


Thanks Jeni!  

I've wanted a nice white female H. mac for a long time, but as they often turn out tannish instead I haven't felt like raising them from slings.  They're just stunning, certainly unique, and mine at least are quite docile and on display often enough to be satisfying to own ... almost tempting to handle them!  hehe  But no, probably not the best idea.   

So far, near as I can tell the couple haven't mated yet, and I've removed the male for a couple weeks to hopefully get him over his trauma of that first attempt at insertion which evidently turned him into such a wimp.  I _may_ rather try to pair him with my smaller female, in which case I'll probably put the larger female up for sale at our next meeting, in case you may be interested.



Storm76 said:


> Love the latter 2 shots with that amazing blue background. Great contrast!


Hey thanks!  I was really pleased with the way they turned out ... pretty surreal!  



Hendersoniana said:


> I always let my camera do the auto wb, but the colours always turn out to be very 'fake'. Ur photos show the tarantula's true colours, like ur H mac, if i were to take the same spider, it will be slightly blueish or somth. Lighting is really provin to be a real headache for me. Still gotta keep readibg and practicing. Does raynox fit all cameras? Im thinking of getting that also but im not sure how it works. Nice slings btw, really like the blue effect u played with there.


I'm glad I could be of some help Hendersoniana!  Diffuse lighting really does the trick, doesn't it?!  I thought those scorpion photos you took were just superb, totally professional looking.  Great job!!  



zonbonzovi said:


> I always wondered what the results would be w/ the Raynox msn-202.  The dcr-250 is nice but has limited range for us cheap folk w/ a prosumer cammie.


Hey zonbonzovi, nice to have you stop by.    Yeah, the msn-202 is quite a leap over its little brother ... and the performance and optical quality are quite good!  It can be a bit frustrating at first if you shoot by hand, but the results can be quite stunning!  


Here's that last photo again of one of Chad's pulcher slings, I just re-cropped it for what I think is a better composition.


Psalmopoeus pulcher, 1st instar sling, 0.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

I really like the Original here!

Open the 1920px Original




My stepbrother's 4-yr-old, Sam, captured this shot after tossing in a snack.


Sam's Nhandu, 5-inch with dubia. by _papilio, on Flickr

Another good one for an Original view.

Open the 1920px Original





Poecilotheria metallica juvie female (3.5&quot. &quot;Gooty Sapphire Ornamental&quot; by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Poecilotheria metallica juvie female, 3-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Lunch for my Orange Baboon by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia diversipes sling, 0.75-inch ... playing dead by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia diversipes sling v.2 by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia diversipes sling, grooming foot with its fangs, v.2 by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Avicularia diversipes sling, 0.75-inch, soft focus by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original





Lethal voltage by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the 1920px Original

Reactions: Like 5


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## Storm76

Awesome fang shot of the diversipes...love that one. Also, the P. pulcher sling looks like the eyes were painted on it lol.


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## Hendersoniana

Wow great shots again! I love the OBT carrying its roach .


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## matt82

Man, that 5 year old has a good eye...! Great shots all round!


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## Shell

Love the diversipes shots! They're just....wow :clap:


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## crawltech

I dont even know where to start...those pics are mind blasting <makes exploding noise>

 speachless


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## papilio

*P. metallica carapace*



Storm76 said:


> Awesome fang shot of the diversipes...love that one. Also, the P. pulcher sling looks like the eyes were painted on it lol.


Thanks Storm!  I'm so glad I had a chance to take those pics of Chad's slings, really amazing!



Hendersoniana said:


> Wow great shots again! I love the OBT carrying its roach .


Thanks Hendersoniana!    That was an easy one!  hehe



matt82 said:


> Man, that 5 year old has a good eye...! Great shots all round!


Well, to be more accurate, I sorta did set everything up for him after he fed the T, all he did was snap the shutter.    Thought he deserved credit though, he was so excited!  



Shell said:


> Love the diversipes shots! They're just....wow :clap:


Thanks so much Shell!    Tiny slings are by far my faves to photograph, very challenging but satisfying. 



crawltech said:


> I dont even know where to start...those pics are mind blasting <makes exploding noise>
> 
> speachless


LOL  Thanks so much crawltech!!  




I haven't really felt like picking up the camera so much lately, but this carapace molt was so pretty I thought I'd use it to experiment in making a really deep focus stack.  I've never seen such growth in one molt as this time with the P. metallica ... an easy 50% increase in carapace width! 



Poecilotheria metallica carapace pop (0.5" wide) by _papilio, on Flickr

64 stacked images

Open the *1920px Original.*





Thistle bangs by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





What the T saw by _papilio, on Flickr
(view from the inside)

Used the Raynox msn-202 on the 100mm Tokina Macro for this one.

Open the *1920px Original.*

Reactions: Like 8


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## matt82

wow, these are truly unbelievable Michael.  I can't stop looking at these shots, all works of art, the first is such a striking image, the third one is mind-blowing though; what a creative idea for a shot, and to get a final result like that from that idea deserves plaudits!  The lighting adds a whole different dimension to the eyes in that shot, so much different textures in the image!  Well done and thanks for sharing!

Reactions: Like 1


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## mcluskyisms

Awesome shots of the ocular tubercle sir!


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## crawltech

kaaaaboooooom!


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## Storm76

PURE AWESOMENESS THOSE SHOTS! *speechless*


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## hnyhny

Ask your self with the lens is it right??? ( fig is the best!Blind my eyes!)


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## Robotponys

LOVE the third one! It's so surreal, seeing basically what the T sees. Amazing! The colors are so soft and pretty too!


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## papilio

*Carapace fun*



matt82 said:


> wow, these are truly unbelievable Michael.  I can't stop looking at these shots, all works of art, the first is such a striking image, the third one is mind-blowing though; what a creative idea for a shot, and to get a final result like that from that idea deserves plaudits!  The lighting adds a whole different dimension to the eyes in that shot, so much different textures in the image!  Well done and thanks for sharing!


Really cool of you to say Matt, thanks!    I decided that the tubercle image deserved a more deliberate effort than I gave it the first time, so this new one is a deeper and more careful image stack, with far more time spent getting the lighting the way I wanted it.  



mcluskyisms said:


> Awesome shots of the ocular tubercle sir!


Thanks a lot!  I took a shot like this quite a while ago on a regalis exuvium, but thought it would work great to try again now that I know about image stacking!  



crawltech said:


> kaaaaboooooom!


LOL   I hope that's a good thing!  



Storm76 said:


> PURE AWESOMENESS THOSE SHOTS! *speechless*


You're too kind my friend!  



hnyhny said:


> Ask your self with the lens is it right??? ( fig is the best!Blind my eyes!)


Thank you, and welcome to Arachnoboards!!    (I'm afraid I'm having a little trouble following your meaning in the comment ... :8o)



Robotponys said:


> LOVE the third one! It's so surreal, seeing basically what the T sees. Amazing! The colors are so soft and pretty too!


Thanks Robotponys!  Yeah, that's a fun image to stare at!  

_____________________

Since I've been revising these images (and killing previous flickr links) I thought I'd bring everything together here in this post.  I really appreciate all the comments!!   

I was just feeling lazy when I began taking a few shots of the carapace from my P. met girl who just molted big time ... plus I wanted something which would sit still so that I could set up a table tripod with its macro focusing rail, open the lens aperture to get rid of diffraction and get some really deep, clean image stacks.  When I'm only able to capture a series of up to a dozen or so stackable images of, for instance, a sling, I still have to keep the aperture closed down to about f/11 - f/16.  I needed to get some images at f/5.6 where the D7000 finally escapes the effects of diffraction, just wanting to do a little critical testing of the Tokina 100mm.  Reviews and lab tests rate it very near the much more expensive Nikkor 105mm Macro.  Hendersoniana has this lens, and we have identical sensors in our cameras, so we compared full-res images at f/5.6 ... the images I received in return were MUCH sharper than anything I've ever gotten out of my own camera, just gorgeous, so evidently my lens needs some serious re-calibration.  Actually I'm thinking strongly of just biting it and buying a 105mm Nikkor for myself.  

Thanks for all of your help Hendersoniana!!    :worship:



Anyway, those were the motivations for taking a few exuvium shots, but the job quickly took on a life of its own.  Ended up with some interesting and really fun images I think.  This early experiment with the carapace on a blue CD turned out to be seriously creepy!!

It's just barely back-lit, but that was all it took to bring out all this texture, and also to kill the true color of the carapace as seen in the better image below.




Tribbles revisited by _papilio, on Flickr

78 stacked images
Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria metallica carapace pop (0.5-inch wide), v.2 by _papilio, on Flickr

64 stacked images
Open the *1920px Original.*





Single element example of 64-image stack by _papilio, on Flickr




These last three were taken with the addition of a Raynox msn-202.


Poecilotheria metallica carapace microscopic by _papilio, on Flickr

27 stacked images
Open the *1920px Original.*





Thistle bangs II by _papilio, on Flickr

16 stacked images
Open the *1920px Original.*




Here of course we're looking up into the hollow of the ocular tubercle, which can be a bit disorienting.  Try to stare at it until your brain tells you that the hemispheres in the centers of the primary eyes are protruding toward you, into the cavity.  That should help give you your bearings.


What the T saw (revised) by _papilio, on Flickr

24 stacked images
Open the *1920px Original.*


_As always, thanks so much for looking!_

Reactions: Like 5


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## Storm76

I start having a problem as to what to compliment you with everytime I'm looking at your pictures. You just have an amazing talent at taking those shots and it's always a complete pleasure looking through new pictures you post. So here's the next idea: Where can I download ALL pictures of 2011...all of 2012 as RAR archives or something? : j/k


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## Hendersoniana

Woah talk about macro! Freaking amazing . Love the details, i especially like the 4th and 5th pic in post #133, love the details .


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## Prometheus

Could you imagine what life would be like if we could see as fantastically as Michael's photos show the micro world and all its tiny colorful details... Wait bad idea, that would be a lot of people just standing staring at the ground  hahaha!

Reactions: Like 1


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> I start having a problem as to what to compliment you with everytime I'm looking at your pictures. You just have an amazing talent at taking those shots and it's always a complete pleasure looking through new pictures you post. So here's the next idea: Where can I download ALL pictures of 2011...all of 2012 as RAR archives or something? : j/k


Thank you Jan, what a great compliment!!! 



Hendersoniana said:


> Woah talk about macro! Freaking amazing . Love the details, i especially like the 4th and 5th pic in post #133, love the details .


Thank you Hendersoniana!!  Still having fun with the Nikkor 55-200mm?  



Prometheus said:


> Could you imagine what life would be like if we could see as fantastically as Michael's photos show the micro world and all its tiny colorful details... Wait bad idea, that would be a lot of people just standing staring at the ground  hahaha!


Thanks Prometheus!!


Thought I'd better bump my thread before it fades into oblivion.  

I spoke earlier about my attempted pairing of H. macs.  The female is gravid!!    Here's a much better photo of the male...



Heteroscodra maculata, 4.5-inch adult male by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*




Several weeks ago, at our local T club meeting, I brought my MF P. regalis with me and we introduced another member's MM into her enclosure, leaving the door open.  He began drumming right away, but she was working on an adult dubia and showed no response or interest.  Once she was finally finished however she responded eagerly, and the pair flirted with each other for about ten or fifteen minutes, occasionally running around to the outside of the enclosure wall as well.  Back inside, they finally got serious, approaching each other face to face and the male made a skillful insertion so quickly that I missed it from behind the viewfinder.

Sadly I hadn't been paying attention to my camera's manual setting all evening and very few of the photos I took during the eveni9ng turned out, though a few were salvageable.  Other club members, such as Advan, got far better photos of the encounter than I did, but here are a few of mine ...



Peocilotheria regalis, mating pair, v.2 by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria regalis, female by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria regalis mature male by _papilio, on Flickr
(6 stacked photos)

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria regalis mature male by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Peocilotheria regalis, mating pair by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*




One of my P. tigrinawesseli female slings molted last week, still a shade under 2 inches, but is beginning to have 'the look' which I so dearly love on the P. tigrinawesselis!   She's already really beautiful.



The Look by _papilio, on Flickr
(8 stacked photos)

Open the *1920px Original.*

Have a look at the full-size image -- I think it's pretty cool how dense and uniform the carapace hairs already are on this sling, very unlike any other Pokie slings at this size which I've raised.
This was just taken through the side of a cheap little plastic enclosure so it's not quite as clear as I'd like ... a little later today I'll put her on my Studio Rock and see if she behaves herself well enough for me to get some nice poses and action shots. 

________________


I was planning to do a photo shoot with my female P. tigrinawesseli sling yesterday evening.  They're really getting quick, so I was going to do it in the sealed-off bathroom, but decided to try it first with one of the males (who's still a molt behind and not nearly so nice as the fresh female).  

Once I got into it though, it seemed like it was going pretty well so I just kept shooting him ....





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli male sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli male sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli male sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr
(14 stacked photos)

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli male sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli male sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr
(11 stacked photos)

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli male sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli male sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr
(5 stacked photos)

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli male sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*


I apologize for the length of this post, but had a lot of catching up to do!

Reactions: Like 2


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## Hendersoniana

Haha i have no time to take photos now a days, soni can only play with my cam every once in a while! Beautiful series once again, love the H mac, so beautiful!


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## Robotponys

SO PRETTY! I love these T's and the pics!  Good luck with the P. regalis.


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## Artaeshia

My goodness your photo's are stunning. It's so nice to be able to see things that the naked eye can't! And you have such an exciting collection!

I will deffo be back for more!!!


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## Storm76

That's the 1st ever H. mac picture where I see blue highlights on the spider...just wow.


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## papilio

*Female P. tigrinawesseli sling*



Hendersoniana said:


> Haha i have no time to take photos now a days, soni can only play with my cam every once in a while! Beautiful series once again, love the H mac, so beautiful!


Thanks Hendersoniana!!  Hope you can still find the time for some fun from time to time!!  



Robotponys said:


> SO PRETTY! I love these T's and the pics!  Good luck with the P. regalis.


Thank you Robotponies!  The H. mac is gravid which is great, but I'll _really_ be excited if I get a successful sac from the regalis!!  



Artaeshia said:


> My goodness your photo's are stunning. It's so nice to be able to see things that the naked eye can't! And you have such an exciting collection!
> I will deffo be back for more!!!


Thanks so much Artaeshia, welcome to AB!   
Yeah that's why I love macros so much, every image is a surprise!



Storm76 said:


> That's the 1st ever H. mac picture where I see blue highlights on the spider...just wow.


Thanks Jan!    That MM H. mac was a tough one ... I experimented with all kinds of lighting angles till that color showed up, some sort of iridescence I guess!





Here are some images of the female tigrinawesseli sling ... once again back-lighting really helped bring the images to life.  (Also a few more thrown in from the male's photo shoot.)



Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli female sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli female sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli sling setae and tarsal claws by _papilio, on Flickr
12 stacked images with Raynox msn-202 microlens attachment

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli sling setae and tarsal claws by _papilio, on Flickr
26 stacked images with Raynox msn-202 microlens attachment

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli female sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli female sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli female sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli male sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli female sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli male sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli female sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli female sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli female sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*

Reactions: Like 3


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## mcluskyisms

Love those tarsal claws shot Michael, good stuff!!!


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## Protectyaaaneck

Man, your shots are ridiculous!  I can't wait till I get that good with my camera. Keep up the awesome work!


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## Hendersoniana

Wow! Beautiful series once again, very well taken!


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## Storm76

Those shots of the tarsi are plain simple awesome. And already downloaded the full-size pics


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## Artaeshia

Protectyaaaneck said:


> Man, your shots are ridiculous!


Took the words right out my mouth


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## Artaeshia

I was just casually browsing your gorrrrgeous photos when a thought popped into my head. Have you ever considered making a book of all your photos? There's a great site called Blurb which you can do it on, just upload pics, choose layout, etc. But it's especially designed for photography books, they give you choice of glossy pages and everything haha! and they are fairly priced to make, which you can also choose to sell aswell! You might have already thought of this but your style is so distinctive, it deserves to be recognized in a magazine or something! XD

Oh and thanks for the warm welcome in your post a while ago


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## papilio

*P. cambridgei sling (again)*



mcluskyisms said:


> Love those tarsal claws shot Michael, good stuff!!!


Thanks a lot!  Wasn't sure those would work, but they took me by surprise!  



Protectyaaaneck said:


> Man, your shots are ridiculous!  I can't wait till I get that good with my camera. Keep up the awesome work!


Thank you!  It's really just a matter of taking tons of shots!  



Hendersoniana said:


> Wow! Beautiful series once again, very well taken!


Thank you Hendersoniana!  Find time yet to get back to your camera?  



Storm76 said:


> Those shots of the tarsi are plain simple awesome. And already downloaded the full-size pics


Thanks a lot Jan!  They were fun, and I was surprised to see the way the lighting made the claws glow!  



Artaeshia said:


> Took the words right out my mouth





Artaeshia said:


> I was just casually browsing your gorrrrgeous photos when a thought popped into my head. Have you ever considered making a book of all your photos? There's a great site called Blurb which you can do it on, just upload pics, choose layout, etc. But it's especially designed for photography books, they give you choice of glossy pages and everything haha! and they are fairly priced to make, which you can also choose to sell aswell! You might have already thought of this but your style is so distinctive, it deserves to be recognized in a magazine or something! XD


Funny you should mention that, I just had a photo book made by AdoramaPix!  They do superb work!!  The images are true photographioc prints, and the binding lies flat so that the photos can spread across both pages ... I got the 9 x 12-inch book, and made the images 16 x 12.  Very satisfying, and SO much sharper than they are on the monitor!  

Thanks, that's a very kind compliment!  



Artaeshia said:


> Oh and thanks for the warm welcome in your post a while ago


You're very welcome!  






Here's a sling which I was given by Advan.
Thanks Chad!   




Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

.

Reactions: Like 3


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## Hendersoniana

Had a litttle time, shot some pics of my scorp that recently molted. Still waiting on my very few Ts . Beautiful P cambridgei shots! Very realistic and detailed photos as usual .


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## papilio

*B. albopisolum and misc*



Hendersoniana said:


> Had a litttle time, shot some pics of my scorp that recently molted. Still waiting on my very few Ts . Beautiful P cambridgei shots! Very realistic and detailed photos as usual .


Thanks a lot Hendersoniana!  



[EDIT]  Yikes!  Sorry about misspelling albopilosum!



Brachypelma albopisolum, 4-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

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Brachypelma albopisolum, 4-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Brachypelma albopisolum, 4-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Brachypelma albopisolum, 4-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*




I don't think I've ever taken a photo which is as much fun for me to just stare at as this one!   Has there _ever_ been a more irresistibly adorable face??!    And something about it really seems to impart a sense of what incredible and unique creatures Ts are!



Avicularia versicolor, 0.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

4 stacked images, taken with the Raynox msn-202

Open the *1920px Original.*





Poecilotheria rufilata by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Lasiodora difficilis spermathacae by _papilio, on Flickr

3 stacked images, taken with the Raynox msn-202


Open the *1920px Original.*

Reactions: Like 2


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## advan

Awesome shots Michael!


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## papilio

*3 Ts*



advan said:


> Awesome shots Michael!


Thank you Chad!  





Pterinochilus murinus, OBT by _papilio, on Flickr

Pretty spectacular at 1920px!  

Open the *1920px Original.*





Brachypelma albopilosum, 4-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling, revised by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*

Reactions: Like 3


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## Artaeshia

this has made me so proud to own a curly hair!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Protectyaaaneck

I love that last cambridgei shot. Keep the awesomeness rolling in.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Storm76

advan said:


> Awesome shots Michael!


I 2nd that!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Hendersoniana

Beautiful series once again! Love the spermathecae shot .

Reactions: Like 1


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## hnyhny

ho!!look nice I  like this Mark very much!

Reactions: Like 1


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## papilio

*B. emilia and M. robustum*



Artaeshia said:


> this has made me so proud to own a curly hair!


Thank you Artaeshia!    A friend of mine kindly included it as a freebie with some other Ts I bought from him, but I'd had it for several months without taking any pics or even paying much attention to it ... as soon as I finally turned the camera to it for these shots and began working on the images I realized what a _very_ lovely T this is, with that bronze carapace bloom against a very dark olive green, and the light blue sheen to the legs ... plus of course that awesome '80s Big Hair effect!   



Protectyaaaneck said:


> I love that last cambridgei shot. Keep the awesomeness rolling in.


Thanks a lot Jason!    That's become a fave of mine.   



Storm76 said:


> I 2nd that!


Thanks Jan!  



Hendersoniana said:


> Beautiful series once again! Love the spermathecae shot .


Thanks Hendersoniana!  

I'd always had trouble making out the spermathacae, was just pointing the lens in the general area, got the image up on the monitor and there they were leaping right out at me!  



hnyhny said:


> ho!!look nice I  like this Mark very much!


Thank you hnyhny!  






Here are a couple of Ts from a photo shoot I did at a friend's home this weekend ...




Brachypelma emilia by _papilio, on Flickr

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Brachypelma emilia by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Megaphobema robustum, 2-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr
(9 stacked images)

Open the *1920px Original.*





Megaphobema robustum, 2-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr
(3 stacked images)

Open the *1920px Original.*





Megaphobema robustum, 2-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*



I thought it was interesting that even working with RAW files, the first two _M. robustum_ images (initially about two stops overexposed) just would not hold color properly no matter what I tried, compared to the last which was exposed properly.

Reactions: Like 1


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## † [sandi] †

stunning shots . Really. Great thread you got there


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## Hendersoniana

The emelia is so cute, looks like she is floating. Beautiful!


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## Storm76

...and added to the growing collection of "Tarantulas by Michael Pankratz" on my HD

Reactions: Like 1


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## papilio

*... from the same photo shoot*



			
				† [sandi] †;2047416 said:
			
		

> stunning shots . Really. Great thread you got there


Thanks a lot Sandi!  



Hendersoniana said:


> The emelia is so cute, looks like she is floating. Beautiful!


Thanks Hendersoniana!    Really a spectacular T, I _must_ get one!!  



Storm76 said:


> ...and added to the growing collection of "Tarantulas by Michael Pankratz" on my HD


LOL    An honor Jan!  :worship:







Euathlus sp. Blue, female by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Brachypelma emilia by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Grammastola rosea by _papilio, on Flickr
(11 stacked images)

View large!  

Open the *1920px Original.*


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## Hendersoniana

Oh wow that G rosea, amazing!!! Didnt know they had such lovely colours, than again i dont know much about Ts .


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## Storm76

*downloading*


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## papilio

*3 revised photos*



Hendersoniana said:


> Oh wow that G rosea, amazing!!! Didnt know they had such lovely colours, than again i dont know much about Ts .


Thanks Hendersoniana!  This belongs to a friend of mine, it really comes alive in front of the lens!  



Storm76 said:


> *downloading*


hehe  Go nuts Jan!  



My Ts have been on vacation for a little while, they'll be returning in a week and I can start taking new photos again.  Lately I've mostly just been re-working some of my old images and I stumbled across a processing trick which does a great job at softening and increasing the clarity of the photo.  Bringing out the full level of detail contained in an image often leads to a harsh look, this technique has the effect of softening that annoying characteristic while actually increasing the visibility of the most subtle details ... I really wish I could go back and apply it to all of my old photos!  

Here are just a few that I found today which I've liked but thought could do with a revamp....






Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli male sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Grammastola rosea, carapace/chelicerae 50% res detail crop by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the complete image,**Full-Res* Original.*

Reactions: Like 6


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## Protectyaaaneck

WOW at that last shot. That is beautiful! Amazing work, Michael!


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## Storm76

Cute little bugger that cambridgei sling  My lady has such a mean attitude, I am frankly asking myself how she can contain it when left alone, lol


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## Artaeshia

Crazy last photo! Looks like something out of a fantasy movie with all those beautiful colours, and flawless detail  amazing!


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## Hendersoniana

Wow that last macro is unreal, very nicely taken!!!


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## Bosing

nice thread... gave me a totally new perspective with regards to how my Ts really look like. lol


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## mayhem13

Juste awesome! great job!


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## papilio

*Photos from MinnVerts meetup, 6.30.12*



Protectyaaaneck said:


> WOW at that last shot. That is beautiful! Amazing work, Michael!


Thanks a lot Jason!  I like that one quite a bit myself.  



Storm76 said:


> Cute little bugger that cambridgei sling  My lady has such a mean attitude, I am frankly asking myself how she can contain it when left alone, lol


Thanks Jan!    Sounds like that's gonna be one evil lady when she grows all the way up!!  lol



Artaeshia said:


> Crazy last photo! Looks like something out of a fantasy movie with all those beautiful colours, and flawless detail  amazing!


Thank you Artaeshia!!  I'm really glad that one turned out so much better than I thought it would!  



Hendersoniana said:


> Wow that last macro is unreal, very nicely taken!!!


Thanks a lot Hendersoniana!  



Bosing said:


> nice thread... gave me a totally new perspective with regards to how my Ts really look like. lol


Thank you Bosing, and thanks for viewing!  



mayhem13 said:


> Juste awesome! great job!


Thanks mayhem, very kind of you to say!  





Here are a few shots I took of my friends' Ts at our group's meetup on Saturday -- it was especially a treat to find this spectacular platy waiting!  



Pamphobeteus sp. 'platyomma', mature male by _papilio, on Flickr

View Large!  
Open the *1920px Original.*





Pamphobeteus sp. 'platyomma', mature male by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Pamphobeteus sp. 'platyomma', mature male by _papilio, on Flickr

View Large!  
Open the *1920px Original.*





Megaphobema robustum, 2-inch sling in hand by _papilio, on Flickr

View Large!  
Open the *1920px Original.*





Lampropelma nigerrimum juvie female, tibial setae and abdomen by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*




I love the stunning 'Black Ivory' look of their claws at high power.


Lampropelma nigerrimum juvie female, foot and tarsal claw by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*

Reactions: Like 4


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## Storm76

Awesome pics of that platyomma!!! Geez! Love the pink/purple looks...

Reactions: Like 1


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## Hendersoniana

Oh i love the tarsal hook photo, very nice! Somehow that nigerrimum has more colour than mine

Reactions: Like 1


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## Artaeshia

I normally hate the thought of anything being pink... but that platyomma is a HUUUGE exception  what a beautiful specimen!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Lenxx

*Speachless*

... and thats rare... 


Man this pics are simply amazing! :worship:

Reactions: Like 1


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## Protectyaaaneck

Unreal shots! Seriously amazing stuff, Michael.  I love your pic thread!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Sigaw

...WOW.

Amazing pictures! You truly have a talent in photography.


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## advan

Sigaw said:


> Amazing pictures! You truly have a talent in photography.


Agreed! Wait for him to post last Saturdays photo session!


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## papilio

*Psalmoville*



Hendersoniana said:


> Oh i love the tarsal hook photo, very nice! Somehow that nigerrimum has more colour than mine


Thanks Hendersoniana!    You're right, that is an unusually beautiful _nigerrimum_ Chad's got!!



Artaeshia said:


> I normally hate the thought of anything being pink... but that platyomma is a HUUUGE exception  what a beautiful specimen!


lol  I'm with you Artaeshia!  (Especially on a _male_!  hehe)  He really is one exceptionally gorgeous T!!  



Lenxx said:


> *Speachless*
> 
> ... and thats rare...
> 
> 
> Man this pics are simply amazing! :worship:


Thank you very much Lenxx!  



Protectyaaaneck said:


> Unreal shots! Seriously amazing stuff, Michael.  I love your pic thread!


Thanks a lot Jason!  :worship:
(And thank you for the cute little C. schioedtei slings David ordered for me!   )



Sigaw said:


> ...WOW.
> 
> Amazing pictures! You truly have a talent in photography.


Thank you Sigaw, much appreciated!  



advan said:


> Agreed! Wait for him to post last Saturdays photo session!


Thanks Chad!!    But now I don't _dare_ post them!  lol






Sorry, I've fallen way behind on my photo thread!  I've got a lot of catching up to do, but first I wanted to post some photos I shot at advan's yesterday evening.  His place is seriously oozing with beautiful newborn slings!  





Psalmopoeus pulcher, 1st instar slings, 0.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Psalmopoeus pulcher, 1st instar slings, 0.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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The _pulchers_ have amassed beneath the top layer of substrate ... creating this tiny, surreal volcano!


mt. pulcher by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





the slippery slope by _papilio, on Flickr

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the portal by _papilio, on Flickr

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_irminia_ hoard!! by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





nummm ... BBQ cricket drumstix! by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





_gargantuan_ Psalmopoeus irminia sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*

Reactions: Like 3


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## Storm76

Cute little guys. Although I find them even more adorable when they start showing fuzzyness

Reactions: Like 1


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## papilio

*Catching up*



Storm76 said:


> Cute little guys. Although I find them even more adorable when they start showing fuzzyness


Thanks Jan!    It's pretty neat seeing that mass of black and white legs, with the weird red bodies!  





I had a very productive photo shoot with advan's fantastic Ts, wonderful fun!  


I really like this T.  


Iridopelma hirsutum by _papilio, on Flickr

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Iridopelma hirsutum by _papilio, on Flickr

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Iridopelma hirsutum, poolside by _papilio, on Flickr

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Iridopelma hirsutum by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Tapinauchenius latipes, female by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Tapinauchenius latipes, full-res detail crop by _papilio, on Flickr





Poecilotheria metallica sub-adult female, HDR image (v.2) by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Ephebopus cyanognathus by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Ephebopus cyanognathus, detail crop by _papilio, on Flickr

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Ephebopus cyanognathus, detail crop by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Ephebopus cyanognathus, Full-res detail crop by _papilio, on Flickr





Ephebopus cyanognathus by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Ephebopus cyanognathus by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*




I didn't entirely realize it at the time, but once I got to processing I was really taken by little Augie, a very striking T!


Augacephalus sp. by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Augacephalus sp. by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Augacephalus sp. by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*





Augacephalus sp. by _papilio, on Flickr

Open the *1920px Original.*



.

Reactions: Like 6


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## jbm150

Absolute ridiculousness

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## Protectyaaaneck

I'm not sure there is anything that I can say that hasn't already been said about your picture thread, Michael.  It's unreal.  I love the photos of the eye fields. Keep up the ridiculously awesome work!

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## Hendersoniana

Oh wow u hacker. Seriously ur SB-600 has made ur pics even more god-like.

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## Storm76

Awesome, insane, unbelieveable, ridiculous...genius pictures and awesome T's!

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## papilio

*Replacements*

Sorry to nuke the flickr links on the last two posts, wanted to get rid of the frames.  




The _C. schioedtei_ slings again ...



Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





And the _P. pulcher_ ...



Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Hey Jan, downloading instructions ... 

Click on the photo here on AB (takes you to the flickr page)
Rt click on the flickr photo
click on 'Original', and download

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## Storm76

Already downloaded all the latest postings  The collection of your pictures grows by you posting them, lol 

Cute P. pulcher, mine just molted last night (after those 2 that died shortly after I received them, this 3rd one does just fine!)

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## Storm76

I haven't seen the little guy now after its molt, but I assume around 2-2.5".

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## papilio

*Take two ...*



jbm150 said:


> Absolute ridiculousness


lol  Thanks a lot Jeff!!!!  



Protectyaaaneck said:


> I'm not sure there is anything that I can say that hasn't already been said about your picture thread, Michael.  It's unreal.  I love the photos of the eye fields. Keep up the ridiculously awesome work!


Thanks Jason!    I had great fun with this photo shoot ... but must've lost 5lbs in sweat chasing the little guy all evening!  



Hendersoniana said:


> Oh wow u hacker. Seriously ur SB-600 has made ur pics even more god-like.


Thank you Hendersoniana!  I'm ecstatic about the strobe, and it's all your fault!!  :worship:



Storm76 said:


> Awesome, insane, unbelieveable, ridiculous...genius pictures and awesome T's!


Haha!  Thanks so much Jan!!  



Storm76 said:


> Already downloaded all the latest postings  The collection of your pictures grows by you posting them, lol
> 
> Cute P. pulcher, mine just molted last night (after those 2 that died shortly after I received them, this 3rd one does just fine!)


Thanks, glad you're enjoying them Jan!  
That was some bizarre rotten luck you had with the pulchers!!    What size is the one you have now?




Wanted to rework a few and add a few.  



Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





cute bangs by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr


Download this image as *1920x1200 wallpaper.*






moon buggy by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

Reactions: Like 3


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## Hendersoniana

Love the versi series! Especially the moon buggy

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## Dr Acula

This thread never ceases to impress me!  I love those 2 long setae on the P. pulcher

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## advan

Awesome versi shots Michael! Such vibrant blues! The second to last pic is amazing! :worship::worship::worship:

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## Storm76

advan said:


> Awesome versi shots Michael! Such vibrant blues! The second to last pic is amazing! :worship::worship::worship:


I sign this 100%! 

PS: The P. pulcher seems to be around 2-2.25" now, though I still haven't seen the little one out really. Likes to hide

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## S2000

I just viewed your entire gallery...twice.  Amazing pictures.  Truly beautiful.

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## panterafreak21

I love the cyriopagopus schioedtei sling... The hairs look like bolts of fire.. Im going to buy one of these!

Reactions: Like 1


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## papilio

Hendersoniana said:


> Love the versi series! Especially the moon buggy


Thank you Hendersoniana!    I think that's my fave too.  



Dr Acula said:


> This thread never ceases to impress me!  I love those 2 long setae on the P. pulcher


Thanks a lot Doctor!    Yeah, I love those too!!



advan said:


> Awesome versi shots Michael! Such vibrant blues! The second to last pic is amazing! :worship::worship::worship:


Thanks Chad!!    Still have to sing the praises of Nikon's strobe!  



Storm76 said:


> I sign this 100%!
> 
> PS: The P. pulcher seems to be around 2-2.25" now, though I still haven't seen the little one out really. Likes to hide


Thank you Jan!!  Wow, that's a good deal larger than I'd imagined, great!!



S2000 said:


> I just viewed your entire gallery...twice.  Amazing pictures.  Truly beautiful.


Wow, thanks so much S2000!  Means a lot to hear!  



panterafreak21 said:


> I love the cyriopagopus schioedtei sling... The hairs look like bolts of fire.. Im going to buy one of these!


Thanks panterafreak!  Yeah, very cool slings ... mine came from Jason/Protectyaaaneck  
(Agreed, beautiful car!)




Here's the P.cam taken a bunch of molts ago ...



Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr




And today ...



Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr




The colors don't represent the visual look very well ... I forgot to mask off the pop-up flash which is how the camera communicates with the slave strobe, so there's a lot of yellow sparkle (nice, but the downside of this is danger of blown highlights) and the overall orange color comes from the light reflecting up through the body.



Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr




A much more accurate rendering of the visual appearance ... no sparkle or bod glow  



Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr



And a few snapshots of a versi exploring an Aztec god carving, in volcanic tufa ...



aztec versicolor by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





sacrifice to the volcano by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr




... and a couple foot links I killed ...



Poecilotheria metallica foot by _papilio, on Flickr





Poecilotheria metallica tiptoe by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*More P. pulcher*


beauty on velvet by _papilio, on Flickr




Hey Dr Acula ... those 2 long setae survived a molt!  


a little closer by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





leg and foot setae by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## grayzone

:laugh:Stop with the pics already lol.. they make my ts look ugly in person


seriously tho.. very awesome shots. I love checking in on this thread (along with a couple other's) to see whats new and re-defining beauty
the cambridgei and pulcher shots are amazing

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## papilio

*H. mac slings*



grayzone said:


> :laugh:Stop with the pics already lol.. they make my ts look ugly in person
> 
> 
> seriously tho.. very awesome shots. I love checking in on this thread (along with a couple other's) to see whats new and re-defining beauty
> the cambridgei and pulcher shots are amazing


Hehe  Thanks so much steven, I really appreciate your kind words!  




I had totally forgotten to photograph my H. mac sling till now.

I spent only about two minutes on this photoshoot and that was enough to leave me shaking and out of breath ... not so much worried about the bite (which can be nasty even from a tiny sling like this) but mostly because they're so quick and I wanted to get my shots before it took off from this convenient vantage point.  




Heteroscodra maculata, 0.5-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr




... and the obligatory foot shot


Heteroscodra maculata, 0.5-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr




Plus once again one of my females ...


Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr





Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr




Probably the top personal favorite of my photos  


Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## grayzone

papilio said:


> Hehe  Thanks so much steven, I really appreciate your kind words!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Plus once again one of my females ...
> 
> 
> Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr


and I APPRECIATE you taking time to take pics that make me drool:biggrin:

pics like this are freakin FANTASTIC... 
Again, your pic thread is among one of my favorites. Pictures can, at times, bring life to tarantulas. I have owned or DO own ts out of a lot of pic threads that are always reclusive or inactive. I think that with OUT pics like the ones you take, a lot of attraction would be taken away from the hobby, and certain ts would go unnoticed/unwanted

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## Storm76

Awesome H. mac pictures, indeed! Did that female pose willingly that calmly? Amazing...

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## papilio

grayzone said:


> and I APPRECIATE you taking time to take pics that make me drool:biggrin:
> 
> pics like this are freakin FANTASTIC...
> Again, your pic thread is among one of my favorites. Pictures can, at times, bring life to tarantulas. I have owned or DO own ts out of a lot of pic threads that are always reclusive or inactive. I think that with OUT pics like the ones you take, a lot of attraction would be taken away from the hobby, and certain ts would go unnoticed/unwanted


Thanks again steven!    ... and _well put!_  Personally the act of T photography itself is a great delight, in that every photoshoot really allows me to feel a connection with that particular T.  



Storm76 said:


> Awesome H. mac pictures, indeed! Did that female pose willingly that calmly? Amazing...


Hey Jan, thank you!  

... so by calm, do you mean something like this?  




Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr


Yes, she's a real sweetheart!    I've not had her that long, but I have yet to see her move quickly, she just casually meanders in and out of her hide.

And she'll sit on the roof like this for hours at a time ... taking more than a slight effort to disturb her.

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## Legion09

You make me want so many new T's with these pictures...Still absolutely amazing photos and my favorite thread by far!  Thank you!

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## papilio

Legion09 said:


> You make me want so many new T's with these pictures...Still absolutely amazing photos and my favorite thread by far!  Thank you!


Oh boy, thank you Legion!   That means a lot ... seriously!


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## advan

I'm still baffled as to how the hell do you get such magnificent shots through the acrylic? :?: Amazing stuff as always! :worship: Keep pulling 'em from the hard drive, I know you have more!  -Chad

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## papilio

advan said:


> I'm still baffled as to how the hell do you get such magnificent shots through the acrylic? :?: Amazing stuff as always! :worship: Keep pulling 'em from the hard drive, I know you have more!  -Chad


Thank you sir!  :worship:  It really is astonishing to me that images can be any good at all when taken through thick plastic, I guess Vitaliy uses good stuff.  But pixel-peepers will notice the difference of a shot taken without obstruction, that's why I had such a total blast with the _BlueFang/Auggie_ session at your place Chad.  

Here are a couple I was re-working this afternoon to turn into wall murals.  These images -- and especially the _tigrinawesseli_ fireworks -- get lost in translation to web sizes, are best viewed at 20 or 24 inches, but let's see how they look here.  

The _tigerlady_ is gonna look wicked on the 24x20 metallic print paper.   




Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli female sling, 1.75 inches by _papilio, on Flickr





Ephebopus cyanognathus, detail crop by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> Hey Jan, thank you!
> 
> ... so by calm, do you mean something like this?
> 
> 
> 
> Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr
> 
> 
> Yes, she's a real sweetheart!    I've not had her that long, but I have yet to see her move quickly, she just casually meanders in and out of her hide.
> 
> And she'll sit on the roof like this for hours at a time ... taking more than a slight effort to disturb her.



Exactly like that! I was actually considering an H. mac today, but decided against it after learning that the specimen I was looking it is actually extremely defensive. A little demonstration of the keeper walking closer to the enclosure and the T -jumping- at the wall showing its fangs was intimidating enough for me to say "No, thanks!"

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Exactly like that! I was actually considering an H. mac today, but decided against it after learning that the specimen I was looking it is actually extremely defensive. A little demonstration of the keeper walking closer to the enclosure and the T -jumping- at the wall showing its fangs was intimidating enough for me to say "No, thanks!"


Ha!  Good thing you got that little demonstration Jan!    Sounds unlike my own H.macs but _very_ like my P. metallica.  Interesting how temperament sometimes seems to vary more by individual T than by species.  




Chad's beautiful _Aphonopelma chalcodes_ inspired me to take this photo of the exuvium carapace of my only terrestrial, lady _L. difficilis_ ... I like exuvium shots, as they allow nice deep focus stacks.



Lasiodora difficilis, 6.5-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

(16 stacked images)

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> Ha!  Good thing you got that little demonstration Jan!    Sounds unlike my own H.macs but _very_ like my P. metallica.  Interesting how temperament sometimes seems to vary more by individual T than by species.


Aye, that one was certainly "out of my league" for now and to be honest, I don't think I'd like having to deal with such a T. Just because out of the chance that either (keeper & pet) could be easily harmed that way. I'd like to avoid that. But yeah, I really like the contrast and pattern of the H. macs. It's just their temperament that keeps me away from them so far.  It varies a LOT in every genus it would seem...

Great picture, I love the high detail of the eyehill and the "fluffy" look of it...

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Great picture, I love the high detail of the eyehill and the "fluffy" look of it...


Thank you Jan!   




Here's a very old photo I came across in the archives of a nice little male H. mac.  



Heteroscodra maculata, 3-inch male by _papilio, on Flickr

Reactions: Like 1


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## Storm76

Teddybear?


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## papilio

*P. rufilata female*



Storm76 said:


> Teddybear?


lol, Interesting you should think of that Jan, the girl who owned the MM I paired with my female called him 'TeddyBear'!  




My female rufie is getting very big and needs to be graduated from her 1 gal to a 5 gal enclosure soon, this one is so cramped that I rarely get a nice pose in which to photograph her.  I liked this one.  



Poecilotheria rufilata female, 5-inches by _papilio, on Flickr





Poecilotheria rufilata female, 5-inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*Avicualria diversipes sling*

Going through older photos, I found these which I've always liked ... I was especially happy to see the second one on the card, the lens was so close to the T that I was really just shooting in the dark ... that's one of the great things about shooting macro, seeing the totally lucky and unsuspected show up.  

Shot with the Tokina Macro lens and dcr250 Raynox.




arachnid snowflake by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia diversipes sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr





Avicularia diversipes sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Seeing those pictures, I really want to have a new A. diversipes sling at some point soon...


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## papilio

*P. cambridgei sling*



Storm76 said:


> Seeing those pictures, I really want to have a new A. diversipes sling at some point soon...


Thay are spectacular as slings, I just wish they kept all that color as adults, it would be an astonishing T !!!  





Friendly little guy!  




Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr




And then just hours later I saw it doing this!!!  



Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.5-inch sling, molting by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.5-inch sling, molting by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.5-inch sling, molting by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.5-inch sling, molting by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.5-inch sling, molting by _papilio, on Flickr





Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 1.5-inch sling, molting by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

Wow! Awesome shots Michael!


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## Storm76

papilio said:


> Thay are spectacular as slings, I just wish they kept all that color as adults, it would be an astonishing T !!!


Great pics of the that P. cam sling  They're cute as slings...seems to me though that they get very feisty once adult (at least my girl is...).

As for the diversipes, I actually like their "diversity" a lot! "Rainbow" as slings and their adult coloration looks awesome in the right light, too. I love their blues...


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## CrackTaxi

Seriously amazing photos, great angles and colours


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## papilio

*P. tigrinawesseli*



advan said:


> Wow! Awesome shots Michael!


Thanks Chad!    I did think it was odd how mellow he was during the first photo shoot ... I guess we know now.



CrackTaxi said:


> Seriously amazing photos, great angles and colours


Thanks a lot CrackTaxi!    Welcome to AB.  



Storm76 said:


> Great pics of the that P. cam sling  They're cute as slings...seems to me though that they get very feisty once adult (at least my girl is...).
> 
> As for the diversipes, I actually like their "diversity" a lot! "Rainbow" as slings and their adult coloration looks awesome in the right light, too. I love their blues...


Thank you Jan!  You're def right about diversipes, very nice as adults with good lighting, and always fun to watch a sling change as it grows.  Still would be incredible I think if there were some adult T in the world with those electric sling colors.  

My adult female P. cam is a bit like that too, though not overly so.  But on the other side of the mood ring is this dear MM I once had, just as mellow as could be and one of my all-time favorite Ts.




Psalmopoeus cambridgei, mature male by _papilio, on Flickr





Almost my favorite poeci, I love the wooly carapace and overall tonal shadings and contrasts.  









Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli female, 2.5 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*A new trick*

I can't believe I hadn't tried this before.  I just bounced the strobe off the ceiling, a common trick for shooting photos of the family indoors for instance.  No diffuser, no Magic Arm, no flash bracket!  

My strobe wasn't bright enough, these were all initially underexposed by about 2ev even though I had opened up the aperture to f/8.  A better way to go would be to shoot at f/16 for more depth of field and crank the ISO up to 800.

Since this is a very different effect, especially with a sparkly T like the versi, it unfortunately can't replace the full rig but is certainly a great way to go in many cases.






Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*Better ...*

This one was taken with the settings suggested above -- f/16, ISO800.  This ISO generated more noise than I'd care to deal with -- after noise reduction fine details are diminished, and hairs look a bit bloated.  The hues are far more accurate this time, artificially increasing the effective exposure with software left the image much too cool (blue) last time, even when white-balanced.  There's more sparkle this time as I narrowed the light spread on the ceiling.  Overall much more satisfactory.  



Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## mayhem13

This is the best job i've ever seen on tarantula's pictures!

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## papilio

mayhem13 said:


> This is the best job i've ever seen on tarantula's pictures!


Wow, thanks a lot mayhem!    I really appreciate it.




A couple more test shots ... the diffusion, especially on the chelicerae, is quite nice.  And it seems that a highly diffused light really pulls out the darker colors.




Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

Reactions: Like 3


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## Storm76

That's a cute MM P. cam! Obviously, my "beast" has calmed down some actually. Rehoused her today in her final enclosure and it went actually without biting or darting even ONCE...I'm surprised.


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## papilio

* These photos needed a bit of reprocessing, so they'll be added in the next post.  Thanks. *

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## Hendersoniana

Love the even lighting. Can't wait to see what u can do with the umbrella .

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## papilio

*P. pulcher sling*



Storm76 said:


> That's a cute MM P. cam! Obviously, my "beast" has calmed down some actually. Rehoused her today in her final enclosure and it went actually without biting or darting even ONCE...I'm surprised.


Glad to hear it Jan!  I guess, because of that first MM P.cam I had, I've always tended to think of them as less ferocious than the P. irminias I've had.  lol  Hopefully your girl will remain a bit more hospitable!  



Hendersoniana said:


> Love the even lighting. Can't wait to see what u can do with the umbrella .


Thanks Hendersoniana.    Really looking forward to the umbrella, should be here tomorrow!  




I hope y'all aren't tired of all these _P. pulcher_ shots yet, with all of its color together with the shiny black carapace and chelicerae this sling has become my test-bed for the diffuser experiments.
Used my very large bracket-mounted diffuser for this one, even greater diffusion than the ceiling-bounce shots and no trouble with brightness.  Getting better still with the uniform tones and hues, can't wait till the translucent umbrella gets here!

Poor little guy though, I got too panicky with the catch cup last week and pinched his leg under the rim.    SO glad he's alright, he's quickly becoming one of my favorites!










Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 1.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

This last one looks kind of like it's in orbit above the earth.

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## grayzone

On behalf of AB (pretty sure i can speak for EVERYBODY on this one) there is NO WAY we can get tired of ANY t you take pics of. That pulcher is absolutely stunning. As said before id rather view your pics than some of the spiders in real life .. I want to see first hand what these are all about after all these pics.
Ive owned P. irminia as well as cambridgei (although its always been briefly for some reason) but i would really like to get one of each available sp. 

As a side question, how much dough would you say you have invested in all of your photography gear (if you dont want to answer, thats understandable).. A conservative guess would be ok too lol. Just wandering what it takes to get pics like yours (aside from raw talent)

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## papilio

grayzone said:


> On behalf of AB (pretty sure i can speak for EVERYBODY on this one) there is NO WAY we can get tired of ANY t you take pics of. That pulcher is absolutely stunning. As said before id rather view your pics than some of the spiders in real life .. I want to see first hand what these are all about after all these pics.
> Ive owned P. irminia as well as cambridgei (although its always been briefly for some reason) but i would really like to get one of each available sp.
> 
> As a side question, how much dough would you say you have invested in all of your photography gear (if you dont want to answer, thats understandable).. A conservative guess would be ok too lol. Just wandering what it takes to get pics like yours (aside from raw talent)


Thanks for the very kind words steven, I really appreciate it!  :worship:  

My equipment hasn't cost me all that much, especially considering how much enjoyment it's given me.    Good Nikon D7K camera bodies (mine was a factory refurb) can be found for ~$1000 on eBay (where I get pretty much all my stuff).  Then the Tokina macro lens at something like $500.  Other than that just a bunch of misc stuff which I'd guess barely brings the total to $2000 ... and this setup will keep me happy for a very long time.  



Continuing my heavy diffusion experiments with a versi sling which would _not_ quit walking    ...







Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

Awesome colors your getting with the lighting tricks! It's seems your experiments are paying off! 

Since when do _Avicularia_ slings stop moving?

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## jbm150

whew so much blue! Gorgeous as always

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## Storm76

The eye-shot is gorgeous!

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## papilio

advan said:


> Awesome colors your getting with the lighting tricks! It's seems your experiments are paying off!
> 
> Since when do _Avicularia_ slings stop moving?


hehe  Yeah, silly me!   :sarcasm: 
Thanks Chad!    Overall I'm quite pleased with the results so far ... now time to get back to taking pictures!  



jbm150 said:


> whew so much blue! Gorgeous as always


Thanks Jeff!    I know, blinding!!  lol



Storm76 said:


> The eye-shot is gorgeous!


Thank you Jan!    Got super lucky with that one, the sling was charging the camera!  




First a little break from the lighting experiments ... This C. schioedtei sling popped just far enough from its hole to snag a meal.  


Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr



Just received the translucent umbrella diffuser today, I think it provides a very natural lighting effect to the image.  Still a little low on brightness, but I'm happy with it.

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## Hendersoniana

I gotta get me one of those umbrellas.

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## papilio

*versi hygiene*



Hendersoniana said:


> I gotta get me one of those umbrellas.


Hey Hendersoniana, I'm liking it a lot!  



What a great chance to try out the new lighting!  I'd just fed him a cricket today, and rather than incessantly pacing the stone as usual the little guy just decided to keep on brushing his teeth.

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> Thank you Jan!    Got super lucky with that one, the sling was charging the camera!


You serious, Michael?  Adorable, but sometimes they actually surprise you

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> You serious, Michael?  Adorable, but sometimes they actually surprise you


I know Jan, it's hilarious when a tiny sling throws you a threat pose!!  



These demonstrate the benefits of xtreme diffusion quite well, the entire subject seems to be swimming in light.  







Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch, grooming by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Protectyaaaneck

Love the new shots man!!!


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## Storm76

Very nice lighting! But personally I think it's a bit too much on those, nevertheless they are awesome as usual.

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## mcluskyisms

Awesome little _A. versicolor_!

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## papilio

Protectyaaaneck said:


> Love the new shots man!!!


Hey Jason, thanks a lot!   



mcluskyisms said:


> Awesome little _A. versicolor_!


Thanks Chris, I've definitely been giving him a workout!  



Storm76 said:


> Very nice lighting! But personally I think it's a bit too much on those, nevertheless they are awesome as usual.


Thanks Jan!    And I'm inclined to think you're correct about the lighting!  lol  Although I believe it happened to suit the unusual nature of those particular shots well by illuminating the normally shadowed chelicerae region, just after I finished processing the shots I was thinking that it's time to pull back a bit.    It seems that the stronger the diffusion, they somehow begin to look less like photographs and more like watercolors!



These, I think, strike a fairly nice balance between well-diffused light and the kind of sparkle which heavy diffusion loses.






Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 1.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## BoehmeiBabe

Stellar photos ! And a nice looking set of T's

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## Storm76

I'd agree. The ones with the brighter lighting looked kinda unreal (I mean - ALL of your pictures are just that: UNREAL! ) but in an artificial way. These latest ones have brighter, more vivid colors!

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## Hendersoniana

Number #2 is my favourite .

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## advan

The lighting on this last set are superb! Nice work!

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## Eldric

advan said:


> The lighting on this last set are superb! Nice work!


I agree. Very nice job Michael. I need to pop over sometime soon for more lessons.

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## papilio

BoehmeiBabe said:


> Stellar photos ! And a nice looking set of T's


Thank you BoehmeiBabe!  



Storm76 said:


> I'd agree. The ones with the brighter lighting looked kinda unreal (I mean - ALL of your pictures are just that: UNREAL! ) but in an artificial way. These latest ones have brighter, more vivid colors!


Thanks Jan!  I'm happier with this last set too.  



Hendersoniana said:


> Number #2 is my favourite .


Thank you Hendersoniana, I like that one best too I think ... with the sling sort of resting beneath an overhang the light was hitting quite obliquely, I love the contrast and texture that created here.  



advan said:


> The lighting on this last set are superb! Nice work!


I really appreciate that Chad, thanks!    I feel like I'm learning quite a bit with all these lighting trials.  



bethr said:


> I agree. Very nice job Michael. I need to pop over sometime soon for more lessons.


Thanks a lot Beth!  
Any time, always a pleasure!  :worship:  Maybe goggles will show up again!  




I decided that part of the problem with these images the first time around was that they weren't processed properly, so I had another go.  Sorry to re-post!  







Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch, grooming by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

What, exactly, are you doing when "processing" them, Michael? Curiosity...

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> What, exactly, are you doing when "processing" them, Michael? Curiosity...


Hey Jan.     I use Nikon's CaptureNX2 and Corel's PaintShop Pro to adjust various aspects of the image, such as tweaking the white balance and a number of techniques involving local tone mapping, commonly used in HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing.  This brings out more details by basically softening the highlights and boosting the low tones in the shadows.  Dropping the midtones and boosting the contrast in the shadows also increases color vibrancy without actually having to increase saturation, which can look bad.  Or in other words, I guess basically I'm making up for my technical deficiencies as a photographer.  lol   




Some other older favorites of mine which I came across and wanted to re-work ...

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## Storm76

Ah! Gotcha! I've never processed any of my pics, so except for your awesome equip and skills that makes out another 30% of your highnesses awesomeness lol  (nearly broke my tongue even reading this sentence!) - btw I put up some pics of Nila extra for you

I'm curious  how that carapace shot or the B. emilia will look after reprocessing - please share as I'd really like to see the difference once you're done

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> I'm curious  how that carapace shot or the B. emilia will look after reprocessing - please share as I'd really like to see the difference once you're done


LOL  Thanks Jan!  ... now you're getting crazy!!  hehe
Love the new avatar btw!  

(I kinda feel like I'm letting you behind the curtain here!  lol)  Well, the ones which I previously posted are already done!    But here are some before and after shots.



The _B. emilia_ was taken back before I was using a TTL lighting system, so I had to adjust the flash intensity by hand, trial and error ... and generally got the exposures all wrong in the end (right Beth?  ).  Just another thing to fix in processing, but that's why it looks generally dark and washed-out ... so you've picked a good example here.    Now that I have TTL the camera first sends out a pre-flash, recalculates the proper flash intensity for the image and tells the strobe how strong the flash needs to be, generally getting the exposures right-on automatically.  Even when the strobe is on its bracket, no physical connection to the camera body, the camera communicates with the strobe via infra-red (the strobe in this case is said to be in _slave mode_).

Processing a correctly-exposed image is pretty easy and straightforward, taking only ten or fifteen minutes on the computer.  Not bad compared to having to do the same things in a darkroom when using film.







The exuvium carapace is an interesting case, as it's a focus stack.  Macro shots (and this carapace is about 0.5" wide) inherently have a very shallow depth of field, as shown in the first image.  The best available technique to improve on this is to take a series of images, each one focused in progressive steps along the length (or depth) of the subject, using a macro rail with a precise geared knob to advance the camera (which was here mounted on a small table tripod).  This series of images is then loaded into software which aligns them and then takes the sharpest pixels from each image with which to construct the output, second image.  In this case I took a series of 64 images from front to back along the carapace.  It's very satisfying to get a good stack, and really amazing watching the software construct the final image layer by layer!  

Many of my photos are focus stacks, especially the extreme close-ups ... though when shooting hand-held the stack will typically consist of only a half dozen or so shots, but that still helps a lot.  For instance, in the previous post, the top _P. rufilata_ image is a focus stack of 5 images, the _rufilata_ close-up is a stack of 11 images and the _P. metallica_ is 4 images







This one of my female P. cambridgei is 6 images, the high detail and color rendition of the focus stack really show off this T's beautiful textures and hues!  






I think it's pretty incredible how well a focus stack preserves detail over the entire image ... I'd suggest that anyone interested click on these two stacked images to be taken to their flickr pages, then right-click on the flickr image and click on 'Original' to see higher-res 1920px images.  Actually I'd have to say that this last one _only_ looks good at high res.

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## Storm76

It's amazing to see the before/after outcome of those pictures and thanks for "teaching" some there. I doubt, I'll be able to put it to use anytime soon (lacking the equipment and knowledge to use it properly), but sooner or later I'll give at least the processing step a try and see what I can make of it! Thanks Michael!

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## Protectyaaaneck

I drool every time I look at your photos. lol

I really like that P. rufilata shot up there too. What a gorgeous spider!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> It's amazing to see the before/after outcome of those pictures and thanks for "teaching" some there. I doubt, I'll be able to put it to use anytime soon (lacking the equipment and knowledge to use it properly), but sooner or later I'll give at least the processing step a try and see what I can make of it! Thanks Michael!


Thanks Jan!    Anyway as I'm sure you know, one great benefit of point and shoots is how beautifully they do completely on their own ... plus having an insane depth of field!  Once a move is made to a DSLR we find that, especially when shooting macros, we're back to manual everything!  lol 



Protectyaaaneck said:


> I drool every time I look at your photos. lol
> 
> I really like that P. rufilata shot up there too. What a gorgeous spider!


Thanks a lot Jason!   
... like I'm drooling over your balfouris??  hehe




One more collection of misc favorites redone.  Felt like a break from the camera, so I've been just going through some old folders to see what could use a little more attention.  Lots of photos I'd totally forgotten I had!

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## dactylus

Gorgeous photos as usual Michael!

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## papilio

dactylus said:


> Gorgeous photos as usual Michael!


Thanks a lot David!  :worship:




Hadn't taken the camera to the P. cam for a while ... sheesh, when did he get so _fast??!_

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## advan

The spinneret and tarsel claws shots are simply amazing!  Keep 'em coming!

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> Thanks a lot David!  :worship:
> Hadn't taken the camera to the P. cam for a while ... sheesh, when did he get so _fast??!_


That coming from *you *is worth a chuckle 




advan said:


> The spinneret and tarsel claws shots are simply amazing!  Keep 'em coming!


I totally agree! Love those shots!

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## papilio

advan said:


> The spinneret and tarsel claws shots are simply amazing!  Keep 'em coming!


Thanks Chad!    Yeah, that grappling hook is pretty funny!  



Storm76 said:


> That coming from *you *is worth a chuckle
> I totally agree! Love those shots!


Hehe Thank you Jan!    Kind of a tough sling to make look good for some reason ... those four were the fruit of over 300 shots!  




Oh my, I had no idea!  I think this is one stunning sling.    Such a clean body with an elegant satiny metallic sheen, covered in a short fuzz contrasting with those outrageous red hairs!  This sling just molted yesterday, quite a transformation.  










Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 1.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Fuzzy little thing  The eyehill has a kind of "sad" look on it I think...but that's what happens when you antro-morp-something...you know what I mean...

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## papilio

*Avicularia juruensis*



Storm76 said:


> Fuzzy little thing  The eyehill has a kind of "sad" look on it I think...but that's what happens when you antro-morp-something...you know what I mean...


LOL  Yeah I think I do.   
Haha!  I hadn't noticed it but you're totally right Jan!  




Chad had me over for another guest photo shoot.    The very pretty Avicularia juruensis sat motionless for incredibly long stretches of time under the flashes of the paparazzi.

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## advan

Wow! Those turned out awesome! Much better then mine! Nice work Michael! 

Favorite here-------> Click

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## Storm76

*jealous* 'nuff said

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## papilio

advan said:


> Wow! Those turned out awesome! Much better then mine! Nice work Michael!
> 
> Favorite here-------> Click


Thanks a lot Chad!    Sure was a relief to finally extract some nice images off the card after all that _work!!_ 

Love the clicky!  



Storm76 said:


> *jealous* 'nuff said


hehe  Thanks Jan!  :worship:




I was processing so as to emphasize the white setae tips, and somehow ended up revealing the _Mister Hyde_ in our mild-mannered little sling.  




Avicularia juruensis, 1.5-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr




Avicularia juruensis sling foot by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

abstractions  







Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Protectyaaaneck

Those A. juruensis foot shots are sweet! What a gorgeous spider!

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## Storm76

That versi must  have been to Las Vegas...all glitter...

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## papilio

*Nhandu tripepii sling*



Protectyaaaneck said:


> Those A. juruensis foot shots are sweet! What a gorgeous spider!


Thanks a lot Jason!!c    I think feet are always a very rewarding challenge!  



Storm76 said:


> That versi must  have been to Las Vegas...all glitter...


LOL I think that's a safe bet Jan!    I'm always amazed by the intensity of color even on these little slings!



Here is one of the N. tripepii slings which I acquired last week.  At only half an inch it's likely to take some patience in watching it grow, but even now look at those monstrous chelicerae ... could hardly be anything but a Nhandu!  









Nhandu tripepii sling, 0.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## jbm150

Wow, just...wow!

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## papilio

jbm150 said:


> Wow, just...wow!


Thanks a lot Jeff, really appreciate it!  



Some _N. tripepii_ action shots I got this evening.








Nhandu tripepii sling, 0.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## CEC

Awesome Pictures, truly amazing! Keep'em Com'n! Always interesting to see your latest picture post!  I mean, come on, your Curly Hair picture almost made me go right out and buy one, and I've never thought they were lookers until your picture post.


p.s. I bet your Nhandu tripepii will look ridiculous under your lens when its a big pink fluff ball.

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## Alltheworld601

Two things  (besides my love of your photos that is!):

I shared one of your latest on my facebook page, Arachnocrusaders (shamless plugging, yes).  Gave you credit of course.  Hope that is okay.

What I also hope is okay is, may I use some of your beautiful photos to print on tshirts with the Squash Myths Not Spiders slogan?  I haven't made any for anything more than personal use, but I would love to sell them in the future (trying to open a shop).  I'll of course put a photographer credit/copywrite on the bottom of the image if you'd like.  I understand if you say no, but I figured I'd ask, since you pretty much have the best tarantula pictures on the entire interwebs.

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## papilio

CEC said:


> Awesome Pictures, truly amazing! Keep'em Com'n! Always interesting to see your latest picture post!  I mean, come on, your Curly Hair picture almost made me go right out and buy one, and I've never thought they were lookers until your picture post.
> 
> 
> p.s. I bet your Nhandu tripepii will look ridiculous under your lens when its a big pink fluff ball.


Thank you very much Chase!    I love all Nhandus, and at high mag the tripepii is already looking like one!  



Alltheworld601 said:


> Two things  (besides my love of your photos that is!):
> 
> I shared one of your latest on my facebook page, Arachnocrusaders (shamless plugging, yes).  Gave you credit of course.  Hope that is okay.
> 
> What I also hope is okay is, may I use some of your beautiful photos to print on tshirts with the Squash Myths Not Spiders slogan?  I haven't made any for anything more than personal use, but I would love to sell them in the future (trying to open a shop).  I'll of course put a photographer credit/copywrite on the bottom of the image if you'd like.  I understand if you say no, but I figured I'd ask, since you pretty much have the best tarantula pictures on the entire interwebs.


Thank you so much Alltheworld601, that means a lot!    The photos are all yours!  



At last a few new slings came in, a chance for an all-new photo shoot!    And slings will always be my favorite subjects.  












Tapinauchenius gigas sling, 0.5 inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

Awesome shots! Considering how tiny these little guys are it's amazing the shots you were able to get! :worship: Keep 'em coming!

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## Storm76

I love the translucency you captured on those shots!

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## dactylus

Beautiful shots Michael.  I just saw a side of N. tripepii and T. gigas that I will never see anywhere else.  Fantastic photos!

I have told you this before Michael and I will say it again - I would happily "shell out" the cash for a 2013 calendar featuring your photos.  That is something that you and Chad should both consider.  

I can see a "T-Foot/Claw" calendar too for those of us that appreciate such things...  Gorgeous foot shots for all of the species that you captured!

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## Storm76

They really need to work out some deal for that! I bet the majority of people into T's will get one of those at least...

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> I love the translucency you captured on those shots!


Thanks Jan, they kinda remind me of Avic slings.  But _faaaaaaast_!!  lol



dactylus said:


> Beautiful shots Michael.  I just saw a side of N. tripepii and T. gigas that I will never see anywhere else.  Fantastic photos!
> 
> I have told you this before Michael and I will say it again - I would happily "shell out" the cash for a 2013 calendar featuring your photos.  That is something that you and Chad should both consider.
> 
> I can see a "T-Foot/Claw" calendar too for those of us that appreciate such things...  Gorgeous foot shots for all of the species that you captured!


Thanks David, and thanks for the slings!!!  

Thank you too Jan, Chad and I are looking into getting some calendars made up, thanks for the idea!  




My male _P. rufilata_ matured last week, I'm hoping to send it off for breeding so I thought I'd better get a few shots of him.  He's about 7 inches, not bad for a male but I hope that my female grows a bit larger than that.  I think this is the first time I've ever taken photos of one of my larger Ts outside of its enclosure, and watching it race around the bathroom ceiling was great cardiac exercise!

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## Alltheworld601

he is just lovely.  good luck getting him a girlfriend!!

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## Storm76

Awesome H. mac shots! Love the shadows and contrast you captured!

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## RobynTRR

Terrific skill in getting these shots.

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> he is just lovely.  good luck getting him a girlfriend!!


Thank you Alltheworld!    I'll be posting an ad for him soon ... I just don't relish the idea of coaxing him into his shipping container!!  lol



Storm76 said:


> Awesome H. mac shots! Love the shadows and contrast you captured!


Thanks Jan!    I hope you haven't given up on the idea of getting one for yourself, so beautiful and they're not _all_ monsters!  



RobynTRR said:


> Terrific skill in getting these shots.


Thanks a lot Robyn, much appreciated!!  




At only about 3.5 inches, these _P. subfuscas_, "lowland" form, are already showing the look I love!  









Poecilotheria subfusca, lowland juvie, 3.5 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> Thanks Jan!    I hope you haven't given up on the idea of getting one for yourself, so beautiful and they're not _all_ monsters!


Nope, haven't given up on the idea ! Suffice to say that with the couple C. fimbriatus and the P. subfusca "lowland" I'll have time to "get used" to more potent species with attitude and speed to support their need for respect in dealing with them. Just want to avoid getting into too much too fast 

Awesome P. subfusca shots...makes me look forward to when my little one grows up

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## papilio

*B. albopilosum*



Storm76 said:


> Nope, haven't given up on the idea ! Suffice to say that with the couple C. fimbriatus and the P. subfusca "lowland" I'll have time to "get used" to more potent species with attitude and speed to support their need for respect in dealing with them. Just want to avoid getting into too much too fast
> 
> Awesome P. subfusca shots...makes me look forward to when my little one grows up


Thanks a lot Jan, it's one of my top Ts!    Best luck with yours!  




This one has definitely become a favorite T of mine, and is one of my few NW terrestrials (cough cough).









Brachypelma albopilosum, 4.5-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Very intense copper on the carapace, looks amazing. I find that those T's, that have a lot of "reflecting" colors, are actually quite hard to take pictures of with my cam. Either it's too much flash, or too few and the T looks rather dark. Since Chad had a Panasonic cam before, too, I really need to ask him about the setting he used on that one. I can't do certain shots he did with my cam...

Was finally able to get a pic of my freshly molted A. purpurea - and boy is that T beautiful! Awesome colors - just insane. Once that one has hardened up completely I really need to do a series of shots with it...

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## mayhem13

Best tarantula's pictures i've ever seen!

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## CEC

^^ Agreed! Always amazed when I drop by your thread. Micheal, your B. albo pics are ridiculous!

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## FoxtheLviola

Wow! Absolutely amazing pictures of beautiful Ts. Love the Avics, especially the minatrix and diversipes.  The Psalmos too. Your photos have definitely made me want more Ts from those genera.

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## papilio

*Gbb*



Storm76 said:


> Very intense copper on the carapace, looks amazing. I find that those T's, that have a lot of "reflecting" colors, are actually quite hard to take pictures of with my cam. Either it's too much flash, or too few and the T looks rather dark. Since Chad had a Panasonic cam before, too, I really need to ask him about the setting he used on that one. I can't do certain shots he did with my cam...
> 
> Was finally able to get a pic of my freshly molted A. purpurea - and boy is that T beautiful! Awesome colors - just insane. Once that one has hardened up completely I really need to do a series of shots with it...


Thanks Jan!  Yeah, on metallic spiders is when a diffuser really shows its stuff.  



mayhem13 said:


> Best tarantula's pictures i've ever seen!


Wow, thanks a lot mayhem, really appreciate it!  



CEC said:


> ^^ Agreed! Always amazed when I drop by your thread. Micheal, your B. albo pics are ridiculous!


Thanks Chase!    Albos always look good in the camera!  



FoxtheLviola said:


> Wow! Absolutely amazing pictures of beautiful Ts. Love the Avics, especially the minatrix and diversipes.  The Psalmos too. Your photos have definitely made me want more Ts from those genera.


Thank you very much FoxtheLviola!    I really need to start stocking up on more Avics!  




It's been ages since I did a photo shoot of my GBBs, so ... 












Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 3-inch juvie by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Alltheworld601

Freaking awesome.  as usual.  Im amazed at how many colors are in that brachy up there.  That species always looked a bit dull to me, but WOW, the hairs on that one!  GBB is nice too...for some reason Im not a huge fan of them usually, but you got some amazing shots.


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## Storm76

That one with the butt up high in the air is hilarious


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> That one with the butt up high in the air is hilarious


LOL  That's one of my faves Jan!    It was getting ready to jump!! 



Alltheworld601 said:


> Freaking awesome.  as usual.  Im amazed at how many colors are in that brachy up there.  That species always looked a bit dull to me, but WOW, the hairs on that one!  GBB is nice too...for some reason Im not a huge fan of them usually, but you got some amazing shots.


Thanks a lot Alltheworld!  I'm with you on the GBB, I'd never had any interest in them ... until I finally got some slings!    They're really spectacular when they're small, with their flamingo-pink legs and all.  Here's one which I shot when it was about 0.75 inch.  As they grow they sort of lose their looks IMO, though friends tell me I'll like them a lot too once they turn blue-green on the carapace.  We'll see!

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## Storm76

I really like mine no matter their age. Their coloration is just plain simply amazing and makes them one of the most colorful terrestrials out there


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## papilio

*H. mac sling, 0.5-inch*



Storm76 said:


> I really like mine no matter their age. Their coloration is just plain simply amazing and makes them one of the most colorful terrestrials out there


You're right Jan, they are incredible!  Most likely I'll be proven wrong once the carapace turns!  




Considering how spectacular the adults are, this is a really hard sling to make look good ... or maybe it's just me.  










Heteroscodra maculata, 0.5-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Legion09

papilio said:


> You're right Jan, they are incredible!  Most likely I'll be proven wrong once the carapace turns!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Considering how spectacular the adults are, this is a really hard sling to make look good ... or maybe it's just me.


Well...you did a spectacular photo job...I would expect nothing less from you..lol.  But they really are just small, brown, fuzzy balls of furious lightning...

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## Alltheworld601

i love the shiny little h. mac butt.  and they are my favorite looking adult spider, though i wont be keeping old worlds anytime soon.  definitely my favorite to see pictures of though.

as far as the GBB, i love their sling colors too, they are very reflective and bright and shiny...and its not that i dislike the colors of the adults, its just rare to see one where the beautiful colors dont look muted or dirty.  the idea of a T with all of those colors that is also a fairly docile animal is so appealing, but for some reason GBB dont remain shiny like say, an h. lividium does.  which makes no sense to me really, since lividium burrows and GBB doesnt, and yet its the GBB that always seems to look like its wearing a substrate hat...

either way, your pictures of both the adult and the baby are lovely.

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## johnericcalica

DOPE!!your pictures is very nice...the camera is a best..


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## advan

Nice Michael! I know exactly how hard it is to get even one decent shot of the H. mac slings! Keep em coming!

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## Storm76

Almost translucent legs and abdomen...insane! Starting to do xray photography now, aren't we?

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## papilio

*P. subfusca 'lowland'*



Legion09 said:


> Well...you did a spectacular photo job...I would expect nothing less from you..lol.  But they really are just small, brown, fuzzy balls of furious lightning...


Thanks Legion, nice of you to say!    I just finished an epic photo shoot of my AF H. mac last night ... hard to believe she was once a boring little glob of lint!  hehe



Alltheworld601 said:


> i love the shiny little h. mac butt.  and they are my favorite looking adult spider, though i wont be keeping old worlds anytime soon.  definitely my favorite to see pictures of though.
> 
> as far as the GBB, i love their sling colors too, they are very reflective and bright and shiny...and its not that i dislike the colors of the adults, its just rare to see one where the beautiful colors dont look muted or dirty.  the idea of a T with all of those colors that is also a fairly docile animal is so appealing, but for some reason GBB dont remain shiny like say, an h. lividium does.  which makes no sense to me really, since lividium burrows and GBB doesnt, and yet its the GBB that always seems to look like its wearing a substrate hat...
> 
> either way, your pictures of both the adult and the baby are lovely.


Thanks Alltheworld, always saying such nice things!  
As I mentioned, I do hope I feel differently once my GBBs go through their major morph, but yeah that's it ... in photos they just always seem to lack the brilliant luster one would expect of them!  I've only seen a couple of adults in real life, and to be fair the lighting wasn't the best ... I'll have to wait and see whether the Nikon strobe is able to work its magic on the new colors!  



johnericcalica said:


> DOPE!!your pictures is very nice...the camera is a best..


Thanks a lot John, I appreciate it!   



advan said:


> Nice Michael! I know exactly how hard it is to get even one decent shot of the H. mac slings! Keep em coming!


hehe Thanks Chad!!   Makes me feel a _little_ better!    But then again it's often exactly as you've said ... the camera just pouts and refuses to take a single nice picture!  lol



Storm76 said:


> Almost translucent legs and abdomen...insane! Starting to do xray photography now, aren't we?


HAHA!  Thanks Jan!  Not yet but I'm workin' on it!!  




Man, I've gotten so far behind on my thread ... I've got _thousands_ of new shots to sort through!!  hehe

It's interesting to me how much darker the carapace of this specimen is than that of the one I posted earlier.  I can't believe how beautiful they're already getting at just 3.5 inches!  













Poecilotheria subfusca, 'lowland' juvie, 3.5 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

This last photo shows the T resting on a 2-inch table leg for scale.

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## Storm76

These latest pics SO make me look forward to when my little one gets to that size! Thanks for sharing, Michael!

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## CEC

Nice P. subfusca pictures, Prettiest pokie in my opinion.

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## dactylus

Nice subfusca photos Michael!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> These latest pics SO make me look forward to when my little one gets to that size! Thanks for sharing, Michael!


It won't be long Jan!    In my experience Pokies are probably the quickest growers ... my first commune of P. regalises matured in barely a year (granted, that was back in the days when I was into power-feeding them)



CEC said:


> Nice P. subfusca pictures, Prettiest pokie in my opinion.


Thanks Chase!    I strongly second that!!  (Anybody want a sub-adult female P. metallica??  lol )



dactylus said:


> Nice subfusca photos Michael!


Thanks David!  (Be ready to see those fresh faces sometime Tuesday night!  )




My camera's smokin' from overuse and I've got gazillions of photos to go through, but here is a sample.  The female P. rufilata molted last week and is spectacular now, the greenest rufi I've ever seen.    Both she and the H. mac behave like princesses in front of the lens!













Poecilotheria rufilata female, 6-inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Insane shots, Michael! How the hell are you achieving those? Especially when thinking about getting one of those outside its cage it boggles my mind as to how they seem to be totally fine with just sitting still. Both you, Chad and several others that take great pictures seem to have some kind of secret that I really to figure out...

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Insane shots, Michael! How the hell are you achieving those? Especially when thinking about getting one of those outside its cage it boggles my mind as to how they seem to be totally fine with just sitting still. Both you, Chad and several others that take great pictures seem to have some kind of secret that I really to figure out...


Thanks so much Jan!!  :worship:

I honestly don't see that there's any trick to it, I suppose I may just be fortunate in having well-behaved Ts.    They may be a bit hyper as you're getting them out of the enclosure, but once you've gotten them away from their 'territory' they generally settle down.  And yes, most Ts do, eventually at least, just sit there ... with both of these recent females I had to keep gently nudging them to keep them moving around, otherwise they tend to become immobile or even go into a useless huddle!  lol

Of the Ts I have, the Psalmos tend to be the most active but they too will generally settle down in time.  In my experience it's the exception that a T will not cooperate as long as the photographer is very patient and gentle.  I really only have one T which I wouldn't trust out of its enclosure ... surprisingly it's a P. metallica.  I should add that it's important, I'd say, to have a means of keeping the T from running off into inaccessible nether regions during the period while you're waiting on it in hopes that it will become obedient.  Lately I've just been using the tub as a cool-down pen, works beautifully so far!  

On the other hand I don't want to imply that all Ts will be unmanageable at first, most of the time they are fine right from the start.

Perhaps next time Chad and i get together for a photo shoot, we could take short vids of each other at play!  




A few more of the emerald rufilata.   











Poecilotheria rufilata female, 6-inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Alltheworld601

the Rufilata shots are amazing but once again your pictures have made me want an H. Mac like nothing else, serious enabling here, those guys are the most beautiful tarantula Ive seen in front of a lens..

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> Thanks so much Jan!!  :worship:
> 
> I honestly don't see that there's any trick to it, I suppose I may just be fortunate in having well-behaved Ts.    They may be a bit hyper as you're getting them out of the enclosure, but once you've gotten them away from their 'territory' they generally settle down.  And yes, most Ts do, eventually at least, just sit there ... with both of these recent females I had to keep gently nudging them to keep them moving around, otherwise they tend to become immobile or even go into a useless huddle!  lol


Well, I usually don't have a problem with the lot of the species I keep, but from what I've seen from most of mine they tend to become very uneasy once out of there known territory. In terms of "nervous" - since it's unknown space to them, they want to just hide away as quickly as possible (instinct kicking in) - especially with the A. purpurea I had one such occassion in which I tried getting the biggest one out - it ended in a 10 minute chase over my bed. He just wasn't having it and hates the light too much to stay still in the plain open. Pity, but I don't want to stress them out too much, so I'll probably won't try that again before they mellow down some (closer to adulthood that might or might not happen).



papilio said:


> Of the Ts I have, the Psalmos tend to be the most active but they too will generally settle down in time.  In my experience it's the exception that a T will not cooperate as long as the photographer is very patient and gentle.  I really only have one T which I wouldn't trust out of its enclosure ... surprisingly it's a P. metallica.  I should add that it's important, I'd say, to have a means of keeping the T from running off into inaccessible nether regions during the period while you're waiting on it in hopes that it will become obedient.  Lately I've just been using the tub as a cool-down pen, works beautifully so far!


Chad told me more than once to get the P. cam lady out to get used to deal with her fast and defensive nature, but aside from the fact that I'm feeling somewhat uneasy about that, my Psalmos in general seem to be quite skittish once outside their territory and in the plain open without a chance to hide. It's in their nature anyways, being one of the very reclusive genera out there. I'll probably try getting some good shots of my couple P. irminia ladies soon though, as I've to redo the enclosures of both. There's mold in one and I want to give my big girl some better space and provide her with a better suited corkbark-tube - so I might aswell take the opportunity to take some pictures that time.  I honestly don't know - rehousings are not a big deal at all so far, but having them out completely "uncontrolled" make me somewhat uneasy - silly, isn't it? 
On the other hand I don't want to imply that all Ts will be unmanageable at first, most of the time they are fine right from the start.



papilio said:


> Perhaps next time Chad and i get together for a photo shoot, we could take short vids of each other at play!


That would be AWESOME actually! Please do so 



Alltheworld601 said:


> the Rufilata shots are amazing but once again your pictures have made me want an H. Mac like nothing else, serious enabling here, those guys are the most beautiful tarantula Ive seen in front of a lens..


Totally agree! Still contemplating, but want to get more experience before trusting myself with owning one of those  On a sidenote, slings of these are SO cheap over here - they come as cheap as 7.- EURO...

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Well, I usually don't have a problem with the lot of the species I keep, but from what I've seen from most of mine they tend to become very uneasy once out of there known territory. In terms of "nervous" - since it's unknown space to them, they want to just hide away as quickly as possible (instinct kicking in) - especially with the A. purpurea I had one such occassion in which I tried getting the biggest one out - it ended in a 10 minute chase over my bed. He just wasn't having it and hates the light too much to stay still in the plain open. Pity, but I don't want to stress them out too much, so I'll probably won't try that again before they mellow down some (closer to adulthood that might or might not happen).
> 
> 
> Chad told me more than once to get the P. cam lady out to get used to deal with her fast and defensive nature, but aside from the fact that I'm feeling somewhat uneasy about that, my Psalmos in general seem to be quite skittish once outside their territory and in the plain open without a chance to hide. It's in their nature anyways, being one of the very reclusive genera out there. I'll probably try getting some good shots of my couple P. irminia ladies soon though, as I've to redo the enclosures of both. There's mold in one and I want to give my big girl some better space and provide her with a better suited corkbark-tube - so I might aswell take the opportunity to take some pictures that time.  I honestly don't know - rehousings are not a big deal at all so far, but having them out completely "uncontrolled" make me somewhat uneasy - silly, isn't it?
> On the other hand I don't want to imply that all Ts will be unmanageable at first, most of the time they are fine right from the start.
> 
> 
> That would be AWESOME actually! Please do so
> 
> 
> Totally agree! Still contemplating, but want to get more experience before trusting myself with owning one of those  On a sidenote, slings of these are SO cheap over here - they come as cheap as 7.- EURO...


I know Jan, over here it's hard to even _give_ slings away ... honest!!  

I think we each will always have a few Ts which just have a difficult temperament, regardless of genus or species.  I had one of my 4-inch juvie P. irminias out last week for a photo shoot, and she was as easy to work with as any of my other arboreals, completely well-mannered.  I'll try to leave a post on the Psalmo thread which you requested, though I know that I don't have more than a tiny fraction of the experience with them which Chad has, and most of my experience has been that they are a bit more skittish and quick in general but not at all difficult to deal with ... though that's said in light of two strong exceptions I can think of, two _very_ quick-to-threaten female P. irminias!  

When I'm photographing the more photo-sensitive Ts, I use a deep red LED spotlight as my only light source (other than the flash).  Actually I'm using it more and more lately, I like to have my subjects walking around rather than in a huddle, and the relative darkness provided to a T by red light encourages them to behave much more naturally, even outside of their 'territories'.  




Alltheworld601 said:


> the Rufilata shots are amazing but once again your pictures have made me want an H. Mac like nothing else, serious enabling here, those guys are the most beautiful tarantula Ive seen in front of a lens..


I have to agree whole-heartedly Alltheworld, H. macs must be some of the most elegant and striking animals stalking the night anywhere on the planet!    But I know I got very lucky, not only is my girl very calm but also, I think, as pretty as any I've seen.  She may be the only one of my Ts which it would truly hurt me to lose.  

So here's a tribute to her from a few nights ago ...









my liege!




Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

INSANE! Beautiful T...just awesome!

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## freedumbdclxvi

Those rufilata shots are amazing.

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## Protectyaaaneck

One word: Ridiculous.

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> INSANE! Beautiful T...just awesome!


Thank you sir!!  :worship:
I think I'm in love with her!  lol



freedumbdclxvi said:


> Those rufilata shots are amazing.


Thanks so much freedumbdclxvi!    With the wonderful color she developed after this recent molt, if she grows to the size of her parents she's going to be a lovely rufi!  



Protectyaaaneck said:


> One word: Ridiculous.


lol  Thank you Jason!!  




As Jeff has sadly decided it best to sell off much of his collection, he was kind enough to offer me his magnificent P. subfusca, along with a few other beauties.  Ever since becoming enamored by the spiders appearing in a particular photo of a commune of adult lowland form subfuscas, I've been in search of a female matching the coloration of those I'd seen.  

For me it would be a tough call between the H. mac and the subfusca lowland form as the world's most beautiful tarantula.  Really exciting to now have this prize in my collection, thank you so much Jeff!!  

I hadn't planned on photographing her merely walking across a brightly-colored bath towel, but I was so thrilled as I unpacked her that I had to grab my camera.  I'll try to get a proper photo shoot once she's settled in a bit.







Poecilotheria subfusca (lowland form) adult female, 6 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

She's gorgeous x3!!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> She's gorgeous x3!!


She thanks you Jan!!  




Photo from this morning in her enclosure, grooming herself.
P. subfusca MM up in a bit ...


Poecilotheria subfusca (lowland form) adult female, 6 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Formerphobe

Great pics, as always, Michael!  Almost makes me want a Poeci... but not quite.  LOL  I'll continue to admire them from afar, especially in your picture thread!

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## jbm150

Man oh man, just so lovely.  I don't feel so bad, she looks better in your photo thread than mine

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## Hydrazine

Went through the whole thread. Unbelievable. Stunning.

Are you working with polarized light or polarizing filters? I'm no photographer but the pics somehow remind me of polarized light.

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## papilio

Formerphobe said:


> Great pics, as always, Michael!  Almost makes me want a Poeci... but not quite.  LOL  I'll continue to admire them from afar, especially in your picture thread!


Thanks a lot Joyce!!    Aww, c'mon, all my poecis are really quite mellow!!   
 ... well, with the exception of one demonically possessed metallica.  She's the only one who's ever thrown me a threat pose -- which would typically be _after_ she'd leap against the glass at me in venom-dripping attack!!  lol



jbm150 said:


> Man oh man, just so lovely.  I don't feel so bad, she looks better in your photo thread than mine


Thanks so much Jeff, that means a lot!!    Really happy you like them, I just stare and stare at her!



Hydrazine said:


> Went through the whole thread. Unbelievable. Stunning.
> 
> Are you working with polarized light or polarizing filters? I'm no photographer but the pics somehow remind me of polarized light.


Thank you very much Hydrazine!  
I don't use a polarizing filter on them, the look may be the result of the local tone-mapping I use during processing.




This is one gorgeous mature male poeci!  The photos don't really show the beauty fully.  He's pretty quick, but luckily not terribly skittish.  Really perfect, actually, for photographing ... a little nudge and he leaps forward an inch or two then begins walking for a short distance, and never goes into a huddle.  

I'm hoping to pair him with the female, but intend to keep him around for a good long time (as males go) 



























Poecilotheria subfusca (lowland form) mature male, 6 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## jbm150

I freakin' love that first picture of the male, he looks like a huntsman

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## Storm76

That new girl you got is unbelievable, I haven't seen soo much purple going on on them! Awesome! Cute MM, too!


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## dactylus

Gorgeous shots Michael!!!  Seeing your rufilata shots has me wanting a few of those slings in my collection in the near future.  (I have my fingers crossed for you for your rufilata pairings Jason!)

The subfusca are a beautiful sight!!


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## papilio

jbm150 said:


> I freakin' love that first picture of the male, he looks like a huntsman


Thanks Jeff!    I hadn't noticed but you're absolutely right, he does!!  lol



Storm76 said:


> That new girl you got is unbelievable, I haven't seen soo much purple going on on them! Awesome! Cute MM, too!


Thank you Jan, I think she's pretty neat too!   
I'd always wondered how evident the purple iridescence I kept seeing in the photos would be in person, my regalis for instance shows quite a nice blue/magenta color on camera but none is apparent to the eye.  But the first person I showed the subfusca to said 'Look at those blue legs!'  It was subtle and I'm surprised she noticed, but then that was just with normal daylight coming in -- even so the legs had a very dark purplish-blue cast to them when viewed from the correct angle.  With an LED flashlight the color comes alive, and of course the camera's strobe brings out the hues with wonderful intensity ... which is far more purple/pink than the dark purple see visually.  To the eye it's just hinted at, but is in any case the strongest iridescent color I've seen on any peoci.  



dactylus said:


> Gorgeous shots Michael!!!  Seeing your rufilata shots has me wanting a few of those slings in my collection in the near future.  (I have my fingers crossed for you for your rufilata pairings Jason!)
> 
> The subfusca are a beautiful sight!!


Thank you David!    These two sp. are reminding me why I've always loved poecis so much!!  Truly exotic creatures IMO! 




My new girl, Reina, seems happy enough but I know she's hoping for a new Winter coat!












Brachypelma emilia female, 5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Alltheworld601

I love love love Emilias!  Maybe I'm biased because I have one.

Also I can't tell you how excited I get when I see your thread at the top of the photo forum! haha nice work.

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> I love love love Emilias!  Maybe I'm biased because I have one.
> 
> Also I can't tell you how excited I get when I see your thread at the top of the photo forum! haha nice work.


LOL  Thanks Alltheworld, great compliment!   

Yeah, I love emilias too!!    Def the most beautiful Brachy!




For this lighting set I had the strobe and diffuser on a stand pointing down and slightly toward the lens to create a little bit of backlighting.  One unexpected effect on the subfusca is that all purple disappeared!  :O  I guess the light needs to be coming from near the viewing angle in order for iridescence to show up.

Next post I'll have the shots taken with the strobe in the hot shoe.


I _love_ this spider!!!  


































and a couple random shots to break the boredom

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## netr

Inspiring and beautiful. The colour and detail make every image quite absorbing. It's great to see their anatomy so closely!


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## Storm76

Awesome shots of the B. emilia - I'm kinda thinking of adding one to my little collection, too, at some point. At least for me, it's really growing on me of that genus and I've heard nearly only good things about them. Espcially the chance of them not really kicking hairs at all makes them interesting.

That the purple hues vanished because of another angle seems logical. I've experienced the same problem with my E. pulcherrimaklaasi (E. sp "blue" as it's called nowadays actually...frankly I'm staying with the name it's usually known by until it gets scientifically reclassified and -named): Aside from the fact that my girl certainly needs a molt, it's extremely hard to catch the blue femurs! They look velvety black more often than not whenever I try to take a pic. Funny enough, I've found that when looked at a certain angle ventrally - the femurs look GREEN on the ventral side... :: - very interesting. Pity you are so far away, else I would've long invited you over to try take some good shots of her...


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## advan

Nice shots as always Michael! I love all the _P. subfusca_ eye shots! :clap:


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## papilio

netr said:


> Inspiring and beautiful. The colour and detail make every image quite absorbing. It's great to see their anatomy so closely!


Thank you very much netr, very happy you enjoy them!    I love, love, LOVE taking them!!




Storm76 said:


> Awesome shots of the B. emilia - I'm kinda thinking of adding one to my little collection, too, at some point. At least for me, it's really growing on me of that genus and I've heard nearly only good things about them. Espcially the chance of them not really kicking hairs at all makes them interesting.
> 
> That the purple hues vanished because of another angle seems logical. I've experienced the same problem with my E. pulcherrimaklaasi (E. sp "blue" as it's called nowadays actually...frankly I'm staying with the name it's usually known by until it gets scientifically reclassified and -named): Aside from the fact that my girl certainly needs a molt, it's extremely hard to catch the blue femurs! They look velvety black more often than not whenever I try to take a pic. Funny enough, I've found that when looked at a certain angle ventrally - the femurs look GREEN on the ventral side... :: - very interesting. Pity you are so far away, else I would've long invited you over to try take some good shots of her...


Thank you Jan!    The B. emilia is just such a lovely T!  
Brachys not kicking?!  lol !    Luckily I don't react negatively to the hairs.

Sometimes I wonder whether taxonomists have so many things to name that they take nearly invisible characteristics and put them in the common name!  LOL  (Or somebody does ... I don't suppose that the taxonomists are responsible for common names.  Just a hunch ... Chad??)

Hey Jan, ya know all it takes is a plane ticket!!    lol




advan said:


> Nice shots as always Michael! I love all the _P. subfusca_ eye shots! :clap:


Thanks a lot Chad!    I think it's getting to be time to publish book vol. 2!!  LOL






Tonight I've posted several images taken with the strobe in the hot shoe instead of coming from overhead.  Really changes the appearance ... the subfusca turns from 'Ivory Ornamental' to 'Chestnut Ornamental'.  

I got scolded in a PM for not taking many 'specimen shots', so I'll begin with a few.  lol



This first, for comparison, is from the photo shoot taken with the overhead lighting ...




and now the light coming more straight on ...













One of creation's masterpieces!  How could anyone hate spiders?




and one more with the lovely overhead lighting.  


Poecilotheria subfusca (lowland form) adult female, 6 inches by _papilio, on Flickr



Poecilotheria rufilata female, 6-inches by _papilio, on Flickr






Lasiodora difficilis, 7.5-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*Obtobtobtobtobtobt*

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## netr

papilio said:


>


 Hah, magnificent. An (un?)willing model, in any case delightfully captured.

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## Legion09

In the immortal words of George Takei, "Oh mmyyyy!"

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## Formerphobe

LOVE the OBT shots, Michael!

Oh!  I was just flipping back thru your pages and saw the pics of Reina!  Gorgeous!  She'll be spectacular when she molts!  Congrats on your new addition.

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## FoxtheLviola

I absolutely love the shots of the OBT. Makes me want to get one all that much more!

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## papilio

netr said:


> Hah, magnificent. An (un?)willing model, in any case delightfully captured.


Thanks a lot netr!    So far she's always been as docile as any Brachy!  (Sorry Jan.    hehe)




Legion09 said:


> In the immortal words of George Takei, "Oh mmyyyy!"


lol  Thanks Legion!   
To be honest, that was my response when I first saw all that color up on the monitor!!  




Formerphobe said:


> LOVE the OBT shots, Michael!
> 
> Oh!  I was just flipping back thru your pages and saw the pics of Reina!  Gorgeous!  She'll be spectacular when she molts!  Congrats on your new addition.


Hey thanks Joyce!  I always love having new Ts to take pictures of, and it's nice to buy adults once in a while.  

Rufilatas grow pretty quickly, have fun with it!!  




FoxtheLviola said:


> I absolutely love the shots of the OBT. Makes me want to get one all that much more!


Thank you FoxtheLviola, def one everyone should have!   




One thing I was worried about was that subfuscas are very shy and sometimes web up their hides and just never come out.  Happy to say that mine is out nearly all the time, at least so far, and her enclosure is still immaculate.    Here she is at home, as soon as I can afford it I'll get her a vertical enclosure.



Poecilotheria subfusca (lowland form) in enclosure by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Legion09

That's a beautiful spider....and a beautiful enclosure...what kind is it?  I need some prettier enclosures soon...

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## jbm150

For as long as I had her, she has always been very un-shy and would spend nearly all her time outside her burrow.  She'll likely be the same for you

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## ObliqueRien

Holy beejesus, man. Your pics are just.. Wow. I just LOVE that little hair tuft between their eyes

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## papilio

Legion09 said:


> That's a beautiful spider....and a beautiful enclosure...what kind is it?  I need some prettier enclosures soon...


Thanks Legion!    I use the enclosures from TarantulaHomes.com, I like the clean contemporary look with the flush vents, and I think they're a great deal for the quality.




jbm150 said:


> For as long as I had her, she has always been very un-shy and would spend nearly all her time outside her burrow.  She'll likely be the same for you


Thanks a lot Jeff, great to know!!  




ObliqueRien said:


> Holy beejesus, man. Your pics are just.. Wow. I just LOVE that little hair tuft between their eyes


LOL  Thank you ObliqueRien, nice to hear!  
I know, that little antenna hair is really cool, I wonder why all Ts have one?  




I just took a few quick shots of the albo through the enclosure, wanted to try the overhead lighting.  Again it changes the colors quite a bit, but is such a nice soft light.  There's less of a light blue highlight to the legs, and the carapace mirror patch doesn't really show up.
Still a handsome guy though, I'll probably do a photo shoot of him next.





Brachypelma albopilosum, 4.5-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Alltheworld601

I'm at a loss for words, but that head on OBT picture is definitely about to be my wallpaper.  And maybe a shirt.  

If anyone ever questions the existence of a cosmic design planned by some higher power, the spider will change that.  when you really see them.

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## Storm76

Not a fan of OBT's, but your pics still look amazing. Just having a hard time coming up with what to say - so I'll just keep it simple: Awesome as usual, Michael

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## netr

papilio said:


> I just took a few quick shots of the albo through the enclosure, wanted to try the overhead lighting.  Again it changes the colors quite a bit, but is such a nice soft light.  There's less of a light blue highlight to the legs, and the carapace mirror patch doesn't really show up.
> Still a handsome guy though, I'll probably do a photo shoot of him next.


 Please do. I've lately begun a real love affair with this species. They seem to have such sweet temperament and character, to say nothing of the namesake appearance.

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> I'm at a loss for words, but that head on OBT picture is definitely about to be my wallpaper.  And maybe a shirt.
> 
> If anyone ever questions the existence of a cosmic design planned by some higher power, the spider will change that.  when you really see them.


Thank you Alltheworld, go for it!   

(BTW, you can get a quick glance of all my flickr uploads on one page (well actually two by now) at flickrhivemind.net/User/_papilio/500/250/Interesting)

_Just my opinion_, but it is kinda hard to put all of this complex beauty down to mere chance.    Fractal geometry may play a part, but can't IMO account for everything we we in nature.  More and more cosmologists are heading toward the idea of an 'intelligent universe'.  Care must be taken though so as not to fall into the 'god of the gap' idea, it's always been merciless on peoples' beliefs to say nothing of the demeaning light it casts on science.  




Storm76 said:


> Not a fan of OBT's, but your pics still look amazing. Just having a hard time coming up with what to say - so I'll just keep it simple: Awesome as usual, Michael


LOL  Thanks Jan -- even though it goes against your personal preferences!!  Can't really say they're a favorite, but they are rather spectacular in their own way and I like to keep them around because kids love them!  




netr said:


> Please do. I've lately begun a real love affair with this species. They seem to have such sweet temperament and character, to say nothing of the namesake appearance.


Thanks netr!  I tried the overhead lighting with them and they lost much of their color and appeal sorry to say.  In case you missed them I've got others on post 286.  





Freshly molted.
_Finally_ getting a little blue on the carapace.    I think I Like it.




























Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 3.5-inch juvie by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*P. cam*

Can't let the camera cool down, known to be cause all sorts of problems.  




These were again taken with the overhead lighting, thus the muting of colors as seems usual.  If I can stay awake and she's still in the mood I'll try some more with the strobe in the hot shoe.






























Just as with the OBT earlier, I had to lift the legs here to simulate a threat pose.  hehe






Psalmopoeus cambridgei juvie female, 5-inch,  'Trinidad Chevron' by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

Nice shots Michael! Especially the spinnerett/webbing shot! :clap:

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## fatich

papilio said:


>


Awesome shot!

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## Storm76

advan said:


> Nice shots Michael! Especially the spinnerett/webbing shot! :clap:


I agree! Love the front view of the eyes a lot, too! Nice girl!

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## Dan Wulf

Michael, your photos are amazing! You're a star and I'm one of your fans!

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## papilio

advan said:


> Nice shots Michael! Especially the spinnerett/webbing shot! :clap:


Thank you Chad ... means a lot coming from the expert!  




fatich said:


> Awesome shot!


Thanks a lot fatich, really got lucky there!  




Storm76 said:


> I agree! Love the front view of the eyes a lot, too! Nice girl!


Thanks Jan!   All this time I'd been a bit worried about taking her out, but she was a total sweety!  




Dan Wulf said:


> Michael, your photos are amazing! You're a star and I'm one of your fans!


Wow, thanks Dan!  Pretty nice to hear something like that!!  





Look at the fang on the left, you can see the venom hole ... the fang tip even appears to be sliced off at an acute angle just like a hypodermic needle! :O



Heteroscodra maculata adult female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## FoxtheLviola

That fang shot is amazing! And I love the pictures of the P. cam above. I cannot wait till my girl is that size!

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> Thanks Jan!   All this time I'd been a bit worried about taking her out, but she was a total sweety!


I'm jealous your girl is that easy to deal with. My P. cam would've bitten you without hesitation if tried to lift her legs - she's a lady afterall and doesn't like someone peeking under her skirt 

Awesome fang-shot there of the H. mac!

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## papilio

FoxtheLviola said:


> That fang shot is amazing! And I love the pictures of the P. cam above. I cannot wait till my girl is that size!


Thank you FoxtheLviola!  :worship:  Shouldn't be long, Psalmos are pretty fast growers.  




Storm76 said:


> I'm jealous your girl is that easy to deal with. My P. cam would've bitten you without hesitation if tried to lift her legs - she's a lady afterall and doesn't like someone peeking under her skirt
> 
> Awesome fang-shot there of the H. mac!


Well she did have that obvious look in her eyes like 'You perv ... '  hehe

Here's a threat pose I got from her once, I think only because I was re-housing her not knowing that she would be molting about 6 hrs later!  
I think it's the only threat pose I've ever gotten from any T, except for my insane P. metallica ... but she'd attack first (against the glass) and _then_ go into a threat pose!





Psalmopoeus cambridgei by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Lol 6 hrs later? Alright, she was certainly rightfully p'ed off  That P. metallica of yours sounds like "fun"  The P. cam of mine tries to bite first and ask questions later, she's totally freaking out if you mess with her hide OR herself...I tend to just leave her be, even for feeding I'm just throwing a cricket in and watch. Usually doesn't take long for the "fiery fury" to shoot out and grab it...

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Lol 6 hrs later? Alright, she was certainly rightfully p'ed off  That P. metallica of yours sounds like "fun"  The P. cam of mine tries to bite first and ask questions later, she's totally freaking out if you mess with her hide OR herself...I tend to just leave her be, even for feeding I'm just throwing a cricket in and watch. Usually doesn't take long for the "fiery fury" to shoot out and grab it...


... Alright Jan, this fast, base-jumping T has clearly been spending way too much time at your place.  Never thought I'd have to start giving my spiders a curfew.  





























Psalmopoeus irminia juvie, 4-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## netr

papilio said:


> Thanks netr!  I tried the overhead lighting with them and they lost much of their color and appeal sorry to say.  In case you missed them I've got others on post 286.


 I hadn't seen those, thanks! A delight as always. I can't get over the fuzziness. Can't wait for mine to grow a little larger.

Edit - just saw the P. irminia shots. Perfect.

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## CEC

Really like the Psalm pics and the H. mac fang shot is magnificent!

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## Storm76

It's called "vacation", Michael  Awesome irminia shots! Love, love, love their legs! So sexy

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## papilio

netr said:


> I hadn't seen those, thanks! A delight as always. I can't get over the fuzziness. Can't wait for mine to grow a little larger.
> 
> Edit - just saw the P. irminia shots. Perfect.


Thanks a lot netr!  
P. irminias are fun, but rather a challenge!  




CEC said:


> Really like the Psalm pics and the H. mac fang shot is magnificent!


Thanks Chase, really appreciate it!  

So when do I get a go at your Ts?  hehe




Storm76 said:


> It's called "vacation", Michael  Awesome irminia shots! Love, love, love their legs! So sexy


Yeah, I just think it would be better for all concerned if they stayed closer to home!  
The irminias are pretty amazing, huh?  


























Poecilotheria subfusca (lowland form) adult female, 6 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Great pics of your girl  More pics for my M.P. download folder


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Great pics of your girl  More pics for my M.P. download folder


LOL Jan ... prolly about time for a new external drive by now?  hehe




_Finally_ my P. pulcher molted so I could get some new shots.  Nice fresh transluscent legs and feet!  


















My beloved albo.  










feeding day!  










P. subfusca Happy Dance!

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## papilio

*P. regalis fang w/venom hole*


Poecilotheria regalis fang macro by _papilio, on Flickr

This was on a very old exuvium I happened to have, fang length about 0.25 inch.
Shot through the Tokina macro lens with a Raynox msn202 microlens attachment.

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## Storm76

Amazing new pictures! I'll be using quite some of you pics tomorrow when my friend comes over with her family to show some aspects of T's. Your are just SO much better than anything I could do - waaaay more details!

So, how's that T-calendar coming along that you and Chad talked about?  Not long before next year, you know?

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## advan

Nice shot Michael! :clap: Now try that with a live spider!

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## Eldric

Awww man.. This last set of P. pulcher shots didn't pick up any of those teal highlights that I liked so much... The P. subfusca shots turned out well. Still looking for the perfect tattoo pic though to go with my P. met tatt ....



			
				papilio said:
			
		

> The B. emilia was taken back before I was using a TTL lighting system, so I had to adjust the flash intensity by hand, trial and error ... and generally got the exposures all wrong in the end (right Beth? ). Just another thing to fix in processing, but that's why it looks generally dark and washed-out ... so you've picked a good example here....


 I remember when you took pics of my B. emelia on the wrong settings... Still came out fine. I think I need you over again for another photoshoot. I have a lot more Ts now and my other M. lambertoni just molted and is a beautiful steel blue shade right now. It'll give you a chance to re-do the B. emilia shoot too...

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Amazing new pictures! I'll be using quite some of you pics tomorrow when my friend comes over with her family to show some aspects of T's. Your are just SO much better than anything I could do - waaaay more details!
> 
> So, how's that T-calendar coming along that you and Chad talked about?  Not long before next year, you know?


Thank you Jan!  
Hey, very cool, thanks!  I'm also quite honored to have Alltheworld601 use some of my images on her _'Squash Myths, Not Spiders!'_ T-shirts!  :worship:

First calendar is basically done, just a little tweaking to go but I'll post the link on my next post.    I'm extremely pleased with how they turned out, and they've been a blast for Chad and me to put together.  
We're planning to put out two general T editions, plus hopefully a yet-to-be-announced specialty calendar.  hehe  




advan said:


> Nice shot Michael! :clap: Now try that with a live spider!


... uhm ... Mods first!  




bethr said:


> Awww man.. This last set of P. pulcher shots didn't pick up any of those teal highlights that I liked so much... The P. subfusca shots turned out well. Still looking for the perfect tattoo pic though to go with my P. met tatt ....
> 
> I remember when you took pics of my B. emilia on the wrong settings... Still came out fine. I think I need you over again for another photoshoot. I have a lot more Ts now and my other M. lambertoni just molted and is a beautiful steel blue shade right now. It'll give you a chance to re-do the B. emilia shoot too...


Hey Beth!    Yeah I know what you mean, much less color on these last pulcher shots ... it just molted so maybe it needs a little time to get them back, or is just going to lose them a bit as it grows older, we'll see!  
Any time!  Can't wait to see the fresh M. lambertoni!!!

Remember how well that scale worked as a BG?  I'm thinking of getting a piece of black acrylic, then making it the top side of a box with a small light bulb in it ... earlier experience has indicated that the Ts like the warmth and are more inclined to stay on a surface which they may not otherwise care for.  

Can't wait to see your P. subfusca shots!!  





To go along with that P. regalis fang shot, here are some pretty regalis colors.  



Peocilotheria regalis juvie, 4-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*T. gigas sling*



bethr said:


> ... I have a lot more Ts now and my other M. lambertoni just molted and is a beautiful steel blue shade right now. It'll give you a chance to re-do the B. emilia shoot too...


Wow Beth, that means you must be pushing about, what, nearly 20 Ts now?  hehe   




Storm76 said:


> So, how's that T-calendar coming along that you and Chad talked about?  Not long before next year, you know?


Just finished the first edition.    You can see it at http://www.lulu.com/shop/michael-pa...lendar/product-20476935.html?showPreview=true.  I hope to get an ad posted on the forum later today. 




About time for another session with the T. gigas slings.  They've molted once but are still miniscule.  
I need to say it again, I just LOVE shooting slings!!  hehe

I think those pairs of spiked hairs down the ab are too cool!  



































Tapinauchenius gigas sling, 0.6 inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Alltheworld601

oh my god those last sling pictures are the CUTEST things I've seen in a long time!  Look at that little guy trying to tackle that big cricket hahaha what a trooper!

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> Thank you Jan!
> Hey, very cool, thanks!  I'm also quite honored to have Alltheworld601 use some of my images on her _'Squash Myths, Not Spiders!'_ T-shirts!  :worship:
> First calendar is basically done, just a little tweaking to go but I'll post the link on my next post.    I'm extremely pleased with how they turned out, and they've been a blast for Chad and me to put together.
> We're planning to put out two general T editions, plus hopefully a yet-to-be-announced specialty calendar.  hehe


AWESOME! I'm so gonna order one of each edition...*drools* 



papilio said:


> Just finished the first edition.    You can see it at http://www.lulu.com/shop/michael-pa...lendar/product-20476935.html?showPreview=true.  I hope to get an ad posted on the forum later today.


Just checked and will order probably next week sometime  Great work, you two! :biggrin:

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> AWESOME! I'm so gonna order one of each edition...*drools*
> 
> 
> Just checked and will order probably next week sometime  Great work, you two! :biggrin:


Thanks a lot Jan!!    Hope they don't cost as much to import as your enclosures did!  




Alltheworld601 said:


> oh my god those last sling pictures are the CUTEST things I've seen in a long time!  Look at that little guy trying to tackle that big cricket hahaha what a trooper!


Thanks Alltheworld, it's an amazing sling isn't it?    And it totally took down the cricket no problem to say the least ... it jumped up and caught the cricket in mid-jump a good half an inch off the ground!!  :O


















Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr




Poecilotheria regalis juvie, 4-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> Thanks a lot Jan!!    Hope they don't cost as much to import as your enclosures did!


Well, I saw them on the page actually for around 17 EUR / piece. So since it's even in our currency over here, I doubt there'll be any whatsoever importation taxes. Pretty sure they'll have it printed over here somewhere likely.

EDIT: Actually, I think I'l get one or two for the kids of my friend. The older one's bday is coming up on Nov 16th, so that would make a nice present

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## annabelle

Your photos are absolutely INCREDIBLE. I'm blown away by the amount of detail. Amazingly beautiful. Every single one of them.


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Well, I saw them on the page actually for around 17 EUR / piece. So since it's even in our currency over here, I doubt there'll be any whatsoever importation taxes. Pretty sure they'll have it printed over here somewhere likely.
> 
> EDIT: Actually, I think I'l get one or two for the kids of my friend. The older one's bday is coming up on Nov 16th, so that would make a nice present


That's amazing Jan!  I was hoping they weren't going to cost you something like $50 a piece!    Oh btw, wait a couple of days, I'm replacing a few of the photos ... you might not like it any more!  lol

And yeah, might make nice presents ... I'm honored!    kthxbye  hehe Jan!  



































---------- Post added 10-30-2012 at 01:42 AM ----------




annabelle said:


> Your photos are absolutely INCREDIBLE. I'm blown away by the amount of detail. Amazingly beautiful. Every single one of them.


Wow thanks annabelle, very nice of you to say!  Very happy that you enjoy them!!

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## Storm76

AWESOME shots again! Love that H. mac... 

$50? Nah, that's probably the signed edition with the signatures of you two

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## papilio

*Wide-angle H. mac*



Storm76 said:


> AWESOME shots again! Love that H. mac...


Thanks a lot Jan!!  



Storm76 said:


> $50? Nah, that's probably the signed edition with the signatures of you two


... is that a firm offer?  hehe  





Here's an experiment which I tried this morning.  I've always loved the wide-angle, almost fish-eye lens effect which is common to point and shoots, but to the best of my knowledge is not an effect possible with any lens made for DSLRs.  
I used my kit lens at its shortest FL of 18mm.  This will normally not focus closer than about a foot and the T would appear normal as well as small in the center of a large FOV.  By putting an 8mm spacer ring between the camera and the lens, the focal point is moved forward so that the lens can focus on an object a little closer than an inch -- which is how far I was from the face of my little lady, having to be very careful not to frighten her off by letting the rim of the lens actually touch her front legs.  

I really like this effect, though this is still quite a bit weaker than the effect possible with the 6mm lenses of point and shoots.  Maybe someday they'll make one with the same image quality of a DSLR.  
For what it's worth, I'll keep playing with this thing once in a while, maybe next time I have my new subfusca girl out for a session ... my favorite T photo shows a lowland form subfusca with an enormous amount of wide-angle perspective.

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> ... is that a firm offer?  hehe


Did I say "offer"? That was a suggestion

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## CEC

( Referring to the last picture ) Your H. mac loves the camera! Great eye contact! Certainly one of your best H. Mac pictures IMO.

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## hnyhny

Sooooooo cool!!I love your pictures very much!!big beautiful and clean!!!!


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Did I say "offer"? That was a suggestion


Aaaahh ... understood Jan!  




CEC said:


> ( Referring to the last picture ) Your H. mac loves the camera! Great eye contact! Certainly one of your best H. Mac pictures IMO.


Thanks a lot Chase!    I believe it's the dynamism produced by the wide-angle effect which gives such images so much appeal.  I've GOT to figure out a way to do this properly!  




hnyhny said:


> Sooooooo cool!!I love your pictures very much!!big beautiful and clean!!!!


Thank you very much hnyhny!  Very kind of you!  





The first image as posted previously, shot through the modified pseudo wide-angle lens, has tons of barrel distortion giving the image a 'pinched' look, as if it were being viewed in the reflection of a Christmas-tree ball. 

True ultra-wide angle lenses have nearly all of this distortion eliminated from the design. 

Removing the barrel distortion with software (second image) gets the photo much closer to what I'm after, exaggerated depth and perspective, a very dynamic 'in your face' image ... which she essentially was.  The effect is not so strong when reduced to internet size, but viewed full-screen in a large monitor the sense is one of the H. mac having her legs wrapped around your ears!










Happy Halloween all!

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## Alltheworld601

God I love them.  If I wasn't so afraid of OW Ts in the house with me and my child, I would have one.  Or 20.

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## Shrike

Your thread is kryptonite to my work productivity!  Great pictures.

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> God I love them.  If I wasn't so afraid of OW Ts in the house with me and my child, I would have one.  Or 20.


You're smart Alltheworld ... I wouldn't either.  Just look forward to opening that store!  




Shrike said:


> Your thread is kryptonite to my work productivity!  Great pictures.


LOL  Sorry about that Shrike!    But thanks a lot all the same!!  hehe




At last the P. cam is starting to look like himself, making for much more attractive photos.



























Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 2.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr



And my little pulcher regenerated a pegleg on his molt last week.  











Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 1.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

You were right: Both of them look very cute on those new pictures

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> You were right: Both of them look very cute on those new pictures


Thanks Jan!  

... wait till you see the 2i pulcher and 3i irminia slings I just got from Chad!   





Just a few more pics following the macro wide-angle experiments.  Stopping the lens all the way down (which at the 18mm FL used is f/22) gives remarkable depth of field, all photos here are full-frame.  However the diffraction produced brings image sharpness to a level of performance below that of most point and shoots.  Still fun though!  


And I thought maybe I should stay away from the potentially volatile H. mac for these experiments.  hehe  
Here's the albo, again the rim of the lens is scant millimeters from the nearest hairs.  

(No software used to adjust distortion.)

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## Storm76

"OMG - it's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!"

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> "OMG - it's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!"


LOL  Nice one Jan!  




Chad had me over for a joint photo shoot ... can you tell?  












Cyriocosmus elegans sling. 0.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr



















Ephebopus murinus sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr










Iridopelma sp. "recife" sling, 0.5 inch by _papilio, on Flickr







Pamphobeteus sp. "platyomma", mature female by _papilio, on Flickr






Just to mix things up a little.  











Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Those pulcher slings are really adorable at that age  

Soooo tell us: Chad has a foot fetish and you like...? 


papilio said:


> Cyriocosmus elegans sling. 0.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## dactylus

I see that the master photographer has been busy once again!!  I love the wooly albopilosum shots, the C. elegans butt, the E. murinus sling shots, etc...  I love them all.  Thank you for sharing you magnificent work!

What I'd really like to see photos of in the near future is for that new, adult female, "lowland" P. subfusca of yours to be seen clutching an eggsac with at least six spiderlings in it for me.  I LOVE the "mocha" P. subfusca...

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Those pulcher slings are really adorable at that age
> 
> Soooo tell us: Chad has a foot fetish and you like...?


Uhm, well ... feet are a fave of mine as well, actually.    But my favorite is eye clusters!  




Poecilotheria rufilata female, eye cluster on molted carapace by _papilio, on Flickr




dactylus said:


> I see that the master photographer has been busy once again!!  I love the wooly albopilosum shots, the C. elegans butt, the E. murinus sling shots, etc...  I love them all.  Thank you for sharing you magnificent work!
> 
> What I'd really like to see photos of in the near future is for that new, adult female, "lowland" P. subfusca of yours to be seen clutching an eggsac with at least six spiderlings in it for me.  I LOVE the "mocha" P. subfusca...


Thank you David!    Still expecting a Nikon from Santa, I hope?  



Although I prefer to take pics of Ts in action, running ain't the same as walking ... no fair!   So all I could get were a few poses at rest, actually lucky to get those.  Irminias are so nervous!  Just _CHILL!!_ 

I finally realized that I can still use one of my old strobes with the Nikon system, as a backlight ... good to have it back again, adds quite a bit of depth to an image I think.
















Psalmopoeus irminia sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr






Poecilotheria rufilata female, fangs by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Geez! That first shot is AWESOME! Looks so surreal...amazing. Love the little P. irminias - they're really nervous, but they seem to mellow out some with age. Waiting for my 2nd female to molt. Here's hoping that she'll be as nice and friendly as Phaedra

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## Meridian69

Incredible pics...

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## VickyChaiTea

These photos... I'm drooling over here! STAHP IT!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Geez! That first shot is AWESOME! Looks so surreal...amazing. Love the little P. irminias - they're really nervous, but they seem to mellow out some with age. Waiting for my 2nd female to molt. Here's hoping that she'll be as nice and friendly as Phaedra


Thanks a lot Jan!    I think eyes are just incredible up close, and I can hardly believe that even their outer skin is left behind on the exuvium.




Meridian69 said:


> Incredible pics...


Thank you Meridian!  :worship:




VickyChaiTea said:


> These photos... I'm drooling over here! STAHP IT!


Sorry VickyChaiTea.  lol  Thank you!  
(Cool name!    )






Poecilotheria rufilata female, eye cluster on molted carapace by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Protectyaaaneck

Love the shots of the rufilata eyes, Michael! What sort of lighting are you putting behind the molt to give it that effect? Keep up the awesome work, it's such a pleasure checking out your thread everytime you have some new pics up.

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## CEC

:biggrin:I concur!

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## Storm76

Looks SO alien...awesome!

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## papilio

Protectyaaaneck said:


> Love the shots of the rufilata eyes, Michael! What sort of lighting are you putting behind the molt to give it that effect? Keep up the awesome work, it's such a pleasure checking out your thread everytime you have some new pics up.


Thank you very much Jason!   
The searchlight-looking things are the foremost carapace hairs out of focus, the blue is just a book.  




CEC said:


> :biggrin:I concur!


Thanks Chase!  :worship:




Storm76 said:


> Looks SO alien...awesome!


Thanks Jan, I think I got lucky with the way that one turned out.  


















Poecilotheria regalis juvie, 3.5 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## grayzone

that eye cluster shot is REDONKULOUS Michael... very impressive stuff as always..

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## papilio

grayzone said:


> that eye cluster shot is REDONKULOUS Michael... very impressive stuff as always..


Thanks a lot steven!  















Brachypelma emilia female, 5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Those black spots aside her triangle on the carapace look awesome! Great DOF !

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## Anansi12

These are some seriously stunning pictures. Endless props for this thread.



...and my apologies if the thank-fest I must have unleashed on your Notifications was a bother :biggrin:

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## thespiderguy

I love the shots! Makes we want to get out a few of my own T's for some more photo shoots.

I also really like the extreme close ups, I need to get me a 1x-5x macro lens!

---------- Post added 11-19-2012 at 01:01 PM ----------

Love the sister of the boy I just got! Nice pictures!



papilio said:


> Thanks so much Jan!!  :worship:
> 
> I honestly don't see that there's any trick to it, I suppose I may just be fortunate in having well-behaved Ts.    They may be a bit hyper as you're getting them out of the enclosure, but once you've gotten them away from their 'territory' they generally settle down.  And yes, most Ts do, eventually at least, just sit there ... with both of these recent females I had to keep gently nudging them to keep them moving around, otherwise they tend to become immobile or even go into a useless huddle!  lol
> 
> Of the Ts I have, the Psalmos tend to be the most active but they too will generally settle down in time.  In my experience it's the exception that a T will not cooperate as long as the photographer is very patient and gentle.  I really only have one T which I wouldn't trust out of its enclosure ... surprisingly it's a P. metallica.  I should add that it's important, I'd say, to have a means of keeping the T from running off into inaccessible nether regions during the period while you're waiting on it in hopes that it will become obedient.  Lately I've just been using the tub as a cool-down pen, works beautifully so far!
> 
> On the other hand I don't want to imply that all Ts will be unmanageable at first, most of the time they are fine right from the start.
> 
> Perhaps next time Chad and i get together for a photo shoot, we could take short vids of each other at play!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A few more of the emerald rufilata.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Poecilotheria rufilata female, 6-inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Those black spots aside her triangle on the carapace look awesome! Great DOF !


Thank you Jan!    She does have a pretty mean demeaner on this coat ... still I'm eager to see her after a fresh molt.  




Anansi12 said:


> These are some seriously stunning pictures. Endless props for this thread.
> 
> ...and my apologies if the thank-fest I must have unleashed on your Notifications was a bother :biggrin:


Thanks Anansi!    I appreciate your viewing.  And always nice to get likes and thanks on my pics.  




thespiderguy said:


> I love the shots! Makes we want to get out a few of my own T's for some more photo shoots.
> I also really like the extreme close ups, I need to get me a 1x-5x macro lens!
> 
> Love the sister of the boy I just got! Nice pictures!


Thanks a lot Chris!    I use a 100mm Tokina macro for most shots, adding a Raynox dsc250 or msn202 for the extreme macros.
Best luck with the rufilata breeding project!! 






Often a photo shoot is a bust, but at least I got a couple spinneret shots which turned out pretty well.  










Lasiodora difficilis, 7.5-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

I'm having these images printed for myself by Adoramapix, 24 x 16 on a metallic emulsion.  Well-done, real photographic prints are quite stunning, with about 3 times the sharpness of computer monitors.  




Tapinauchenius gigas sling, 0.6 inch by _papilio, on Flickr


Brachypelma emilia female, 5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr


Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr


Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr


Poecilotheria subfusca (lowland form) adult female, 6 inches by _papilio, on Flickr


Poecilotheria subfusca (lowland form) adult female, 6 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Just love that B. emilia shot! Such great light/shadow on that pic....


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Just love that B. emilia shot! Such great light/shadow on that pic....


Thanks a lot Jan!  




Time again for my favorite sling.    This is one of the younger, 2i slings, still with the lovely teal abdomen.


















Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Now look, it's Mr. Pulcher again  Cute little thing...


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Now look, it's Mr. Pulcher again  Cute little thing...


Thanks Jan, one of the nicest slings around I think!  




I'll be taking a bit of a hiatus from photography ... when I'm haunted night after night by dreams of myself processing spider photos it may be time for a break!  

I'll try to post some old favorites from time to time to help keep the thread active, hope that's alright.





Avicularia diversipes sling, 0.75-inch, soft light, Revised by _papilio, on Flickr


Avicularia avicularia 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr


diversipes by the sea, soft light by _papilio, on Flickr


Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens freshly-molted juvie (2.5-inch) by _papilio, on Flickr


Lunch for my Orange Baboon by _papilio, on Flickr


Avicularia versicolor sling 1-inch, snow versi by _papilio, on Flickr


Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 2.5-inch juvie, wide-angle by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

As long as you haven't posted them yet, you can post all the pics you want - I enjoy looking at them

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> As long as you haven't posted them yet, you can post all the pics you want - I enjoy looking at them


I'll do my best Jan ... over 1000 to pick from on flickr.    Otherwise just shut your eyes.  




I realized I had this one which hadn't yet been documented ...


Given time even an S. calceatum sling will chill out.  
























Stromatopelma calceatum, 0.6-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Alltheworld601

oh my god, they are so fluffy!!!!!!!!!

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## Storm76

OMG - IT'S SO FLUFFY! I'M GONNA DIE! 

Just went through 55 pages of awesomeness on your flicker page...somehow my MP folder just tripled in size, lol

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> oh my god, they are so fluffy!!!!!!!!!


Thanks Alltheworld!  These turn into beautiful spiders to be sure ... but probably no T demands more respect!  




Storm76 said:


> Just went through 55 pages of awesomeness on your flicker page...somehow my MP folder just tripled in size, lol


Wow Jan!  I'm not sure _I've_ ever done that myself!! lol  Watch it, you're gonna burn out your HD!  hehe
Thanks!!  :worship:




More shots of my test-bed sling, a 2i _P. pulcher_ from Brett via Chad.
This time I wanted to see what back lighting alone would do ... Obviously not much detail of the body structure, but I really like how the legs glow!  

I'll try the _P. irminia_ slings next, should be interesting with the bright red body and white tufts on the legs.












Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

I love how the hairs on the side of the carapace glow on that last shot...looks really neat!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> I love how the hairs on the side of the carapace glow on that last shot...looks really neat!


Thanks Jan!  The pulcher is such a cool sling!  



Some more back lit photos ...





























And a few close-ups with normal lighting ...












Psalmopoeus irminia sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

One can really see the difference the lighting makes in those shots! Personally, I'm getting them way to bright most of the time which is why I'm really happy how those last of my shots turned out. It's very obvious how diffusion influences the quality of the whole picture with these shots. Personally, I think they look "less alien" with normal lighting, but at the same time not -that- interesting than they do otherwise (though the shots itself are still really cool - they just lack the "flair" somehow).

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## papilio

Thanks Jan!    These _P. irminia_ shots used only backlight as an experiment just to illustrate the effect.
Photo studios typically use three primary lights.  The brightest, which mostly lights up the subject, is called the _Key Light_.  It is usually placed off center to avoid making the subject appear too flat.  Another light, the _Fill Light_, is dimmer, placed usually at a position on the opposite side of the subject to add a bit of light to the shadows.  And then in the rear, often directly behind and hidden by the subject is the _Backlight_, sometimes called a _Hair Light_.

See CLICK 1 and CLICK 2 for examples.




Here are two photos of a _P. cam_ sling.  Sorry, the first one hasn't much DOF as it's just a single image, while the second is a focus stack.  But you get the idea -- backlighting adds depth to the image and helps pull the subject out from the background.











And here's Beth's _B. emilia_.  Notice how backlighting brings out the bluish highlights on the legs, especially around the edges.  Without this lighting they would have appeared quite black  -- this helps pull them out of the background.




The best outdoor shots of people are usually taken into the sun, with a flash to light up the shadow on the face.  Here are my brother and nephew ... CLICK 3




_A. diversipes_ are tricky, as I said.  This old photo took quite a bit of experimenting -- most of the lighting was very diffused, but this takes away the sparkle.  So I added light from the camera's pop-up flash at 1/16th intensity to add some of the sparkle back.

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## zonbonzovi

Exquisite!  Thanks for the lighting tips.  I secretly can't wait to what happens when you and camera go outside

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## Storm76

zonbonzovi said:


> Exquisite!  Thanks for the lighting tips.  I secretly can't wait to what happens when you and camera go outside


100% -that! Thanks so much for explaining, Michael! Now...I'll have to experiment to put all that info to work and see what I can manage to do next time I do a photoshooting

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## papilio

zonbonzovi said:


> Exquisite!  Thanks for the lighting tips.  I secretly can't wait to what happens when you and camera go outside


Thanks a lot zonbonzovi!  :worship:
 ... hmm, I've been thinking of trying some snowflakes!  




Storm76 said:


> 100% -that! Thanks so much for explaining, Michael! Now...I'll have to experiment to put all that info to work and see what I can manage to do next time I do a photoshooting


Thanks Jan!    I can already see that your lighting, among everything else, is getting very nice!  




This tiny sling is rivaling the pulcher as my favorite.  




































Tapinauchenius gigas sling, 0.6 inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

*azure meandering*


























Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

Awesome shots Michael! Keep them coming! I want to see you use a CD or DVD!

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## papilio

advan said:


> Awesome shots Michael! Keep them coming! I want to see you use a CD or DVD!


Thanks a lot Chad!
Hey, good idea.  



Excuse my posting another photo shoot of T. gigas again so soon, but I thought it made a nice contrast with the CD's blue tint.






























Tapinauchenius gigas sling, 0.6 inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Very nice shots, Michael! The selection of background colors makes the little sling appear even more sharp!

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## Trogdora

Beautiful photos Michael, I'm really loving that T. gigas! I wish my slings were half as cooperative as yours appear to be.  How do you do it? Do you just chase them around until they get tired?

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## papilio

*New lens  *



Storm76 said:


> Very nice shots, Michael! The selection of background colors makes the little sling appear even more sharp!


Thanks a lot Jan!    The effect of the CD is really fun!  




Trogdora said:


> Beautiful photos Michael, I'm really loving that T. gigas! I wish my slings were half as cooperative as yours appear to be.  How do you do it? Do you just chase them around until they get tired?


Thank you Jen!    They really are great slings!    LOL  Slings never seem to tire out like larger Ts do!  I just have to keep chasing them with the lens, hoping to get enough shots that some will be in focus!  




Today I traded my Tokina macro lens for a Nikon 60mm f/2.8 AF-S Micro-Nikkor, clamined to be the sharpest macro which Nikon makes.  So far I'm quite pleased with the results.    The improvements may appear subtle to non-existent at web sizes, but are quite significant at half-res or more.  Several of the following images are fairly strong crops, and all were taken with the macro alone, no Raynox attachment.

Some of the things which I've noticed so far are finer, more well-defined hairs, an increase in hue richness without the appearance of over-saturation, and more subtle tonal gradients and shadings.

The trade-off was that I now have a working distance of only about 2 inches rather than the previous 6!  























... and one taken a split second before his base-jump.  


Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## grayzone

advan said:


> Awesome shots Michael! Keep them coming! I want to see you use a CD or DVD!


 very creative idea


Michael, i like what that new lense is doing. Makes things very crisp looking. The hairs look amazing

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## Storm76

LOVE that last shot  Pity you didn't get a second one with the little guy IN the air

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## papilio

grayzone said:


> very creative idea
> 
> 
> Michael, i like what that new lense is doing. Makes things very crisp looking. The hairs look amazing


Thanks very much steven ... and I'm very pleased that you can see the difference!  




Storm76 said:


> LOVE that last shot  Pity you didn't get a second one with the little guy IN the air


Thank you Jan, I like it too!  
Actually I did get a shot of an earlier leap ... unfortunately just not a very good picture.




Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

More Psalmos with the new lens ...























Psalmopoeus irminia sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## SuzukiSwift

One word, WOW!!! And that word barely begins to sum it up! I can't believe how amazing these pictures are!! I'm coming back here later to look at every single one, seriously! haha Please don't stop! Oh how I wish you could photograph my Ts lol

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## papilio

SuzukiSwift said:


> One word, WOW!!! And that word barely begins to sum it up! I can't believe how amazing these pictures are!! I'm coming back here later to look at every single one, seriously! haha Please don't stop! Oh how I wish you could photograph my Ts lol


Thank you very much SuzukiSwift, I really appreciate it!  



These were taken at this month's MinnVerts meeting, 12.8.12


















Phormictopus cancerides, Mature Male by _papilio, on Flickr






Chad at work on P. subfusca by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Somehow, I think I'm wearing pink-colored glasses  Nice pics, Michael

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Somehow, I think I'm wearing pink-colored glasses  Nice pics, Michael


Thanks Jan!    The colors almost cracked my lens!  lol




More from this month's MinnVerts meeting, 12.8.12









Harpactira marksi, 3-inch by _papilio, on Flickr


Thanks for bringing the amazonica Chase ... My favorite Avic!!  











Avicularia sp. "amazonica" by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Kungfujoe

Wow that subfusca is awesome. She looks huge too.

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## advan

Holy crap, I don't want to even post my photos now! 

Nice work as always Michael!

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## Storm76

Awesome new set of pics! Gotta love Avics...cute fluffballs!

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## papilio

Kungfujoe said:


> Wow that subfusca is awesome. She looks huge too.


Thanks a lot Kungfujoe!   She's about six inches ... still young, I'd hope to get another inch or more from her.  




advan said:


> Holy crap, I don't want to even post my photos now!
> 
> Nice work as always Michael!


LOL  Thank you sir!  :worship:




Storm76 said:


> Awesome new set of pics! Gotta love Avics...cute fluffballs!


Thanks Jan!    Yeah, Avics are magical!




Sorry to re-post, I accidentally killed these earlier links.


Poecilotheria subfusca (lowland form) adult female, 6 inches by _papilio, on Flickr









Avicularia sp. "amazonica" by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Beautiful subfusca! Btw, are there any studies that show any relation between overall size to fang size? For example Poecies, Acanthoscurria and some others seem to have quite large and thick fangs compared to their overall size - while other species seem to have very thin, shorter fangs like Avics? Would be interesting to read...

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## paassatt

Storm76 said:


> Beautiful subfusca! Btw, are there any studies that show any relation between overall size to fang size? For example Poecies, Acanthoscurria and some others seem to have quite large and thick fangs compared to their overall size - while other species seem to have very thin, shorter fangs like Avics? Would be interesting to read...


Are you referring to the fangs themselves or the chelicerae? I haven't seen a difference in thickness of fangs among species of relative size, but I have noticed that some of my species have larger and thicker chelicerae than others of relative size.

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## freedumbdclxvi

second time today I am seeing pics of amazonicas and completely causing me to wonder why I never paid attention to them before.  Beautiful!

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## Storm76

paassatt said:


> Are you referring to the fangs themselves or the chelicerae? I haven't seen a difference in thickness of fangs among species of relative size, but I have noticed that some of my species have larger and thicker chelicerae than others of relative size.


Fangsize /-thickness actually. I've noticed that species such as Acanthoscurria and Grammostola for example have actually way thicker (and even longer) fangs at 5" than, say a P. cam at the same size. I'm just wondering if it has to do with their habitat, their lifestyle, or something else? Just curious...


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## paassatt

Storm76 said:


> Fangsize /-thickness actually. I've noticed that species such as Acanthoscurria and Grammostola for example have actually way thicker (and even longer) fangs at 5" than, say a P. cam at the same size. I'm just wondering if it has to do with their habitat, their lifestyle, or something else? Just curious...


I don't know the answer, but it's interesting to ponder.


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## papilio

freedumbdclxvi said:


> second time today I am seeing pics of amazonicas and completely causing me to wonder why I never paid attention to them before.  Beautiful!


Thanks freedumbdclxvi!    IMO they're kings and queens of the Avics! 


Jan and Passaatt, interesting observation.  It's clear that Ts such as H. macs and Nhandu sp. have monstrous chelicerae, but I hadn't noticed the fang variance ... perhaps I just don't see them often enough to notice, you've got me beat there Jan!  hehe 

Would quizzmaster Chad care to chime in here    ?





I'm back on my kit lens while I wait for the next macro, and was surprised to find it sharper at f/16 than at f/8 or below.  
Yesterday YouTube taught me about high-speed sync for the flash, which gives amazing contrast ... actually too much here, as I used my usual processing workflow.  Need to tune it down a bit.  

[EDIT]  Re-processed now. 
























Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 3.5-inch juvie by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Legion09

Amazing...A new wallpaper everytime you post..lol

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## MarkmD

Amazing, nice collection of T's and some of the best pics I've ever seen, I had to down load a fue on my phone lol.

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## grayzone

Michael you ever hear of Fathead? The decal company whose commercials are always seen during football games?
Is there any way you could get into making decals and stuff with your photos? You, and several other members here, are phenominal photographers and could be doing some real cool stuff for hobbiests with your skills

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## Storm76

GEEZ! Awesome shots, Michael! SOOO blue! *gasp*

And...


papilio said:


> Jan and Passaatt, interesting observation.  It's clear that Ts such as H. macs and Nhandu sp. have monstrous chelicerae, but I hadn't noticed the fang variance ... perhaps I just don't see them often enough to notice, you've got me beat there Jan!  hehe
> 
> Would quizzmaster Chad care to chime in here    ?


I made an extra thread for this, since I didn't want to hijack your thread anymore than I did, Michael => CLICK

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## papilio

Legion09 said:


> Amazing...A new wallpaper everytime you post..lol


Thanks Legion, very happy that you like them!  




MarkmD said:


> Amazing, nice collection of T's and some of the best pics I've ever seen, I had to down load a fue on my phone lol.


Thanks a lot MarkmD, I really appreciate it!  




grayzone said:


> Michael you ever hear of Fathead? The decal company whose commercials are always seen during football games?
> Is there any way you could get into making decals and stuff with your photos? You, and several other members here, are phenominal photographers and could be doing some real cool stuff for hobbiests with your skills


Thank you steven!    I'll give it some thought ... though to be honest my experience has been that, a bit surprisingly, the market for T-related items isn't very large.  




Storm76 said:


> GEEZ! Awesome shots, Michael! SOOO blue! *gasp*
> 
> And...
> 
> I made an extra thread for this, since I didn't want to hijack your thread anymore than I did, Michael => CLICK


Thanks Jan!    LOL  That electric blue was so intense I actually had to de-saturate the images!

I really don't mind in the least if discussions pop up sometimes in the thread ... though the mods may step in to move the posts.  




This may not have been the day for a photo shoot of this pretty girl, she was in a foul mood.    For the first time since I've had her she was extremely defensive, in the blink of an eye doing a 180 to attack the nudge stick.  And very eager for the quick moves, once or twice if her little sprints had been a bit longer she could well have tagged me.  So I was a bit nervous the whole time and didn't get many shots off before I figured it was quitting time.

I hope this doesn't indicate a temperament change, I'd brought her to the MinnVerts meet up an hour and a half away and she was rather agitated there too, maybe bouncing around in the car was a bit unsettling.

Anyway, it's been a while so here she is once more ...











This one made the shoot worthwhile, a nice versi pose.  


Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Beautiful girl - those contrasts b/w are just insane. Hopefully, she just had a "bad day" and won't change her general calm temper you described before - fingers crossed!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Beautiful girl - those contrasts b/w are just insane. Hopefully, she just had a "bad day" and won't change her general calm temper you described before - fingers crossed!


Thank you Jan!    I'm tentatively suspecting that she's in pre-molt, that at least would be a favorable explanation.  




I dumped the new 60mm Nikkor because of its minimal working distance and picked up a 105mm, same optics with a fantastic working space.


Looking like a somewhat muted P. pulcher, the two Psalmos will be fun to compare as they grow.  
Thanks Chad, another beautiful sling!  


























Psalmopoeus reduncus sling, 0.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## freedumbdclxvi

Beautiful!

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## papilio

freedumbdclxvi said:


> Beautiful!


Thank you freedumbdclxvi!  




A glamorous new sling from Jason.  






























Holothele incei "gold", 0.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Kungfujoe

Looks like a h nice gold..

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## Storm76

Cutiepie!

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## dactylus

Very nice pics once again Michael!!

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## advan

It's always nice when you get new slings!

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## Protectyaaaneck

Wow, Michael! Really nice shots of the H. incei "Gold"!!!


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## papilio

Kungfujoe said:


> Looks like a h nice gold..


Yes it is very, very nice!  




Storm76 said:


> Cutiepie!


Kinda irresistible isn't it Jan?!  




dactylus said:


> Very nice pics once again Michael!!


Thanks a lot David ... and thanks for getting us these wonderful slings for us!!    :worship:




advan said:


> It's always nice when you get new slings!


Yeah, always pretty exciting ... but this one was a windfall!!  lol  




Protectyaaaneck said:


> Wow, Michael! Really nice shots of the H. incei "Gold"!!!


A double thanks goes out to you Jason!!  




Sorry for the long post, in addidion to the H. incei sling I picked up a few more beauties from Jason. 


I love the way Cyriopagopus sp. look as slings.    This first set is one of my older C. schiotdeis (including a 'cute' little threat pose).  





























Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 1.25-inch by _papilio, on Flickr



This little "Sumatran Tiger" simply whouldn't behave, kept just falling off of the stone and playing dead.  One time I was trying carefully to pick it up from this position, just laying a finger slightly above him to give him something to grab onto ... and he bit me!!  lol  So yes, at last I've been tagged, sort of.  No effects whatsoever.    It wasn't a strike, he just held on, so I suspect he was merely using his fangs to pull himself up.




















Cyriopagopus sp. "Sumatran Tiger", 0.5-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr



I think it's so cool how even at this stage the cleft in the carapace is already evident.  














Monocentropus balfouri, 0.5-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Some nice new additions there, Michael! Gald you didn't get any effects from that possible "bite".  Great pictures once again!

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## CEC

Great pics of the new additions, Michael! Your photos give the spiders an amazing electric property, the spider's "hairs" look like little lightning bolts! You have a very unique style and you might have to change your thread title to "Electric Spider Land".:biggrin:

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Some nice new additions there, Michael! Gald you didn't get any effects from that possible "bite".  Great pictures once again!


Thanks Jan!  
I wasn't too concerned.  




CEC said:


> Great pics of the new additions, Michael! Your photos give the spiders an amazing electric property, the spider's "hairs" look like little lightning bolts! You have a very unique style and you might have to change your thread title to "Electric Spider Land".:biggrin:


LOL  Thanks Chase!  
I'll have to give that some serious thought if it continues!  hehe




I figured I needed better shots of the beautiful M. balfouri sling.

Happy holidays everyone!!  





















Monocentropus balfouri, 0.5-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## freedumbdclxvi

Absolutely stunning shots!

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## Protectyaaaneck

Haha, I love the C. Sp. "Sumatra Tiger" shots. Glad to hear that you had no ill effects from the bite.:biggrin:

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## Storm76

Happy Holidays, Michael ! That balfouri is nearly translucent still

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## Eldric

Gorgeous pics Michael!

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## dactylus

Beautiful shots Michael!!

Happy Holidays!


      :smile:

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## Oreo

Incredible photos! Saw all your pics while at work today...really amazing shots! Ts must line up at your door for their turn at a shoot. My favorites have to be the H. mac, subfusca, and P. pulcher sling. Perhaps L. violaceopes will be making an appearance in the future?

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## papilio

freedumbdclxvi said:


> Absolutely stunning shots!


Thanks a lot freedumbdclxvi, I appreciate it!  




Protectyaaaneck said:


> Haha, I love the C. Sp. "Sumatra Tiger" shots. Glad to hear that you had no ill effects from the bite.:biggrin:


Thank you Jason!   So how potent is their venom at this size?




Storm76 said:


> Happy Holidays, Michael ! That balfouri is nearly translucent still


Thanks a lot Jan!    Funny, it wasn't even the same sling!  




bethr said:


> Gorgeous pics Michael!


Thank you Beth!  




dactylus said:


> Beautiful shots Michael!!
> 
> Happy Holidays!
> 
> 
> :smile:


Thank a lot David!!  




Oreo said:


> Incredible photos! Saw all your pics while at work today...really amazing shots! Ts must line up at your door for their turn at a shoot. My favorites have to be the H. mac, subfusca, and P. pulcher sling. Perhaps L. violaceopes will be making an appearance in the future?


Thank you Oreo, always nice to hear!    Believe me, a line of waiting Ts would be a dream for me!!  
L. vioaceopes is high on my list ... a good friend of mine has a MF, so hopefully ... !




I was trying to get some shots of the Ts carrying their food around, usually they drag it out of the vial with them.  Didn't work this time.  But I love photographing my new slings!
























Holothele incei "gold", 0.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr
















Monocentropus balfouri, 0.5-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## grayzone

very cool.
Like the spinnerettes with webbing photo of the H. incei "gold", and the headless cricket VS. balfouri sling   amazing shots

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## papilio

Oreo said:


> My favorites have to be the H. mac, subfusca, and P. pulcher sling.


Oreo, I forgot to reply to this bit, but we are of the same mind ... my own three favorites as well!!    I don't know, maybe it shows ... ?




grayzone said:


> very cool.
> Like the spinnerettes with webbing photo of the H. incei "gold", and the headless cricket VS. balfouri sling   amazing shots


Thanks a bunch steven!    Still bummed I couldn't get them to eat ... nearly guarantees interesting shots every time.  





I happened to come across this shot in its full-frame version this evening, I've always liked the way the foot looks against Chad's dried lake-bed so I thought I'd do a detail crop of it.


Avicularia juruensis, 1.5-inch sling, v.2 by _papilio, on Flickr


I'm always amazed by how well they get on together.  hehe


Poecilotheria regalis juvies, 3.5 inches by _papilio, on Flickr


(Before I get up to my ears in hot water, I'd better admit that this was just an experiment in superimposing a whole bunch of images of the same spider on the branch.   )

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## Storm76

LOL - great picture with the juvie Poecies! How long did it take to get them all back into their respective enclosure(s)?

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> LOL - great picture with the juvie Poecies! How long did it take to get them all back into their respective enclosure(s)?


Thanks Jan!    Uhm, not long since it's all the same spider!    Just trying an experiment.   






















Poecilotheria regalis juvie, 3.5 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## CEC

Great new shots Michael! Nice little camera trick, you could make a lot of people jealous using a rare and/or expensive T!

p.s. HA! I guess every spider is communal at your house!

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## papilio

CEC said:


> Great new shots Michael! Nice little camera trick, you could make a lot of people jealous using a rare and/or expensive T!
> 
> p.s. HA! I guess every spider is communal at your house!


LOL  Thanks Chase!!   
Yeah when nobody's here with me to see, I usually just let all the spiders free to roam in my communal apt.   




Maybe if I can convince my emilia that she's an arboreal she'll quit hairing me ...





















Brachypelma emilia female, 5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr



Happy New Year everyone!!

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## papilio

These detail crops are for Jason and concrete, to show the lovely, subtle hues and textures which can be seen with a large diffuser -- in this case a ten-inch square about 8 inches above the spider.  At the AB size of 800px these are something like 70% full resolution ... much is lost online at the smaller sizes of normal crops or full-frame images.










Poecilotheria regalis juvie, 3.5 inches by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Protectyaaaneck

Beautiful shots, Michael! I can't wait till I'm able to take such awesome pictures.  Thanks for showing me what I can look forward to!


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## papilio

Protectyaaaneck said:


> Beautiful shots, Michael! I can't wait till I'm able to take such awesome pictures.  Thanks for showing me what I can look forward to!


Thanks Jason!    You're doing awesome already!!  



Bear with me for a bit, getting used to working on  a new monitor and the colors are very different from the other one ... I'd guess these may look oversaturated in the reds on most PCs.  Let me know, thanks!  

[Edit]  Oh wow, I just checked out the post on another PC, I need to redo the pulcher shots!  Didn't realize they'd be so messed up.  LOL









Pterinochilus murinus adult female, 6 inch, 'OBT' Orange Bitey Thing by _papilio, on Flickr

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## concrete

A bit on the red side in a couple of those full body shots on Dell U2711. Otherwise, still friggin amazing! What monitor did you get?


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## LuiziBee

These pictures are amazing. I wish I could do that!! You could sell these! It's always so fascinating looking at them this close and detailed.


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## Storm76

concrete said:


> A bit on the red side in a couple of those full body shots on Dell U2711. Otherwise, still friggin amazing! What monitor did you get?


Same here, using an LG .


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## Dagmara

papilio said:


> I'm always amazed by how well they get on together.  hehe
> 
> 
> Poecilotheria regalis juvies, 3.5 inches by _papilio, on Flickr


Are You kidding me? This photo is the best I've ever seen!


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## Chezza88

Wow!..... They are amazing pics


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## papilio

LuiziBee said:


> These pictures are amazing. I wish I could do that!! You could sell these! It's always so fascinating looking at them this close and detailed.


Thanks LuiziBee!    I find macro photography really rewarding, the most amazing things sometimes show up.




Dagmara said:


> Are You kidding me? This photo is the best I've ever seen!


Wow Dagmara, very nice to hear!    That was a fun photo to do.  




Chezza88 said:


> Wow!..... They are amazing pics


Thank you Chezza!  




concrete said:


> A bit on the red side in a couple of those full body shots on Dell U2711. Otherwise, still friggin amazing! What monitor did you get?





Storm76 said:


> Same here, using an LG .


Thanks a lot guys, I appreciate it!
I'm on a Dell XPS Studio 17" laptop -- previously I've always been on a Dell 2407UHC monitor which I really like, but the screen on the laptop is almost beyond belief making the 24" a little dingy in comparison.    However the color profiles, even after calibration, are very different.  So I'll need to keep the 24" monitor patched into the laptop for more accurate processing from now on.




Thanks for the compliments on these in the last post!  Sorry to re-post, but to my eye I think these are more satisfactory.















Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

Much better! Nice spider!

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## concrete

Not sure what screen technology XPS Studio uses but take a look at IPS panels like U2410 or U2711. It's an amazing upgrade versus your standard TN LCD panel. I have duel monitor setup and I'm looking at some of your pics on my standard LCD and my IPS LCD and the difference in color, contrast and clarity is simply night and day. Well worth it for photo editing.

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## Shrike

Wow, amazing pictures.  I love the shot of those regalis slings!

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## Storm76

Nice - it's your famous pulcher again  I've tried to get the P. langenbucheri sling out yesterday (now at approx 1.25-1.5") but oh boy - this little thing goes totally nuts if messed with! Throw threat-postures, tries to jump (!) and bite - really funny to watch, but I stopped trying to get the little one after 5 min - didn't want to totally stress it out. Hopefully, I'll get a chance after the next molt

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## papilio

advan said:


> Much better! Nice spider!


hehe  Thanks Chad!  




concrete said:


> Not sure what screen technology XPS Studio uses but take a look at IPS panels like U2410 or U2711. It's an amazing upgrade versus your standard TN LCD panel. I have duel monitor setup and I'm looking at some of your pics on my standard LCD and my IPS LCD the difference in color, contrast and clarity is simply night and day. Well worth it for photo editing.


Thanks concrete, I'd love to get a look at one of those!

Besides the incredible vibrancy and contrast of this laptop monitor it has all the visible resolution of 24-inch packed into 17 inches, so that the pixels are virtually invisible for sharpness nearly as good as a photographic print.  Looking at the specs of the monitors you mention I'd like to see the U2711 as it has the highest pixel density, must be great to look at!!  




Shrike said:


> Wow, amazing pictures.  I love the shot of those regalis slings!


Thanks Matt!  




Storm76 said:


> Nice - it's your famous pulcher again  I've tried to get the P. langenbucheri sling out yesterday (now at approx 1.25-1.5") but oh boy - this little thing goes totally nuts if messed with! Throw threat-postures, tries to jump (!) and bite - really funny to watch, but I stopped trying to get the little one after 5 min - didn't want to totally stress it out. Hopefully, I'll get a chance after the next molt


Thanks Jan.    Have you tried taking them out in the bathtub until they settle down, then gently nudging them onto a piece of cork bark or whatever for photographing?  Works great for me for the wilder Ts, they do eventually settle down.    As far as the initial stress of taking them out of their housings ... well, they seem to have a short memory span.  



































Holothele incei &quot;gold&quot;, 0.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

I seriously need to get my sensor cleaned!  






















Psalmopoeus reduncus sling, 0.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

Nice sets! :worship: Keep them coming!

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## Storm76

That little reduncus is Vegas - absolutely!  Glamour...

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## Trogdora

Your photos always make me see my spiders in a new light.

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## Kungfujoe

the picture with the regalis colony is insane.. thanks for hsaring

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## papilio

advan said:


> Nice sets! :worship: Keep them coming!


Thanks Chad!   Sadly this P. cambridgei wasn't in a very playful mood for the shoot.




Storm76 said:


> That little reduncus is Vegas - absolutely!  Glamour...


Thanks Jan!    The P. reduncas definitely rivals the pulcher!  




Trogdora said:


> Your photos always make me see my spiders in a new light.


Thank you Jen!    That's what I aim for!  




Kungfujoe said:


> the picture with the regalis colony is insane.. thanks for hsaring


Thanks a lot Kungfujoe!  I'd best remind everyone that this was a montage of the same spider superimposed on the branch!  





Mites!!  

... kinda takes the fun out of a photo shoot. 







































Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 2.25-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Protectyaaaneck

Holy wow! Sick shots of the H. incei "Gold"!!!!! :drool:

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## Storm76

Aww! Poor P. cam

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## Formerphobe

Bummer about the mites on the P. cam.  How are you going to address those?


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## papilio

Protectyaaaneck said:


> Holy wow! Sick shots of the H. incei "Gold"!!!!! :drool:


Thanks a lot Jason, what a gorgeous sling!  




Storm76 said:


> Aww! Poor P. cam


Thanks Jan, I just hope it's not a widespread problem.  




Formerphobe said:


> Bummer about the mites on the P. cam.  How are you going to address those?


Yeah, I hate seeing that.  For now I've separated the enclosure from the rest and removed all substrate, leaving only the water dish.  Next I'll need to get some scavenger mites to hopefully eat these.




Certainly the tiniest, most delicate sling I've ever photographed.















Iridopelma recife sling, 0.4-inch by _papilio, on Flickr




I just got these E. olivacea slings last night ... Wow, if they look this good already at under 3/4 inch these are going to be some real lookers when they get big!  



I'm also starting to experiment with some new lighting, a pair of wireless satellite strobes which ordinarily attach to and can rotate around on a ring mounted to the lens' filter threads, but each strobe can also be taken off and placed anywhere on a Gorillapod or whatever for side and back lighting.  I like them!  

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.../Nikon_R1_front.JPG/1024px-Nikon_R1_front.JPG

In normal use the diffused SB-800 strobe is on the camera bracket as well, but as I wanted higher contrast for these I just placed one satellite off to the side, another behind, and either left the SB-800 off or bounced it off the ceiling/walls.  The diffusion on these really isn't sufficient but I should be able to figure something out.

With more practice and experience this should be a very effective setup for all sorts of lighting effects.




























Encyocratella olivacea‏ sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Alltheworld601

I am so excited for these pictures - I'm getting an Iridopelma recife in the mail today  .  Now I feel like I have to go find myself some E. olivacea though

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## Storm76

Interesting lighting, indeed. Lots of shadows going on there, but it adds more depth? Like it! Hoping you'll get the mites under control...I wouldn't go all out with predatory mites just yet if it's only a single case..

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> I am so excited for these pictures - I'm getting an Iridopelma recife in the mail today  .  Now I feel like I have to go find myself some E. olivacea though


Thanks so much Alltheworld!    Have fun, the I. recifes are soooo tiny!    Very cute.  Sadly one of mine arrived with one mite already attached.
Highly recommend the E. olivacea one day if you can swing it, when I saw how gorgeous they already are at this size (true appearance not really visible yet to the naked eye ... if that makes any sense.  lol ), it got me pretty excited to imagine how spectacular they'll be when big.  




Storm76 said:


> Interesting lighting, indeed. Lots of shadows going on there, but it adds more depth? Like it! Hoping you'll get the mites under control...I wouldn't go all out with predatory mites just yet if it's only a single case..


Thanks a lot Jan, glad you like it!    Lighting is so much fun to experiment with, and I sorely need to come up with more creative ways to set it up for various shots.
It would be a nightmare should there be an outbreak in the collection, so I'm thinking that I might as well get the predatories ... eggs can lie dormant for quite a while in the substrate and may spread simply by using the same tweezers and nudge sticks.  




A few more lighting experiments, this time with one of my cuddly little M. balfouri slings.  Playing with contrasts and lighting levels using a single diffused strobe at ground level.

Again, Id be very interested to hear how these appear on various people's monitors ... too dark?  Contrast okay?  White balance?  
Thanks!

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## concrete

That little Iridopelma sling is adorable! I think it has just made my wish list. Nice job capturing such a tiny little guy Michael, especially that last shot in the set. It almost has this soft glow to it. The lighting setup with olivacea is interesting. Definitely has more punch to it with the high contrast but I think it might have the same issue I'm having with clipped shadows. I do prefer the high contrast look though. Are you adding colors to your strobes? Balfouri looks a little dark and void of colors on my screen.

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## Storm76

The Monocentropus looks kinda b/w on my screen, slightly more whitish in a couple of those shots.

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## papilio

[EDIT]  I thought this set needed reprocessing to remove the color cast and soften the tone mapping.  Please bear with me in these lighting experiments and especially as I try to get the new monitor contrast and color calibration sorted out.  





Storm76 said:


> The Monocentropus looks kinda b/w on my screen, slightly more whitish in a couple of those shots.


Thanks for your feedback Jan, much appreciated.    The balfouri is quite monochromatic, especially in that oblique lighting ... light coming from the front would show off a bit more of the sling's colors, reddish-brown and a very subtle steel-blue.  The whitish one at the end was totally backlit, giving it a pretty strong glow as the flash illuminated the body.




concrete said:


> That little Iridopelma sling is adorable! I think it has just made my wish list. Nice job capturing such a tiny little guy Michael, especially that last shot in the set. It almost has this soft glow to it. The lighting setup with olivacea is interesting. Definitely has more punch to it with the high contrast but I think it might have the same issue I'm having with clipped shadows. I do prefer the high contrast look though. Are you adding colors to your strobes? Balfouri looks a little dark and void of colors on my screen.


Thanks a lot!    No colors added to the flashes, but I see now that I processed the balfouri images to much too cool a color cast.  

In my experiments so far I've been just isolating the effects of a given lighting setup, so in the recent couple of sets there's no fill-light, causing those totally black shadows.  This is the sort of thing I hoped to hear about from others, thanks again ... on my laptop monitor black is reeely black while the display itself is pretty bright, which reveals quite a bit more detail in the darker regions which is totally lacking on the (now very washed-out looking) 2407 Dell.  Also the balfouri's subtle colors are far more apparent on the laptop.  So I kind of have to choose which way to go in processing.  

"A man with a watch always know what time it is.  A man with two watches is never sure."  




I'm so enamored by the new E. olivacea slings that I had to do another set, this time to see how they'd look with more moderate lighting effects than the strong back and side lighting of last time.

Here an 8x10 diffuser was suspended six inches above the scene, plus I used one of the satellite strobes with a small diffuser to provide a back lighting flash.  A good amount of contrast again but better fill of the shadowy areas ... still strongly affected lighting but more natural looking than before, the next time I do the olivacea set I'll go back to just the normal forward-facing diffuser.

The strong back lighting -- illuminating the very translucent hairs and body -- is what helps enhance the tiny sling's surreal, vivid golden colors.




























Encyocratella olivacea‏ sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Interesting, in that last set of pictures that sling has a really blueish hue to its leg on my screen.

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Interesting, in that last set of pictures that sling has a really blueish hue to its leg on my screen.


Thanks for letting me know Jan!    That's false color, I was changing the white balance of the camera as I was trying to match monitor colors, and the lowtones turned out bluish.  

I reprocessed that set to improve the color cast as much as possible, and the 2nd image in the set has pretty accurate colors.




I noticed that these slings are attracted to LED flashlights.   I had one lying on the table pointed toward the sling for some extra illumination and the sling kept walking straight to it and crawling up on the LED cover.  















Iridopelma recife sling, 0.4-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

Sorry to re-post, these needed reworking now that the monitor is calibrated properly.



















Monocentropus balfouri, 0.6-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

They look way better now, more to what I've seen in person from them.

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> They look way better now, more to what I've seen in person from them.


Thanks Jan, just what I was hoping to hear!  




My GBB juvies never disappoint during a photo shoot ... as playful as a little Avic or pulcher sling, casually exploring the wooden island, rarely stopping to rest.  Perfect.  



























Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 3.5-inch juvie by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

I really like the first shot, Michael. Gosh, what a beautiful tarantula....

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## Formerphobe

Tremendous GBB shots, Michael!


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## Alltheworld601

I love these.  These are the only photos that I've seen that actually make the GBB look appealing.  I've never seen one in person though....I've just always been turned off by pictures of them.  These are lovely.


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> I really like the first shot, Michael. Gosh, what a beautiful tarantula....


Thanks Jan!     I think that wooly rug on its head is pretty amazing!




Formerphobe said:


> Tremendous GBB shots, Michael!


Thanks a lot Joyce!   




Alltheworld601 said:


> I love these.  These are the only photos that I've seen that actually make the GBB look appealing.  I've never seen one in person though....I've just always been turned off by pictures of them.  These are lovely.


Thanks very much Jacquelin!    It's funny, I used to feel exactly the same way about them.    I don't know why.  But something urged me to get some slings anyway, and the tiny guys are just gorgeous!  A couple early shots ...






Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 0.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr



And one more to add to the last post, getting more grown up.  



Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens 3.5-inch juvie by _papilio, on Flickr





While the camera's in the shop for a cleaning I've been browsing old folders for shots I missed the first time through.
















Poecilotheria ornata, 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr




Avicularia diversipes, 0.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Just looking at the urticating bristles on that GBB shot makes me itch! My couple boys here like to kick sometimes...gna!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Just looking at the urticating bristles on that GBB shot makes me itch! My couple boys here like to kick sometimes...gna!


LOL  My GBBs loves to kick more than any other T I have!  






I went back to the source files and re-stacked these.  The first is one of my favorite focus stacks, 78 images taken at f/6.7 to minimize image-softening diffaction.  The close-ups hadn't been processed before.




















Poecilotheria metallica exuvium carapace by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Alltheworld601

Those eyes look straight into my soul.

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## concrete

That's an awesome stack the details are just mindblowing. I "borrowed" your carapace shot idea to test different f-stops and the diffraction at f20 vs wide open is pretty noticeable. I've been shooting at f20 lately and it feels like the images lack that punch. 


Carapace test shot crop by Delibegovic, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Still one of my fav shots by you, Michael. Those look just plain simply awesome! Totally alien

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> Those eyes look straight into my soul.


Thanks Jacquelin!    To me there's something kinda creepy about the eyes being left behind on the exuvium.  lol




concrete said:


> That's an awesome stack the details are just mindblowing. I "borrowed" your carapace shot idea to test different f-stops and the diffraction at f20 vs wide open is pretty noticeable. I've been shooting at f20 lately and it feels like the images lack that punch.


Thanks for the comparison shots Mirza!    Yeah f/20 is pretty soft ... f/16 doesn't seem like it would be that much different but I find it to be quite a bit better.  Of course everything giving you DOF is gonna look mushy when you're used to shooting wide open!  

Here's a new f/6.7 stack for ya.  




Storm76 said:


> Still one of my fav shots by you, Michael. Those look just plain simply awesome! Totally alien


Thanks a lot Jan!     Even the 'leftovers' of a P. metallica are beautiful!   





The H. mac molted at last, so I couldn't resist another carapace stack.    This one turned out better than the P. metallica one I think, probably just due to the inherent characteristics of the carapace, but I also made this one a 200-image stack vs. 78 on the metallica.  Probably overkill to be honest, but whatever the reason may be I'm really happy with the image.  Unfortunately though, stacked images never have quite the fidelity of the source images ... DOF always demands a tradeoff in one form or another.  












Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female, exuvium by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Protectyaaaneck

Nice man! I still need to try this focus stacking thing out.

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## crawltech

crazy!...

<likes every post>

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## papilio

Protectyaaaneck said:


> Nice man! I still need to try this focus stacking thing out.


Thanks Jason!  

Stacking is fun, gives wonderful results in the right situations, but takes a bit of experience to get things looking right.  Just get the 30-day demo of Zerene and start playing around.  
Stacked macros can be shot hand-held but for starters use a table tripod and either get a macro rail or use the macro lens' focus ring to advance the focal plane bit-by-bit (more difficult but free.)  To practice initially use a non-living subject.  

Mirza (concrete) routinely does massively deep stacks of lively little slings ... that's beyond my comprehension!!  :worship:



There's a great eBook for free, _The Art of Focus Stacking_, get it  HERE.  Where it says 'Download PDF' it will probably just open in your browser (at least it does for me).  Right-click on the link and select 'Save link as...' to download your own copy.




crawltech said:


> crazy!...
> 
> <likes every post>


hehe  Thank you Levi!  :worship:





I love cambridgeis, but I usually seem to have trouble getting this juvie to look good in my photos for some reason.  I'm finally fairly happy with how these turned out.  Sadly the mites haven't yet died off and the poor guy has worn his carapace hairless with nervous grooming.  Some predatory mites are at last arriving this afternoon, we'll see how effective they are here.  




















These last three were shot using my McGyvered Wide Angle 18mm macro, which puts the lens nearly in physical contact with the spider.  But it provides incredible DOF and gives the T a very different appearance than it has in the 100mm macro ... hard to believe that the massive spider in the last photo is just a 2-inch juvie!  












Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 2.25-inch juvie by _papilio, on Flickr




And fang shots of my H. mac







Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female, fangs w/venom hole by _papilio, on Flickr




One day I'd love to get venom hole shots on the white fangs during a molt.

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## advan

:worship:


............that is all.

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## Formerphobe

Yeah, what Chad said.

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## AprilH

That last cambridgei shot with the chelicerae open gave me the willies with all the mites, though. Hopefully he molts soon and you can separate him from his little friends...

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## papilio

advan said:


> :worship:
> 
> 
> ............that is all.


LOL  I assume that's in reference to the infestation??  ... Otherwise, thank you Chad!  hehe




Formerphobe said:


> Yeah, what Chad said.


And thank you too Joyce!  




opiate said:


> That last cambridgei shot with the chelicerae open gave me the willies with all the mites, though. Hopefully he molts soon and you can separate him from his little friends...


Yeah, I know that one's kinda grizzly, I debated posting it but thought it was worth it for educational purposes.

I finally got the good mites today, rehoused the P. cam back with some substrate and dumped some mites in ... here's hoping!    In any case I'd expect him to molt in the next month or so.  (?)
Do I remember Chad saying that you had a tough time getting rid of yours?




Here are some more shots with the 18mm Wide Angle lens ... I got a bit carried away with it today but I just love the exaggerated perspective it creates!  Plus I hadn't done albo in quite some time.  



















Brachypelma albopilosum, 4.5-inch female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Formerphobe

> LOL I assume that's in reference to the infestation?? .


Well, the mites are a bit unnerving...  But all the pics are fantabulous!
B. albo shots are great!  Can't wait till my girl grows up some more and gets some more curl.

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## Shrike

Awesome shots of an under-appreciated species.  Great stuff!

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## papilio

Formerphobe said:


> Well, the mites are a bit unnerving...  But all the pics are fantabulous!
> B. albo shots are great!  Can't wait till my girl grows up some more and gets some more curl.


Thanks Joyce!    The albo has certainly become a surprising favorite of mine! 




Shrike said:


> Awesome shots of an under-appreciated species.  Great stuff!


Thanks a lot Matt!  





Looks like the days of the mild-mannered H. mac have become a distant memory.  Fifteen minutes of chasing her across the walls and ceiling of the bathroom left her in a very nasty mood for a photo shoot, during those short moments when I could keep her in place ... and as I was once again using the Wide Angle lens pushed right into her face it made for a rather heart-pounding session.  



















Heteroscodra maculata, 5-inch adult female by _papilio, on Flickr

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## crawltech

Awsome pics!...its funny how the camera adds 10 lbs to H. macs.....lol

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## Storm76

Awesome albo and H. mac shots, Michael! Guess your girl has discovered her "true self" ?

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## papilio

crawltech said:


> Awsome pics!...its funny how the camera adds 10 lbs to H. macs.....lol


Thanks Levi!    That's probably because of using my Wide Angle macro from just an inch away from her face,  




Storm76 said:


> Awesome albo and H. mac shots, Michael! Guess your girl has discovered her "true self" ?


Thanks a lot Jan!  Boy she sure has, I'm amazed I got her to sit still on the wood long enough to get a few dozen shots off!  





Beth came over today and did her very first photo shoot with her new Nikon DSLR ... and she worked beautifully with my P. irminia!  Afterwards we processed the photos together.  
Thanks Beth, it was a great time!  























Psalmopoeus irminia, 4-inch juvie by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

This is an old photo which I showed to Beth and she suggested that I post it.  So what's the deal with the suspended water drops??!  Looks like I caught them in mid-fall ... except that this is a stack of 6 images and they stayed in precisely the same place in every shot!  When I asked for people's possible explanations on flickr most said that there must be an extremely fine strand of webbing holding them, but I have a number of good reasons to discount this.  One person said it must be magic, probably as good an explanation as any!  lol




What's holding these? by _papilio, on Flickr

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## FoxtheLviola

The H. mac and P. irminia photos are just stunning! For some reason I have never been particularly fond of H. macs, but those photos are making re-think that, and I cannot wait to my tiny 1.25" P. irminia looks like that! Gorgeous! 

Oh and I vote magic is levitating the water droplets.

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## CEC

WOW...
Michael, I am running out of compliments!

p.s. "Grizzly" is the perfect word for those shots!

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## Kungfujoe

The photo with the droplets is an awesome one.

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## Storm76

I simply can't get over the beauty of P. irminias! They look stunning and somewhat "Don't dare to harrass me" the same time - it's such an awesome species - love 'em!


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## papilio

FoxtheLviola said:


> The H. mac and P. irminia photos are just stunning! For some reason I have never been particularly fond of H. macs, but those photos are making re-think that, and I cannot wait to my tiny 1.25" P. irminia looks like that! Gorgeous!
> 
> Oh and I vote magic is levitating the water droplets.


Thanks FoxtheLviola!    I think that, despite their being worth nearly nothing, H. macs are about as spectacular as Ts get.  
I'm with you on the droplets.  lol




CEC said:


> WOW...
> Michael, I am running out of compliments!
> 
> p.s. "Grizzly" is the perfect word for those shots!


hehe Thanks for stopping by Chase!  :worship:




Kungfujoe said:


> The photo with the droplets is an awesome one.


Thanks Kungfujoe ... wierd pic huh?  




Storm76 said:


> I simply can't get over the beauty of P. irminias! They look stunning and somewhat "Don't dare to harrass me" the same time - it's such an awesome species - love 'em!


I know what you mean Jan ... luckily this is the first iminia who wasn't a terror!  lol  I really should take her out more often.  
Beth did a fantastic job on these shots, her first time with the new camera!  




Actually pretty well-behaved, this one ... either flew into wild threat poses or tried to hide, never ran away.  




Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 1.25-inch, carapace molt by _papilio, on Flickr
























































Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 1.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Alltheworld601

These are awesome.  I'm also really starting to love this genus.  I have a Sulawesi Black sling.  I'd love to pull it for photos when I get the macro.

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> These are awesome.  I'm also really starting to love this genus.  I have a Sulawesi Black sling.  I'd love to pull it for photos when I get the macro.


Thanks Jacqueline!    I kinda bought it on a whim, but what a wonderful T it's turning out to be!  




I already thought this was the greenest P. rufilata I'd ever personally seen ... and then she molted.  




































Poecilotheria rufilata female, 6-inches by _papilio, on Flickr








[Edit]  In case anyone might be interested, here's an un-retouched jpg right out of the camera for color comparison (neutral color control).  The colors actually get slightly muted during processing.  She really is this green!    Such a beauty.  



DSC_7265 by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

She looks like a walking rainforest...very vivid green!

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## CEC

Always a pleasure visiting your thread. 

Stunning rufilata! Could you bring her to the Minnvert meet? I'd love to see her in person.

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## Alltheworld601

Oh man...I can't wait for my rufilata to look like that...Then again, she never comes out of her cork tube, so I probably will never see it anyway.

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## Formerphobe

Really stunning rufilata!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> She looks like a walking rainforest...very vivid green!


Right Jan, brilliant camo coat!  




CEC said:


> Always a pleasure visiting your thread.
> 
> Stunning rufilata! Could you bring her to the Minnvert meet? I'd love to see her in person.


Thanks Chase!  

Yeah I definitely will!  But she's a real runner until she settles down, I hope David has a good hermetically sealed room or we may end up with one heck of a hunt on our hands!  hehe




Alltheworld601 said:


> Oh man...I can't wait for my rufilata to look like that...Then again, she never comes out of her cork tube, so I probably will never see it anyway.


Thank you Jacqueline!   

Mine used to spend a lot of time on top of her hide, but since this last photo shoot she's walled herself up in her hide.  Same thing happened with my female subfusca, and many of my Ts (at least the adults) have become much less docile than they initially were.

I'm guessing that, no matter how gentle I try to be, taking the spiders out of their enclosures for the photo shoots almost invariably alters my Ts' temperaments, even though they do settle down and don't seem to mind the actual time in front of the camera and flash.  I'd guess that it may not be quite such a problem if I had a larger collection and didn't have to keep taking the same spiders out time and again.




Formerphobe said:


> Really stunning rufilata!


Thanks a lot Joyce!  





I found the new exuvium in the P. cam's enclosure yesterday, and wow, what a difference ... such a gorgeous new coat, a complete transformation from the pics I took of it just over a week ago.  AND ... No more mites!!!    I had introduced some predatory mites into the enclosure about a week ago, but since then didn't actually do any examinations, so I guess I'll never know whether the fix was primarily performed by them or whether it was the good fortune of having gotten rid of them with this latest molt.

Other than loving the appearance of MM P. cams, I think the stage this juvie is at right now is my favorite look of this great species.  

Several of these are focus stacks of 3 to 5 images taken at f/14.





























Psalmopoeus cambridgei, 2.5-inch juvie by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Formerphobe

NO MORE MITES!  YAY!!!!  I think I'll have another cup of coffee to toast that fact!  LOL  She is brilliant in her new, bug free, clothes!

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## papilio

*Cyriopagopus schioedtei a la Mirza*



Formerphobe said:


> NO MORE MITES!  YAY!!!!  I think I'll have another cup of coffee to toast that fact!  LOL  She is brilliant in her new, bug free, clothes!


LOL  Thanks Joyce!    I'm quite pleased about it.  





I've been getting pretty burned out on photos for several months and needed something new to play with.  This is one of the few spiders which would sit still long enough to set up my tripod and macro slider and get some of Mirza's elusive deep focus stacks.    Thanks man, these were fun!





46 stacked images @ f/11  
I had more but he moved.  




24 images @ f/11




4 @ f/11  
I would've like to have gotten some nice deep stacks of a threat pose, but he wasn't feeling very mean today.




28 @ f/11




26 @ f/11



This was taken with the more powerful Raynox msn-202, which doesn't work well below about f/16 or 22.  So @ f/11 I had the aperture set way too low which caused image problems as well as creating very much increased stacking artifacts.


15 @ f/11




Cyriopagopus schioedtei sling, 1.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr
24 images @ f/11

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## advan

Very nice Michael! The detail is insane! Even if you "cheated"! 

Any spiders you want me to bring tomorrow for a sess?

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## Alltheworld601

Aw that little sling is adorable.  Especially the feet.  Guess he was in a good mood - hey I always hope mine are in good moods when I'm shoving a camera in their face.

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## freedumbdclxvi

Stunning shots!  I really need a camera - compared to yours and others, my pics from my phone just do not cut it.

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## Formerphobe

I keep coming back to ogle the rufilata shots.

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> Aw that little sling is adorable.  Especially the feet.  Guess he was in a good mood - hey I always hope mine are in good moods when I'm shoving a camera in their face.


Thanks Jacqueline, it's becoming one of my faves!  




freedumbdclxvi said:


> Stunning shots!  I really need a camera - compared to yours and others, my pics from my phone just do not cut it.


Thanks freedumbdclxvi!  




Formerphobe said:


> I keep coming back to ogle the rufilata shots.


LOL  Thanks Joyce!  




advan said:


> Very nice Michael! The detail is insane! Even if you "cheated"!
> 
> Any spiders you want me to bring tomorrow for a sess?


hehe  Thanks Chad!    Here's one more cheater I just did.  

Yeah definitely, I'll try to think of what you've got ... you keep surprising me!




Darn, I wanted to do a bunch more tonight, but every couple of images eats up another set of flash batteries!  



Psalmopoeus irminia sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Alltheworld601

Toeses!!! <3

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## Storm76

Love that side-shot of that T carapace...great depths!

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## papilio

*MinnVerts meet 3.16.13*



Alltheworld601 said:


> Toeses!!! <3







Storm76 said:


> Love that side-shot of that T carapace...great depths!


Thanks a lot Jan!  





These first are not from the meet, just some more focus stacks from this morning.












Encyocratella olivacea‏ sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr




An hour and a half is not enough time for a photo shoot at a MinnVerts meet!












Megaphobema robustum by _papilio, on Flickr
















Pamphobeteus nigricolor by _papilio, on Flickr




Didn't have time to process Chase's A. sp. 'amazonica' yet, coming up next.

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## papilio

Avicularia sp. 'amazonica' by _papilio, on Flickr

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## CEC

Great pics of the Minnverts meet models!! I am glad she (A. sp. amazonica) wasn't too shy. I like her yellow bands and can't get enough of her foot shots.:coffee:

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## iPippin

Best. Picture. Thread. Ever. <3 You really have an amazing talent.

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## psohn703

Wow. Very well done.

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## dactylus

Michael - Can you explain to me what a "focus stack" photo is and the advantages to what I assume are multiple stacked images versus a single image?  I have never heard the term "focus stack" before.

Stunningly beautiful photos my friend!!

:smile:

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## CEC

dactylus said:


> Michael - Can you explain to me what a "focus stack" photo is and the advantages to what I assume are multiple stacked images versus a single image?  I have never heard the term "focus stack" before.
> 
> Stunningly beautiful photos my friend!!
> 
> :smile:


I was wondering that too David, but about a week ago, Chad told me. I am not going to explain cuz I know Michael will be better at explaining what it means. Cool Stuff!

Michael, I have been browsing your thread lately on my phone but I just scrolled your thread on my work computer(with a good size screen) and I had to step back to take it all in! 
**note to self: Always view Michael's thread on big screen*

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## papilio

*Holothele incei 'gold' and FOCUS STACKING*



CEC said:


> Great pics of the Minnverts meet models!! I am glad she (A. sp. amazonica) wasn't too shy. I like her yellow bands and can't get enough of her foot shots.:coffee:


Thank you Chase!  :worship:  Amazonicas are always magnificent!!  But I can't find any slings.  




iPippin said:


> Best. Picture. Thread. Ever. <3 You really have an amazing talent.


Thanks very much iPippin, means a lot to me to hear!  




psohn703 said:


> Wow. Very well done.


Thank you psohn!  




dactylus said:


> Michael - Can you explain to me what a "focus stack" photo is and the advantages to what I assume are multiple stacked images versus a single image?  I have never heard the term "focus stack" before.
> 
> Stunningly beautiful photos my friend!!
> 
> :smile:


Thanks so much David!  And a special thank you for hosting our last meet!!  
See below, I've written a short description of the technique.




CEC said:


> I was wondering that too David, but about a week ago, Chad told me. I am not going to explain cuz I know Michael will be better at explaining what it means. Cool Stuff!
> 
> Michael, I have been browsing your thread lately on my phone but I just scrolled your thread on my work computer(with a good size screen) and I had to step back to take it all in!
> **note to self: Always view Michael's thread on big screen*


LOL  Thanks again Chase!  I'm always frustrated that the AB images are so small.  If you'd like to, click through the first image in this post to go to its flickr page, rt clk on that image and select Original.  The 2048px image is quite a bit nicer.  

(The rest here are fairly heavy crops and don't enlarge so well.)







Holothele incei 'gold', 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr
32-image stack




FOCUS STACKING ...


Macro photos typically have an extremely thin Depth of Field (DOF), so that only a small region at a certain distance from the camera is in focus and the image gets quite blurry in front of and behind this area.  Most commonly this is dealt with by using a very small aperture, f/16 to f/32.  This helps a fair amount, but the smaller the aperture the light has to squeeze through the more diffraction the image will have, an optical phenomenon which softens the image and cannot be improved by any type of sharpening.  So this is a rather serious trade-off of increasing the DOF by increasing the f/x.  

Having been an optical designer a number of years ago I'm a bit anal about image sharpness and have tried to get some of the sharpest equipment available, so I hate the blurring effects of diffraction.  Focus stacking is a newer approach having been made possible only since the advent of digital imagery.  Much wider apertures can be used with this method, therefore producing less diffraction and sharper images.


Usually the camera is mounted on a tripod and sliding rail which allows one to very slowly advance the camera for each successive image, getting a clear DOF a bit farther back on each image and eventually covering some or all of the subject with small in-focus regions on some one of the images or another.

Though this next part is done digitally with software it is easiest to imagine all of these images as prints arranged in a stack with the print containing the nearest focused region at the beginning and the farthest focus at the end.  The software then drills down through the stack, determines and extracts the sharpest pixel region of each image, and then uses these extracted pieces to construct a sort of mosaic containing all of these sharp pieces.  This is the software's output image.

Though this is remarkable software there is once again a trade-off, this time in the form of halo artifacts (particularly around isolated hairs) which must be brushed out.

It is possible to do more shallow stacks just hand-held, but this is largely a matter of luck -- selecting 5 or so images which will line up but which have their foci at slightly different depths.  (Of course the focused regions are rarely in order so the images need to be arranged in order and then re-numbered.)  Thanks again to Mirza (concrete) for inspiring me to advance from the more casual hand-held stacks to these far deeper and more rigorous images.  :worship:


I don't intend to continue to do nothing but stacked images from now on.  LOL       For quite a few months though I've been getting more burned out with taking photos, feeling that the images were lacking a more creative spark, and this new approach is helping to make it more fun again.  


For a look at some _REAL_ stacking macro masters check out _John Hallmen_ (I consider him the premier macrophotographer on flickr), and for very deep studio stacks _Laurie Knight_.
John's _Daddy long legs_ is unreal!  If you can spare five minutes run his slideshow in the upper right, phenomenal!!    Maybe in the next life I'll learn his secrets ...







The next three images show the beginning, middle and end of a 46-image focus stack, with the end result of the entire stack shown in the fourth photo of the series.  These were taken through the Raynox dcr-250 at f/14.  More diffraction than I'd like but the Raynox lenses don't work so well at larger apertures.















And the result


46-image stack







Holothele incei 'gold', 1-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr
28-image stack





As always, thanks for looking!

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## Alltheworld601

Amazing, and an awesome explanation as well.  I love the photos and it shows how much I can do with all the ones I get where only one small part is in focus!  I'm very excited to try this myself.  Especially now that I have Zerene.   Also, such a cute sling.

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## Storm76

Awesome amazonica shots, Michael. Lovely T's, aren't they?  Although one of mine is quite the meanie

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## jbm150

Thanks Michael for explaining that, I've been wondering exactly what it meant.  Makes total sense and of course, the results are awe-inspiring!

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## CEC

Storm76 said:


> Awesome amazonica shots, Michael. Lovely T's, aren't they?  Although one of mine is quite the meanie


Mine(the one pictured) is a doll so far, she likes to rub her abdomen in defense that is why she is bald. She is in need of a molt and when she does molt I need to find a male and hope for a successful sac to hook the Minnverts group up. I have another female that will be shortly maturing so hopefully it is just a matter of time.

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## Storm76

CEC said:


> Mine(the one pictured) is a doll so far, she likes to rub her abdomen in defense that is why she is bald. She is in need of a molt and when she does molt I need to find a male and hope for a successful sac to hook the Minnverts group up. I have another female that will be shortly maturing so hopefully it is just a matter of time.


Ah, gotcha! I think I'm lucky that the two slings I got last year seemingly are male+female actually whereas the female is the more layed back one I think. She did jump at the tongs and ripped the roach from it yesterday though

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> Amazing, and an awesome explanation as well.  I love the photos and it shows how much I can do with all the ones I get where only one small part is in focus!  I'm very excited to try this myself.  Especially now that I have Zerene.   Also, such a cute sling.


Thanks Jacqueline!  Have at it!  




Storm76 said:


> Awesome amazonica shots, Michael. Lovely T's, aren't they?  Although one of mine is quite the meanie


Thanks Jan!    Def my fave Avic!  :biggrin:




jbm150 said:


> Thanks Michael for explaining that, I've been wondering exactly what it meant.  Makes total sense and of course, the results are awe-inspiring!


Thank you Jeff!  :worship:  




CEC said:


> Mine(the one pictured) is a doll so far, she likes to rub her abdomen in defense that is why she is bald. She is in need of a molt and when she does molt I need to find a male and hope for a successful sac to hook the Minnverts group up. I have another female that will be shortly maturing so hopefully it is just a matter of time.


Slings!  I need slings!!  





As the toughest sling to get good macros of, the A. versicolor is my testbed for new techniques.  So I thought I'd try stacking a few.  

What I hadn't considered, these restless slings almost never stay still long enough to take anything close to a deep stack.  Seriously, I nearly gave up.  After many aborted attempts (by the spider, not by me) I finally ended up with a small number of decent images.













Avicularia versicolor sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## advan

Nice shots! Versi slings are hard to get decent shots of. I have to tone down the flash all the way back or the blue is waaaay to bright. And of course their curious, free roaming spirits!

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## korg

Wow, this thread has some absolutely amazing pictures. Thank you very much for taking the time to post your work!

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## Storm76

Soooo blue...lovely shots, Michael!

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## papilio

advan said:


> Nice shots! Versi slings are hard to get decent shots of. I have to tone down the flash all the way back or the blue is waaaay to bright. And of course their curious, free roaming spirits!


Thanks Chad!  :worship:
Yeah that's part of what makes versicolors so challenging to get right ... both exposure and diffusion must be spot on.  





korg said:


> Wow, this thread has some absolutely amazing pictures. Thank you very much for taking the time to post your work!


Thanks so much korg, very kind of you!  :biggrin:  Posting on AB is my absolute pleasure!  





Storm76 said:


> Soooo blue...lovely shots, Michael!


Thank you Jan!    Who'd ever believe that there's such a thing as an electric blue tarantula?  







I think this deep stacking might be addictive.  hehe

These were all taken with a Raynox 250 at f/11, about 40-50 images per stack.  Used back lighting again to help make the golden hairs pop.












Encyocratella olivacea‏ sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr




Slaving the back lighting strobe failed, otherwise the legs and body of the pulcher sling would've been brighter with translucence.


Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.5-inch by _papilio, on Flickr




Thanks for looking!  :worship:

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## Storm76

Lovely pulcher sling  Mine is still quite calm. Either I have a hand for Psalmos, or I'm simply lucky getting the more calmer ones, hehe


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Lovely pulcher sling  Mine is still quite calm. Either I have a hand for Psalmos, or I'm simply lucky getting the more calmer ones, hehe


Thank you Jan!    The pulcher is one of my favorite slings ... I have three, from two different sacs, and the personality of all of them are really similar.  Quite mellow, very playful and curious.  





Continuing on the same theme, this time stacking the images taken with a Raynox 202.  


(Optional tech talk  ) ...

Performance of the 202 was at first very poor, low definition and horrible distortion in the corners.  I hadn't noticed this before, must be unique to the design of the macro lens to which it's attached.  Raynox lenses are designed to be used at the macro lens' infinity focus, however with this lens (internal focusing) that dropped the magnification to a level barely greater than the Raynox 250.  But it turned out that just increasing the focus from the 1:1 position to 1:2 improved the IQ greatly and decreased the magnification by only 85%.


I also made an interesting and valuable discovery in using the stacking software, Zerene.  There are two stacking modes.  The first, Pmax, gives harsh details and very thick hairs (poor definition) as well as blown highlights.  The second, Dmap, uses a more sophisticated algorithm which gives good definition and far better color and tonal accuracies, but has the disadvantage of generating conspicuous artifacts -- particularly around overlapping hairs when there is significant distance of depth between them.  In other words, getting as bad as it can get when doing high magnification sling macros such as these!  




Normally these artifacts are retouched by brushing in the bad areas of the Dmap image with the corresponding regions of the Pmax image, but the poor qualities of the Pmax algorithm are carried over wherever retouching is done.

However I found that by layering the Pmax image over the Dmap image in my editing software, and then merging it down with the 'Darken' blending mode, the artifacts are suppressed by at least 80% without carrying over the poor qualities of the Pmax image ... resulting largely in the best of both worlds.  Had I not discovered this technique, the following images -- with their thick tangles of hairs -- would have been so riddled with artifacts that I would never even have considered posting them.  







Encyocratella olivacea‏ sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr









Psalmopoeus pulcher sling, 0.75-inch by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Formerphobe

Hate to keep repeating myself..., but fantastic shots!  I love the translucent pedipalps on the pulcher sling!

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## Storm76

Very nice details on those shots, Michael. Looks like you found yet another perfect way of taking awesome shots

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## AprilH

Amazing shots, as always! The detail is crazy!

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## papilio

Formerphobe said:


> Hate to keep repeating myself..., but fantastic shots!  I love the translucent pedipalps on the pulcher sling!


Thank you Joyce!    The pulcher never fails to charm.  




Storm76 said:


> Very nice details on those shots, Michael. Looks like you found yet another perfect way of taking awesome shots


Thanks Jan!    It's always nice finding ways to make photography feel like new again.  




opiate said:


> Amazing shots, as always! The detail is crazy!


Thanks a lot April!  

Silly me, ever since the seller handed me the lens I've left the UV filter on the front to keep it clean.  I finally removed it last night and took a few test shots ... turns out, that cheap piece of glass was really hurting the lens' sharpness!  ::  I'd just figured that at the smaller apertures which I use it wouldn't cause any problems.
































Psalmopoeus irminia sling, 1-inch by _papilio, on Flickr




Thanks for looking!  :worship:

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## Silberrücken

Simply amazing photos.

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## Storm76

What a little piece of glas can cause...

Lovely irminia! My smaller female just webbed herself in and I expect her to molt sometime within the upcoming 8 weeks

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## Formerphobe

So, THAT's what my P. irminias look like...!
Love the feet!

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## Alltheworld601

So cute!  Still one of my top five favorite genera.  I love everything that comes out of them.  Psalmos rule!

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## FoxtheLviola

Wow! Those photos of the P. irminia sling are amazing! Love the eye mound and foot shots.

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## papilio

Silberrücken said:


> Simply amazing photos.


Thank you Silberrücken, much appreciated!  




Storm76 said:


> What a little piece of glas can cause...
> 
> Lovely irminia! My smaller female just webbed herself in and I expect her to molt sometime within the upcoming 8 weeks


Thanks Jan!   
Cool, they're just _SO_ magnificent in a fresh coat!!  




Formerphobe said:


> So, THAT's what my P. irminias look like...!
> Love the feet!


Thanks Joyce, little irminias have so much character!  




Alltheworld601 said:


> So cute!  Still one of my top five favorite genera.  I love everything that comes out of them.  Psalmos rule!


_AGREED!_  :worship:
Really a fascinating genus, seem so much like they should be OW but somehow got shipwrecked over here!  




FoxtheLviola said:


> Wow! Those photos of the P. irminia sling are amazing! Love the eye mound and foot shots.


Thanks a lot FoxtheLviola!    I was happy with how those stacks turned out.  






























Holothele incei 'gold', 0.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Alltheworld601

hehe that little incei really likes to ham it up for the camera, doesn't it!

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## Storm76

That b/w shot looks truely amazing, Michael!

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## Formerphobe

Storm76 said:


> That b/w shot looks truely amazing, Michael!


Yep, definitely like that b/w shot!

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## papilio

*M. balfouri sling*



Alltheworld601 said:


> hehe that little incei really likes to ham it up for the camera, doesn't it!


hehe I _WISH_ that had been the case!  But I've never had a sling so uncooperative in front of the camera ... was constantly running off of the block of wood, jumping down onto the floor, and at one time I was sure I'd lost it.  It was the quickest of slings, but that time I swear it just evaporated!!  Happily I later found it running up the wall.  




Storm76 said:


> That b/w shot looks truely amazing, Michael!


Thanks a lot Jan!    I like it too, I should be working in B/W more often.  




Formerphobe said:


> Yep, definitely like that b/w shot!


Thank you Joyce!  :worship:




_M. balfouri_ sling, 0.75"
Thanks Jason!  




















Monocentropus balfouri, 0.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

_M. robustum_ sling, 1.75"



























Megaphobema robustum, 1.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

Fuzzy little critters

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## BobGrill

Nice pics! If only my digital camera took photos that good.

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## CEC

Nice pick up Michael, great pics as always:worship:

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## Alltheworld601

Those balfouri are truly gorgeous, even as slings.  Nice shots all around.  As always.  

Come over and take pictures of my spiders.  I'll never be this good even with the same equipment.

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## Shrike

About those M. robustum pics...Wow.

Great stuff.

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Fuzzy little critters


I love the curly little white hairs on the femurs!  




BobGrill said:


> Nice pics! If only my digital camera took photos that good.


Thank you Bob!  :worship:




CEC said:


> Nice pick up Michael, great pics as always:worship:


Thanks Chase!  I love'em!!  




Alltheworld601 said:


> Those balfouri are truly gorgeous, even as slings.  Nice shots all around.  As always.
> 
> Come over and take pictures of my spiders.  I'll never be this good even with the same equipment.


Thanks Jacqueline!  

I'd be happy to, just say when!  




Shrike said:


> About those M. robustum pics...Wow.
> 
> Great stuff.


Thanks a lot Matt, I appreciate it!  :worship:







Who'd have thought that this would turn out to be the sweetest sling of them all?

Still, he's as restless as a versi ... I had to come up with some new tricks to get him to stay put long enough for focus stacks.  I _HAD_ to keep trying till I got'em!  


These were taken with the Raynox 250 and 202.

































Megaphobema robustum, 1.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr

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## papilio

Inspired by Chad's ditching the strobe in his recent post, I tried a few shots of the M. robustum using only the natural light from the sky coming through a single window (clear sky, no sunlight in the room).  With the camera on a tripod, focusing on the eyes before the spider moves is a trick!    (I'm used to focusing by moving the camera.)

Exposures 1/2 second, f/8, ISO 200.  Except for the first spider in motion (which I like for its abstraction) all photos are unprocessed.  The reds vary depending on the direction of the light, back lighting bringing out translucence in the hairs and making them appear redder than normal reflected light.  They turned out a bit over-exposed ... much worse generally than under-exposure in case anyone's wondering.

Fun!  Nice not having the strobe weighing me down, and I think the look is very nice.  :biggrin:



































Megaphobema robustum, 1.75-inch sling by _papilio, on Flickr




I may try my P. subfusca girl next, it's been a while since I've photographed her, she molted a couple of weeks ago and the tones should make a good test.

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## Silberrücken

AWEsome sets, papilio! I especially like this one!







This is a really gorgeous shot! ! ! !

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## Alltheworld601

Fabulous!  Robustum make such great photo subjects.  Mine was pretty good natured but it burrowed and stayed put, so I never saw much of it.  I like the natural shots.

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## papilio

Silberrücken said:


> AWEsome sets, papilio! I especially like this one!
> 
> http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8125/8655423670_85e63531ed_b.jpg
> 
> This is a really gorgeous shot! ! ! !


Thanks a lot Silberrücken, I really appreciate it!  





Alltheworld601 said:


> Fabulous!  Robustum make such great photo subjects.  Mine was pretty good natured but it burrowed and stayed put, so I never saw much of it.  I like the natural shots.


Thanks Jacqueline!  I like your daylight shots too!!  
I think the robustum is my new favorite sling, shy but so friendly!  :biggrin:







Yeah I'm still infatuated with the robustums, hope nobody's getting too tired of them.    I wanted to try some final shots with the 18mm deep-field wide angle.  The spider is the perfect size for this lens.



_Megaphobema robustum_





























The above photo is the first one in which I noticed the infamous M. robustum tibial spikes.  Grab the Raynox.



















Thanks for looking!

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## Alltheworld601

Those are SO COOL!  I always wanted to see mine do the crazy windmill kick before I sold him, but alas, he was docile.  Weird, huh?

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## LuiziBee

Mine is a recluse. I quietly opened the door to my T room last night and I swear she sprinted and hit both sides of her enclosure before running into her hole. It was kind of comedic. Like a cartoon or something... 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> Those are SO COOL!  I always wanted to see mine do the crazy windmill kick before I sold him, but alas, he was docile.  Weird, huh?


Thanks Jacqueline!    I can't wait till mine get big enough to show that trick ... but for now I'm really enjoying them at this size.




LuiziBee said:


> Mine is a recluse. I quietly opened the door to my T room last night and I swear she sprinted and hit both sides of her enclosure before running into her hole. It was kind of comedic. Like a cartoon or something...


Mine haven't even started burrowing yet!  





_Cyriocosmus ritae_, 0.25-inch

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## advan

Very nice shots Michael! Considering how tiny these little guys are!  It looks like a _C. ritae_ to me!

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## papilio

advan said:


> Very nice shots Michael! Considering how tiny these little guys are!  It looks like a _C. ritae_ to me!


Thanks Chad!  
And thanks for correcting me!  hehe







_Ephebopus uatuman_, 0.75-inch




















































Thanks for looking!

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## Storm76

Very nice new pictures, Michael

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## Alltheworld601

Aaahhhh!! I love love love the E. uatuman...the photos are fabulous alone, but that's one of my favorite species EVER.  Mine's getting big quick.  One of these days it might even give me a molt that isn't destroyed and I'll know what sex it is.

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Very nice new pictures, Michael


Thanks Jan!  




Alltheworld601 said:


> Aaahhhh!! I love love love the E. uatuman...the photos are fabulous alone, but that's one of my favorite species EVER.  Mine's getting big quick.  One of these days it might even give me a molt that isn't destroyed and I'll know what sex it is.


Thank you Jacqueline!    I know, they're very cool ... can't believe I'd never raised any before, was glad to get a couple from the local enabler.  







A few hi-mag stacks of this newly-molted sling.


_Encyocratella olivacea_, 0.75-inch


























Thank you for looking!

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## Formerphobe

Outstanding eye shot, Michael!  And I love the colors and detail on the legs!  (Note to self:gotta get me a macro lens....)

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## advan

Wow! Insane shots! Nice work! Keep 'em coming! :clap:

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## papilio

Formerphobe said:


> Outstanding eye shot, Michael!  And I love the colors and detail on the legs!  (Note to self:gotta get me a macro lens....)


Thank you Joyce!    I agree, those feet are gorgeous!




advan said:


> Wow! Insane shots! Nice work! Keep 'em coming! :clap:


Thanks a lot Chad!  





This is an area of the urticating hair field on a sub-adult GBB.  30 stacked images at ~5:1 magnification.


_Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens_, 4-inch






This image, a full-res crop shows the shaded region of the above photo.  The serrated features of the white urticating hairs are clearly visible.  I also like the stump of the broken hair near the upper-right.  








As long as I had the GBB out for the urt hairs I did a few more stacks ...


















And a couple of natural light photos of the M. robustum having a cricket, just taken through the plastic.  The last one is after-meal grooming, where both venom holes are visible.


_Megaphobema robustum_, 2-inch

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## jbm150

Good lord!


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## papilio

jbm150 said:


> Good lord!


LOL  Thanks Jeff!  





I was hoping to improve on the display of the urticating hairs which I had shot on the GBB.  These were brushed from the abdomen of a B. emilia.  Full-resolution @ ~5:1 magnification.

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## Alltheworld601

fabulous!  I've seen similar shots with an electron scanning microscope, but they weren't even as clear as this!

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> fabulous!  I've seen similar shots with an electron scanning microscope, but they weren't even as clear as this!


Thanks a lot Jacqueline!   
That one surprised me.   





Fun in the dark

Only used strong back lighting, nearly shooting right into the flash.  High speed synch to cut ambient light.



_Brachypelma albopilosum,_ 4-inch
































Thanks for looking!

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## Alltheworld601

such an underappreciated species.  I think they're super pretty colors.  I don't care if they aren't orange like most of their cousins.

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## Storm76

I do like their kinda "subtle" coloration 

On the note of coloration: Whenever you do some shots of the grown P. irminia again I'd love to see a top-view shot, Michael. Would love having a wallpaper like that!

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## Eldric

As always, you do really good work. Looking forward to meeting up tonight!

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## Formerphobe

Superb shots, Michael!  That first one of the B. albo looks like it was caught in the middle of a fireworks display.  Pretty cool!

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## dactylus

Beautiful photos Michael!

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## BrettG

Pics like these and Chad's give us something to look forward to when we log on to this site.Just amazing.Really nice work!!

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> such an underappreciated species.  I think they're super pretty colors.  I don't care if they aren't orange like most of their cousins.


I'm all for starting an albo fan club!  :biggrin:




Storm76 said:


> I do like their kinda "subtle" coloration
> 
> On the note of coloration: Whenever you do some shots of the grown P. irminia again I'd love to see a top-view shot, Michael. Would love having a wallpaper like that!


Thanks Jan, I'll be happy to take some shots for you to pick from!  




bethr said:


> As always, you do really good work. Looking forward to meeting up tonight!


Thanks Beth!  




Formerphobe said:


> Superb shots, Michael!  That first one of the B. albo looks like it was caught in the middle of a fireworks display.  Pretty cool!


Thanks a lot Joyce!    I'm happy with how they turned out.




dactylus said:


> Beautiful photos Michael!


Thanks David, I appreciate it!  




BrettG said:


> Pics like these and Chad's give us something to look forward to when we log on to this site.Just amazing.Really nice work!!


Thank you Brett!  Very nice of you to say.  :biggrin:






A few shots of Chad's stunning _Lampropelma_ sp. 'borneo black' from our MinnVerts meet this past weekend.  




























Thanks for looking!  :biggrin:

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## Storm76

She's a beauty, for sure  But like most Divas, pretty nasty, too I assume

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## mcluskyisms

Nice shots!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> She's a beauty, for sure  But like most Divas, pretty nasty, too I assume


Thanks Jan, those photos don't even come close to displaying how stunning she is!  

She belongs to Chad so I'm not familiar with her temperament, but during the shoot she was very well behaved ... never bolting off or even moving quickly, but constantly wandering slowly away from where we wanted her!




mcluskyisms said:


> Nice shots!


Thanks a lot Chris!  :worship:






My _M. robustum_ finally settled down enough to get a couple nice deep stacks.










Venom holes, I don't recall the species as the exuvium chelicerae were given to me by David (dactylus).






... and the exuvium carapace from my recently molted _P. subfusca_.














Looking 'out' from beneath the carapace






Thank you for looking!

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## advan

Michael, sometimes you are inspiring and other times you make me want to quit. This time it's the latter. Insanecredable shots!

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## Storm76

The sharpness and detail captures is beyond believe

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## dactylus

Incredible Michael!

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## jbm150

Is that molt from the subfusca I sent you?  If so, I can't wait to see a full body shot :drool:

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## mcluskyisms

Outstanding!

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## Protectyaaaneck

One word: unreal! I love the shot of the fangs!

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## papilio

advan said:


> Michael, sometimes you are inspiring and other times you make me want to quit. This time it's the latter. Insanecredable shots!


LOL  I doubt that you'd ever want to quit for any reason, but thanks a lot for saying that!!  




Storm76 said:


> The sharpness and detail captures is beyond believe


Thanks Jan!    High mag photos test my patience!  lol




dactylus said:


> Incredible Michael!


Thanks a lot David!  :worship:




jbm150 said:


> Is that molt from the subfusca I sent you?  If so, I can't wait to see a full body shot :drool:


Thanks Jeff, I ought to take her out again soon, it's been a while!  




mcluskyisms said:


> Outstanding!


Thank you Chris!  




Protectyaaaneck said:


> One word: unreal! I love the shot of the fangs!


LOL  Thanks a lot Jason!  






I haven't been behind the camera much lately, been selecting and re-processing photos for a new book.



I got a couple of _P. ornatas_ from April at our last meet, haven't done a proper photo shoot yet but I did get a few quick shots of this gorgeous sling ...








These _A. versicolor_ pics are about five years old, just wanted to post them for Jan.  



















Here are a few of the photos going in the book, which I haven't posted before.


_C. schioedtei_










_M. robustum_





_P. subfusca_





_B. emilia_







Thank for looking!

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## Alltheworld601

that emilia picture is just mindblowing...can picture a tiny town underfoot..

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## Storm76

Truely love the versi pics - their awesome colors are still making them one of the most colorful T's in every collection, I think

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## Formerphobe

papilio said:


> _C. schioedtei_


Magnificent!  I love the lightening bolt effects of the setae!

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> that emilia picture is just mindblowing...can picture a tiny town underfoot..


Thanks Jacqueline, one of my favorite shots!  




Storm76 said:


> Truely love the versi pics - their awesome colors are still making them one of the most colorful T's in every collection, I think


Thanks a lot Jan!    They really are spectacular, can't wait for my little slings to start showing adult colors!

Sorry, no wallpaper yet ... she wouldn't stop moving and whenever I tried to nudge her into position I got nothing but threat poses!  I'll keep trying, maybe she'll be in a better mood next time.  




Formerphobe said:


> Magnificent!  I love the lightening bolt effects of the setae!


Thank you Joyce!    I like this one too ... found it lost in the archives, passed over the first time.  





_Psalmopoeus irminia_
































Thank you for looking!

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## Storm76

papilio said:


> Sorry, no wallpaper yet ... she wouldn't stop moving and whenever I tried to nudge her into position I got nothing but threat poses!  I'll keep trying, maybe she'll be in a better mood next time.


No worries, I was about to try getting some nice shots of _Firali_, but she completely refused to come out of her enclosure and was more interested in trying to bite the paintbrush, so I left her alone. Pity that _Phaedra _is quite reclusive lately, else I'd probably try with her, but the one thing she -really- doesn't like is when I try messing with her while she's in her hide (learned that very early after I got her, hehe). Patience is a virtue, right?  Those shots you posted are beautiful, though. That threat-posture yours is doing there is all I get from _Firali _-ever- it would seem, hehe 

I'm simply trying to find / get a pic of one of them spread out like on this pic (should've taken that close up, with the self-made diffuser to prevent the reflection and not show the sides of the tank!) - just on a black background so their orange stripes stick out even more...it's certainly challenging to try. I'll see if I can get _Phaedra _out whenever she shows up next time. Need to see how her temperament is now after she has been living in the big tank of hers anyways

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## Shrike

Gorgeous P. irminia!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> No worries, I was about to try getting some nice shots of _Firali_, but she completely refused to come out of her enclosure and was more interested in trying to bite the paintbrush, so I left her alone. Pity that _Phaedra _is quite reclusive lately, else I'd probably try with her, but the one thing she -really- doesn't like is when I try messing with her while she's in her hide (learned that very early after I got her, hehe). Patience is a virtue, right?  Those shots you posted are beautiful, though. That threat-posture yours is doing there is all I get from _Firali _-ever- it would seem, hehe
> 
> I'm simply trying to find / get a pic of one of them spread out like on this pic (should've taken that close up, with the self-made diffuser to prevent the reflection and not show the sides of the tank!) - just on a black background so their orange stripes stick out even more...it's certainly challenging to try. I'll see if I can get _Phaedra _out whenever she shows up next time. Need to see how her temperament is now after she has been living in the big tank of hers anyways
> View attachment 117642


Thanks Jan!    The irminia kind of wore me out with its attitude, but as soon as I recover I'll try a special shoot aiming just for a wallpaper.  Tough to get it all in the frame though, with it climbing the velvet hanging on the wall and me shooting from the bathtub across from it I need to press hard against the wall to get it to fit!  



Shrike said:


> Gorgeous P. irminia!


Thanks Matt!  Still pretty small, I suppose that's why it still has so much green.  





At long last, one of my GBBs finally molted into its teal carapace.



_Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens_

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## Formerphobe

Stunning GBB pics!  One of my favorite species.

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## Alltheworld601

Now you've gone and done it...made me want a GBB again... I was uninterested in adult colors.   Now I am interested in adult colors.  And I want me some.

I think I'll be a GBB for halloween this year.

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## Storm76

GBBs are seemingly one of the most interesting tarantulas to take pictures of. They are sufficiently calm to sit in a spot and let their picture taken unless spooked and they look gorgeous!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> GBBs are seemingly one of the most interesting tarantulas to take pictures of. They are sufficiently calm to sit in a spot and let their picture taken unless spooked and they look gorgeous!


Haha!  Well, mine _were_ mellow as could be until this last molt ... this time I had to spend more time chasing it around the bathroom than taking photos!  



Alltheworld601 said:


> Now you've gone and done it...made me want a GBB again... I was uninterested in adult colors.   Now I am interested in adult colors.  And I want me some.


Glad I could be of service!  :worship:  lol 
I felt the same but have to admit, I like it!  



Alltheworld601 said:


> I think I'll be a GBB for halloween this year.


I'll be waiting to see _that!!_ 



Formerphobe said:


> Stunning GBB pics!  One of my favorite species.


Thanks Joyce!  They are pretty cool ... I went for years before getting any slings.






I finally got an adult female of my favorite Avic.  

I'm hoping that more blue will show up with the next molt.




_Avicularia_ sp. 'amazonica'

























































Thanks for looking!

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## Alltheworld601

The colors...its like fireworks.

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## Storm76

Congrats on the A. amazonica, Michael! One of mine actually molted a couple days ago and looks more and more like an adult. On a sidenote, they're both getting more defensive lately - one of them jumps at the side of her enclosure if I just pass there, though I'm assumind she simply feels a gust of wind those times. I'm still doing some more research on the A. azuraklaasi / braunshauseni and my opinion goes more towards braunshauseni lately with some stuff (especially spermathecae pictures!) I discovered, I'll update once I've more proof.

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## CEC

Very nice sp. amazonica!! What a Beaut! Can't wait till she molts, then she'll be even more amazing!

How is the book coming along?

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> The colors...its like fireworks.


That's why it's my favorite Avic ... I had one a number of years ago, he hooked out into a spectacular 7-inch dark blue fur-ball!



Storm76 said:


> Congrats on the A. amazonica, Michael! One of mine actually molted a couple days ago and looks more and more like an adult. On a sidenote, they're both getting more defensive lately - one of them jumps at the side of her enclosure if I just pass there, though I'm assumind she simply feels a gust of wind those times. I'm still doing some more research on the A. azuraklaasi / braunshauseni and my opinion goes more towards braunshauseni lately with some stuff (especially spermathecae pictures!) I discovered, I'll update once I've more proof.


Thanks Jan!  
This new one seems very docile.  That male I had was easily handleable as well, until his ultimate molt -- suddenly he was a fiend!!  
Good luck on sorting out the ID of your mystery Avic!  



CEC said:


> Very nice sp. amazonica!! What a Beaut! Can't wait till she molts, then she'll be even more amazing!
> 
> How is the book coming along?


Thanks Chase!    She's looking pretty battered at the moment -- I still haven't contacted Joseph as to her last molt, but surely it'll be soon -- can't wait for the vibrant colors to return!  
I received the book, but somehow they messed it up -- every single page is so dark as to be un-viewable, lacking any visual impact.  (Strangely, the cover is perfect!)  I'm currently trying to negotiate a re-print.  





_Lampropelma nigerrimum_, 0.75-inch

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## advan

Wow, some insane 'in your face' shots Michael! Bravo! :clap:

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## jbm150

Ridiculous shots, I don't know how you do it!

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## Storm76

jbm150 said:


> Ridiculous shots, I don't know how you do it!


It's a rare species called "genius"

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## Protectyaaaneck

Again, I'm at a loss for words.  Unreal shots of the L. nigerrimum sling.  I really like that series of shots.

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## CEC

^What they said!

Bummer about the book. Will it be a fee-less reprint?

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## SuzukiSwift

Michael you take photography to a whole new level, its called ‘level mouth-dropping!’ Back home in China i cant load your pics bit i just arrived in NZ and i came to take a look, absolutely completely stunning! I really hope you get a book printed with all your pics, i would buy first check price later!!!

You make me want to have every species i see in your pics! :laugh:

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## mcluskyisms

Magnifique!

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## Eldric

Great pictures Michael! I always love how detailed and eye popping your photos are. Can't wait to see your next book when you get it.

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## Alltheworld601

Did that little guy drag his dinner up onto your hand for those couple of shots?  That is the cutest thing I've ever seen.  Looks a lot like my Sulawesi black, as slings they're pretty much the same.  Little black furballs.

Its been a while!  Nice to see you back.  I almost got worried there for a bit!

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## papilio

advan said:


> Wow, some insane 'in your face' shots Michael! Bravo! :clap:


Thanks a lot Chad!    There's just something about _Lampropelma_ and _Cyriopagopus_ slings which makes them always look good coming out of the camera!




jbm150 said:


> Ridiculous shots, I don't know how you do it!


LOL  Thank you Jeff!  I always have to say that (in this digital age at least) it's almost completely a matter of taking tons of shots, a few percent will always be decent images!  :biggrin:




Storm76 said:


> It's a rare species called "genius"


hehe  Thanks Jan!!  :biggrin:  I don't deserve that but it was extremely kind of you!  :worship:




Protectyaaaneck said:


> Again, I'm at a loss for words.  Unreal shots of the L. nigerrimum sling.  I really like that series of shots.


Thanks very much Jason!     I too would have to say that the nigerrimum shoot produced some of the nicest images to have come out of the camera in a while.  




CEC said:


> ^What they said!
> 
> Bummer about the book. Will it be a fee-less reprint?


Thank you Chase!  :worship:  Nope I couldn't swing that with them sad to say ... but I doubt I'll do another book for a while so I decided I needed to just bite it and re-order.  




SuzukiSwift said:


> Michael you take photography to a whole new level, its called ‘level mouth-dropping!’ Back home in China i cant load your pics bit i just arrived in NZ and i came to take a look, absolutely completely stunning! I really hope you get a book printed with all your pics, i would buy first check price later!!!
> 
> 
> You make me want to have every species i see in your pics! :laugh:


Wow, thanks a lot SuzukiSwift!  Very nice words to hear, and I'm so glad that you can now finally view the pics on our threads!  

As you may have read above I did just have my second book printed in the past couple of weeks ... but at a price only the photographer her/himself would pay! lol  If you'd like to browse through the books' previews, they're at 
http://www.adoramapix.com/app/myphotobook/a8d8ed23-67b4-4d2c-bdb7-e7f4bec81f91
http://www.adoramapix.com/app/myphotobook/2c4c1cb4-057b-4bf0-98ee-5eb1b2a149ec

Hopefully these links will work without anyone having to be logged into the Adoramapix site.  They had both been available to view in their public gallery, but last week got pulled for inappropriate content!  :?  Will people ever quit hating spiders??!  ::




mcluskyisms said:


> Magnifique!


Thanks very much Chris!  




bethr said:


> Great pictures Michael! I always love how detailed and eye popping your photos are. Can't wait to see your next book when you get it.


Thanks Beth!  :biggrin:  I hope you enjoy your 'clearance' edition!!   




Alltheworld601 said:


> Did that little guy drag his dinner up onto your hand for those couple of shots?  That is the cutest thing I've ever seen.  Looks a lot like my Sulawesi black, as slings they're pretty much the same.  Little black furballs.
> 
> Its been a while!  Nice to see you back.  I almost got worried there for a bit!


Thanks Jacqueline!    Was just a bit busy with the book and other behind-the-scenes stuff for a little while.  
And yup, he did!  The totally amazing thing was that, even with that massive cricket in his jaws, I got more than a dozen successful focus stacks that night without him so much as moving his chelicerae once! :biggrin:






Just a few shots of a couple of slings from Chad ...

_Cyriocosmus elegans_, with a totally stretched out DLS which is barely pushing 0.25-inch





And its much larger cousin at a whopping 0.5-inch

_Cyriocosmus ritae_










Here are a couple of my early and very mediocre attempts at macro vids ... this first of a _Cyriocosmus ritae_ was a pretty brief affair, but it was the first vid to turn out at all well.  (Not sure how long I'll stick with this.   )
BTW, even when viewed at smaller sizes the videos still look much better with the quality set to 1080p.


[video=youtube;8wsabzLmxO0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wsabzLmxO0[/video]




And a 1-inch P. irminia with its meal.

[video=youtube;URhABRk2LYU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URhABRk2LYU[/video]



And one other thing which distracted me a bit was getting my first mantis, a _Phyllocrania paradoxa_.  Really fun!  
There's a video of it too at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EXePI6uzcp0


Thanks for looking!

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## Storm76

Very soft looking coloration on the ritae - great pics.

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## Hydrazine

Damn, now I want an irminia as well ._.

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Very soft looking coloration on the ritae - great pics.


Thanks a lot Jan!    It's a beautiful little sling!



Hydrazine said:


> Damn, now I want an irminia as well ._.


LOL  Every collection needs one!  





_Poecilotheria metallica_ 0.75-inch sling





















This video was made by compiling four loops of the 80 images taken for the above focus stack (which is using only 20 images from around the stack's center).  The video shows nicely the very thin depth of field resulting from the relatively wide aperture of f/7.

A higher quality upload (more suitable to full-screen viewing) can be viewed on *flickr*.



[video=youtube;14FGJWgXG5g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14FGJWgXG5g[/video]

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## Alltheworld601

The pictures are great, but I'm really, REALLY in love with that mantis.

I need to see more closeup pictures of that cute little fellow!

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## Storm76

Hydrazine said:


> Damn, now I want an irminia as well ._.


What are you waiting for? If it wouldn't be that hot and it wouldn't be that I have some RL probs, I'd offer you "Firali", but as it is, I can't.

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## Hydrazine

Storm76 said:


> What are you waiting for? If it wouldn't be that hot and it wouldn't be that I have some RL probs, I'd offer you "Firali", but as it is, I can't.


I firmly resolved to stick with current 7 spiders till I'm not so limited by space.


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## Storm76

papilio said:


> LOL  Every collection needs one!


I couldn't agree more!

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> The pictures are great, but I'm really, REALLY in love with that mantis.
> 
> I need to see more closeup pictures of that cute little fellow!


I know what you mean ... mantids have so much fun character, I may have found a new avenue to explore in the inverts hobby!  :biggrin:  Too bad I can't post its videos and photos!  



Storm76 said:


> I couldn't agree more!


Wonderful spiders!!  Funny thing, an AF P. irminia was my second T to buy (first being a dozen A. versicolor slings).  When I first took her out and she bolted across the room and up the wall, it scared me so much that I sold her the next day!  






Here are a few of the shots I took of a friend's slings.  I often surround my photo stage with velvet when shooting slings as this tends to slow them down if (when) they take off ... it might have been a bit much for this poor little _P. metalica_ sling.












Made it!  







A very cute little _Cyriopagopus_ sp. 'Hati Hati'.









And a couple more shots of my own _P. metallica_ sling.

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## Trogdora

The photos of the P. metallica on velvet are cracking me up. I'm a terrible person, laughing at a baby spider...

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## batterybound

> this first of a _Cyriocosmus ritae_ was a pretty brief affair, but it was the first vid to turn out at all well.  (Not sure how long I'll stick with this.   )


I hope you do! I love how you can see the little hairs blowing-- too cool!

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## papilio

Trogdora said:


> The photos of the P. metallica on velvet are cracking me up. I'm a terrible person, laughing at a baby spider...


LOL Jen!     It's okay, I thought they were pretty humorous too!



batterybound said:


> I hope you do! I love how you can see the little hairs blowing-- too cool!


Thanks Lisa!    I'm glad you caught that, it's the only thing happening for the first half of the video!  I know, I thought that was pretty neat too.  





This set is just a first example of a new approach -- instead of the strobe I just used a couple of very cheap IKEA LED work lamps.  Very bright, I used 1/60 to 1/100 sec exposures, ISO 200 at f/9 on these, focus stacked using ContolMyNikon software.

Again I used one of my _P. pulcher_ slings as a test subject, every one of them has been consistently mellow and cooperative while I experiment.




























These are 3D stereograms, created from the depth-maps generated by the focus-stacking software, Zerene.  To view, with your face about 18 inches from the monitor, cross your eyes until the images merge.  The eyes need to be quite level with the images, even a tiny bit off-kilter will produce eye-strain.  Once the images have merged try tipping your head a tiny bit to one side or the other till you find the spot where your eyes feel relaxed while keeping the images perfectly aligned as one.  Many people have a hard time with this, one thing which helps a bit is propping your chin up on your elbow to keep your gaze steady.  I've also noticed that it seems easier to keep the images merged if I'm gazing very slightly downward at the monitor.  Finally, move forward if necessary until the image is in focus.




_Cyriocosmus ritae_ sling






_H. incei_ 'gold' sling






_Lampropelma nigerrimum_ sling











_Psalmopoeus pulcher_ sling

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## Alltheworld601

these are beautiful, but i couldn't get the images to merge.  I eventually felt silly sitting there crossing my eyes at the screen  but I still love the pictures, what a great idea using LED lamps...I tried with my LED flashlight but having to hold it in one hand always made everything come out blurry and weird.  You are also lucky to have a psalmo being cooperative!

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> these are beautiful, but i couldn't get the images to merge.  I eventually felt silly sitting there crossing my eyes at the screen  but I still love the pictures, what a great idea using LED lamps...I tried with my LED flashlight but having to hold it in one hand always made everything come out blurry and weird.  You are also lucky to have a psalmo being cooperative!


I know it can be tricky Jacqueline!    For you and any others who may be having a hard time with the stereograms, here's another way of displaying the same depth-map.  Not quite as much fun as viewing the images directly in 3D but still a way to see some added dimension to the photos.  Once again, the HD quality setting on the YouTube window improves the IQ considerably even when viewing a small window.



[video=youtube;dkCyEhrgges]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkCyEhrgges[/video]





_AMBITION!_

_Cyriocosmus elegans_, 0.2-inch sling

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## CEC

Nice pics! So that's what my C. elegans slings look like. I can barely see mine. Thanks for sharing.

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## Storm76

Awesome shots once again, Michael! My A. amazonica male molted again and gained full adult coloration (as assumed: 10th instar seems to be the magical number for Avics...so far all of mine have followed that route!) and became really leggy. Need to get some good shots of him when I'll rehouse him.

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## papilio

CEC said:


> Nice pics! So that's what my C. elegans slings look like. I can barely see mine. Thanks for sharing.


Thank you Chase!  Yeah, it's a speck of dust with legs.  



Storm76 said:


> Awesome shots once again, Michael! My A. amazonica male molted again and gained full adult coloration (as assumed: 10th instar seems to be the magical number for Avics...so far all of mine have followed that route!) and became really leggy. Need to get some good shots of him when I'll rehouse him.


Thanks Jan!    I had a MM A. amazonica a few years ago too ... yup, really leggy and a beautiful dark blue!





P. metallica 0.75-inch sling, exuvium








The video is fun to watch full-screen at 1080p.  


[video=youtube;4T0MF3GM1aQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T0MF3GM1aQ[/video]

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## papilio

_happiness is a new lens!_ 


These deep focus-stacks were taken through a Nikon CFI60 10x infinity-corrected microscope objective.




_P. subfusca_ fovea






_P. subfusca_ eye tubercle






_C. schioedtei_ 1.5-inch sling, exuvia






_P. metallica_ 0.75-inch sling, exuvia






I did manage to get one good stack of a living subject, my trusty pulcher.  

_Psalmopoeus pulcher_ sling, 1.25-inch







Thanks for looking!

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## Protectyaaaneck

Phenomenal shots!

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## batterybound

Wow-ee, amazing! Congrats on the new lens, looking great. So many different types of setae on that P. met exuvia, those little stubby ones are interesting.

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## Alltheworld601

ooooooooooohhhh.

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## Storm76

What the...? I'm speechless about those last photos...awesome, Michael!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> What the...? I'm speechless about those last photos...awesome, Michael!


Thanks a lot Jan!    Just having some fun with my new toys.  



Alltheworld601 said:


> ooooooooooohhhh.


:biggrin:



batterybound said:


> Wow-ee, amazing! Congrats on the new lens, looking great. So many different types of setae on that P. met exuvia, those little stubby ones are interesting.


Thanks Lisa!  



Protectyaaaneck said:


> Phenomenal shots!


Thank you very much Jason!  





_A. versicolor_, 1.25-inch sling














































And here's this sling's old carapace, a focus stack taken with cross-polarized light.






Thanks for looking!  :biggrin:

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## Storm76

Gotta love versicolors! Still bummed by the death of my MM so soon after his maturing molt. On the bright side, I get to raise another "blue baby" some time soon!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Gotta love versicolors! Still bummed by the death of my MM so soon after his maturing molt. On the bright side, I get to raise another "blue baby" some time soon!


That was sad, but it's so amazing how cool versis look all through their lifecycles!  :biggrin:







_Psalmopoeus pulcher_ sling, 1.25-inch, glowing pedipalp





Here are a normal light photo followed by a cross-polarized light photo for comparison.  This technique eliminates the light from specular reflections but passes light scattered from the surface, so the true surface color and texture can be seen.  It becomes possible to see through the exoskeleton of many arthropods.

These two were processed simultaneously, and the white balance of each image is the same.

















_M. robustum_ 2-inch juvie, acting big.  




























_E. olivacea_, 1.25-inch sling













Cross-polarized light, with the flash reflection in the eyes suppressed it's amazing how mirror-like they become.















This is probably the most effective rocking video done so far, see it full-screen at 1080p and notice how each hair on the carapace is clearly 3D.  



[video=youtube;VRLRK5W0-Ws]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRLRK5W0-Ws[/video]





Thanks for looking!  :biggrin:

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## Alltheworld601

How do you do this cross polarized light thing?

Also, that robustum cracked me up.  Hiding his face but strutting his butt...kinda like Steve Urkel in his infamous fight pose lol

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## Earth Eater

Amazing photos! You sir are exceedingly talented! The detail you capture is stunning, EVERY photo is beautifully composed, and your collection is breathtaking. Absolutely stunning! I especially like your eye cluster photos!


Bodhin

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## Formerphobe

Wow, Michael, you really get their colors to pop!  Amazing!

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> How do you do this cross polarized light thing?
> 
> Also, that robustum cracked me up.  Hiding his face but strutting his butt...kinda like Steve Urkel in his infamous fight pose lol


Yeah I love the robustum!  

Cross-polarized light is done by having one large (cheap) polarizing filter on the outside surface of the diffuser, and another (better quality) polarizer in front of the camera lens.  Then, looking at a small convex shiny surface (like a large ball bearing) push the camera button for modeling flash if you have one (it's a weak, constant -- for about a second -- light coming from the strobe) watch the flash's reflection in the ball and turn the polarizer in front of the lens until the reflected light fades to black.  This way there is little to no reflection from the specular (shiny) surfaces of the subject, but light scattered randomly from the same surfaces passes through on to the camera.  Getting rid of the reflections is how the true underlying materials become visible -- even details beneath the exoskeleton.  A single polarizing filter on the camera lens (the way they're usually used) won't produce this effect.



Earth Eater said:


> Amazing photos! You sir are exceedingly talented! The detail you capture is stunning, EVERY photo is beautifully composed, and your collection is breathtaking. Absolutely stunning! I especially like your eye cluster photos!
> 
> Bodhin


Thanks so much Bodhin, very nice of you to say and it's much appreciated!  



Formerphobe said:


> Wow, Michael, you really get their colors to pop!  Amazing!


Thanks Joyce!    Actually I had to do very little processing on them, if anything the untouched jpgs from the camera are even more colorful!  It was the same way with the versis.






_E. olivacea_, 1.25-inch sling







_P. irminia_, 5-inch sub-adult female

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## Alltheworld601

*cries*

I'm never gonna be able to do that.

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## Storm76

Alltheworld601 said:


> *cries*
> 
> I'm never gonna be able to do that.


Yeah...me neither! 

Michael, seriously....Chad and you throw out stuff like that and it makes all of us go "Wth...? I want to be able to do that" - but aside from the equipment I guess the two of you simply have a hand for taking these awesome shots. I do love the detail, the crisp sharness and the very natural coloration...also, that M. robustum makes me grin

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## Formerphobe

Wow, just.... wow.  Exemplary photos!

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> *cries*
> 
> I'm never gonna be able to do that.


Sure you can, just keep at it ... you're doing great!  



Storm76 said:


> Yeah...me neither!
> 
> Michael, seriously....Chad and you throw out stuff like that and it makes all of us go "Wth...? I want to be able to do that" - but aside from the equipment I guess the two of you simply have a hand for taking these awesome shots. I do love the detail, the crisp sharness and the very natural coloration...also, that M. robustum makes me grin


LOL  Thanks Jan!  I appreciate it!  



Formerphobe said:


> Wow, just.... wow.  Exemplary photos!


Thank you Joyce!!  






_
P. irminia_, 5-inch sub-adult female, foot setae







_C. ritae_, 0.5-inch, carapace exuvia







_Stromatopelma calceatum_, 2-inch juvie















78 stacked images






102 stacked images




Thanks for looking!

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## Storm76

*drool*

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## papilio

*M. balfouri communal*

Here are my four communal _M. balfouri_ 2-inch slings.  They've been playing nicely with each other for over two months now.  




























A couple of the slings were sitting on the side of the enclosure, so I thought I'd try an experiment ... this is a focus stack taken through 1/4-inch acrylic.

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## Brizzl

You lucky dog  these guys are soo on my want list. 

They look great! I love seeing everyone's communals.

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## papilio

Brizzl said:


> You lucky dog  these guys are soo on my want list.
> 
> They look great! I love seeing everyone's communals.


Thanks Bizzl!  I got them at a sweet deal from Jason.  





My albo hooked out last week, such a handsome guy!  

I just began using a studio strobe with a beauty dish as a diffuser.  It casts the most wonderful, soft and even light I've ever worked with. 




_B. albopilosum_, mature male



























































Click  _Alien Bees strobe with beauty dish_

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## squeaky10199

Those are AMAZING pictures!!!

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## Alltheworld601

He is SO GORGEOUS.  If I were a lady spider. 

Desktop wallpaper for me!

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## papilio

squeaky10199 said:


> Those are AMAZING pictures!!!


Thanks a lot squeaky, nice to hear!  



Alltheworld601 said:


> He is SO GORGEOUS.  If I were a lady spider.
> 
> Desktop wallpaper for me!


Thank you Jacqueline!

When he molted to maturity I was a bit disappointed because his curly hairs were noticeably less than before.  But after taking those photos, I have to say that he's never been so beautiful!  






I hadn't taken photos of the H. mac in a very long time, so I thought I'd try out the new lighting setup on her.  I've usually used heavily shadowed light on her, this was like working in bright sunlight.



_Heteroscodra maculata_, 5-inch female

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## papilio

So comical with those tiny eyes and the carapace bulging to hold the massive chelicerae.


_B. emilia_, 5-inch female



































Thanks for looking!

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## Formerphobe

Outstanding photos, Michael!  Love the B. albo and B. emilia!

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## Storm76

Stunning T's and stunning pictures, Michael! As usual - "awesome work"!

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## dactylus

Great work Michael!!  I look forward to paying you a visit with a photogenic specimen or two in tow!  Nice strobe my friend!!

"Click Alien Bees strobe with beauty dish"

David

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## Antivenom

Amazing photos! I am so glad I ran across this thread. I found your pictures a week ago on Flickr, but completely forgot your username. 

I have been wanting to get into macro photography for a while now, I love the way they look. Gonna be needing to upgrade my camera though, only have a Canon XSi. Would love to get a full-frame camera soon.

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## papilio

Formerphobe said:


> Outstanding photos, Michael!  Love the B. albo and B. emilia!


Thanks a lot Joyce!    Two of my few terrestrials, and they are wonderful!!



Storm76 said:


> Stunning T's and stunning pictures, Michael! As usual - "awesome work"!


Thanks very much Jan!  



dactylus said:


> Great work Michael!!  I look forward to paying you a visit with a photogenic specimen or two in tow!  Nice strobe my friend!!
> 
> "Click Alien Bees strobe with beauty dish"
> 
> David


Thanks a lot David!  Come by any time!  



Antivenom said:


> Amazing photos! I am so glad I ran across this thread. I found your pictures a week ago on Flickr, but completely forgot your username.
> 
> I have been wanting to get into macro photography for a while now, I love the way they look. Gonna be needing to upgrade my camera though, only have a Canon XSi. Would love to get a full-frame camera soon.


Thank you Antivenom!  

Macro is incredibly much fun!  It tends to cost a bit to get set up for it, but it's easily worth it.





_Heteroscodra maculata_, 5-inch female













My big _P. rufilata_ molted again very recently, and somehow seems to have lost much of her previous vivd green coloration.




























Thank you for viewing!

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## squeaky10199

I have to say, your Emelia is outstanding, and so are your photographs, the way you capture them, the beauty comes out! Also, you must be a professional photographer because i ave never seen such clear, focused and close up photos! Expensive hobby, Spiders, and photography!!! lol

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## papilio

squeaky10199 said:


> I have to say, your Emelia is outstanding, and so are your photographs, the way you capture them, the beauty comes out! Also, you must be a professional photographer because i ave never seen such clear, focused and close up photos! Expensive hobby, Spiders, and photography!!! lol


Thank you very much squeaky!  Not a professional, all I do is take pics of spiders.  




_Encyoctratella olivacea_

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## mcluskyisms

Fantastic, as always Michael!

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## Protectyaaaneck

Such a pretty little gold spider!  Nice shots, Michael! Can't wait to see some photos of this guy as a juvenile.

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## papilio

mcluskyisms said:


> Fantastic, as always Michael!


Thanks a lot Chris!   



Protectyaaaneck said:


> Such a pretty little gold spider!  Nice shots, Michael! Can't wait to see some photos of this guy as a juvenile.


Thanks Jason!  Probably my favorite sling, it'll be fun to watch it grow!  





_H. incei_ 'gold'

























_Encyocratella olivacea_ sling, 0.5-inch

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## Alltheworld601

Whoa.  That foot is all sorts of crazy.  Glad I came and caught up!

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## Femangel

That are some truly amazing pictures! I have the lenses and stuff, just not *terribly*good at it yet. Hope I ever  reach ur level! Keep up the good work 
Oh and offcourse, gorgeous T models! Thank you too

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## Protectyaaaneck

What is going on here?  Are those red bumps the "swoosh"?  

Unreal shots.

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> Whoa.  That foot is all sorts of crazy.  Glad I came and caught up!


Thanks Jacqueline!  Yeah, I love that shot.  



Femangel said:


> That are some truly amazing pictures! I have the lenses and stuff, just not *terribly*good at it yet. Hope I ever  reach ur level! Keep up the good work
> Oh and offcourse, gorgeous T models! Thank you too


Thanks very much Femangel, I really appreciate it!   
Keep with it, just takes practice is all.  



Protectyaaaneck said:


> What is going on here?  Are those red bumps the "swoosh"?
> 
> Unreal shots.


Thanks Jason!

No idea what they are, but yeah ... they're pretty cool looking!  (First time I've ever seen the cuticle too.)  I've seen similar bulb-like structures on other very small slings, like the pulcher and irminia.
Here's the full-frame shot of the E. o. leg,

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## korg

Amazing stuff... I feel like I'm on acid every time I start looking at your super macro shots.

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## papilio

korg said:


> Amazing stuff... I feel like I'm on acid every time I start looking at your super macro shots.


lol
Me too!!  :biggrin:

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## Storm76

Awesome, awesome and oh, did I mention awesome?

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## netr

It rarely gets more satisfying than looking at these bizarre creatures we care for in such magnified detail. Great stuff!

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## LuiziBee

Dat foot doe!!!! Wow! That's incredible. I love stalking your photo thread. 

---------- Post added 11-08-2013 at 01:55 PM ----------

AAANNDD!! I'm glad to see the balfouri are still working out for you!!!!! That's awesome.  
Mine have been going strong for 9 months now.

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## jbm150

Wow, those foot shots!  What're those funky little club-like setae things?

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## CEC

I said it when I was at your place and I will say it again, that is a ridiculous foot shot! I have never seen those "blood drops" or foot cuticle on a T before. Keep it up, Michael!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Awesome, awesome and oh, did I mention awesome?


Thanks Jan, I don't mind hearing that repeatedly!  lol  



netr said:


> It rarely gets more satisfying than looking at these bizarre creatures we care for in such magnified detail. Great stuff!


Thanks very much netr!  



LuiziBee said:


> Dat foot doe!!!! Wow! That's incredible. I love stalking your photo thread.
> 
> ---------- Post added 11-08-2013 at 01:55 PM ----------
> 
> AAANNDD!! I'm glad to see the balfouri are still working out for you!!!!! That's awesome.
> Mine have been going strong for 9 months now.


Thanks LuiziBee!  Been wondering where you were at!  



jbm150 said:


> Wow, those foot shots!  What're those funky little club-like setae things?


No idea Jeff, maybe Chad will know.  :?  But I have seen these on several sling sp.



CEC said:


> I said it when I was at your place and I will say it again, that is a ridiculous foot shot! I have never seen those "blood drops" or foot cuticle on a T before. Keep it up, Michael!


Thanks Chase!  

Here's the video I was working on when you came by ... it turned out better than any of mine have before, the 3D effect is really strong when viewed full-screen on flickr with quality set to 1080p.  Reminds me of some sort of surreal undersea diving footage!


[video=youtube;7cm_lXqNUpA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cm_lXqNUpA[/video]





_Avicularia diversipes_ sling, 0.5-inch 2nd instar

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## Storm76

I simply love those A. diversipes pics...one of my fav T's color-wise anways!

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## papilio

Concerning those mystery red bulbs on the sling's feet, here are other sling feet showing the same thing ...

_P. irminia_




_P. pulcher_




_S. calceatum_

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> I simply love those A. diversipes pics...one of my fav T's color-wise anways!


Agreed Jan, spectacular animals!!  






GBBs must be the easiest slings in the world to photograph, always so calm, curious and playful.  A nice relief after such a challenge as the A. diversipes.


_Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens_, GBB sling, 0.6-inch

















































Thanks for looking!

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## MarkmD

Some more brilliant pics as always, love the close up pics of.P,Irminia claws, your GBB is also amazing pics.

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## concrete

It's been a while since I checked out your thread. I didn't think it was possible but your photos have gotten even better  What are you using for lighting / diffuser now? A lot of those shots seem to have a super soft and even light that's really easy on the eyes. I need something to even out my light I get a lot of hot spots and clipped shadows.

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## papilio

MarkmD said:


> Some more brilliant pics as always, love the close up pics of.P,Irminia claws, your GBB is also amazing pics.


Thanks much Mark!  



concrete said:


> It's been a while since I checked out your thread. I didn't think it was possible but your photos have gotten even better  What are you using for lighting / diffuser now? A lot of those shots seem to have a super soft and even light that's really easy on the eyes. I need something to even out my light I get a lot of hot spots and clipped shadows.


LOL  Thanks a lot Mirza!  


My new lighting setup is the best piece of equipment I've found besides the camera -- from the very first photo shoot I did with it I was quite honestly blown away by the soft and luxuriant quality of the light  (see the [post=2207756]B. albopilosum shoot[/post]).  IMO it blows away the small speedlights and the whole thing cost less than a used SB-700.

Check out the pic of it  HERE



I just chanced upon it when I got tired of having to run the StackShot at only about 5 shots per minute so that the camera wouldn't stall due to the flash overheating.  That was just way too slow to get a deep stack of a restless little sling!  So I asked on the photomicrography forum how I could speed up the rate and the replies confirmed what I had suspected, that the way to go would be to get a studio strobe.  That lets me shoot as fast as 1 per second, and I rarely have to set it much above its minimum output level in spite of the large area of diffusion.  

As far as the quality of the light, that's all due to the beauty dish diffuser which I substituted for the stock reflector.  I absolutely love it, and it works its magic on both low power shots of adults as well as my highest power micro shots.  The name comes from its widespread use in doing shoots of models, it gives them a very flattering appearance.  It works by placing a reflector right in front of the strobe which sends the light back into the large dish and then forward again, so it never creates hotspots.  A very natural lighting effect.


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## concrete

I definitely noticed the difference in light quality. That thing is impressive. Looks like I have some shopping to do  Could you PM me a link to that beauty dish diffuser? I see a few different ones on eBay but I would appreciate you narrowing it down for me. In your opinion, is it worth keeping the second speedlight or should I toss that up on eBay?

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## papilio

_Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens_ sling, 0.6-inch
With exuvia
































I received this email from Robyn Markland, Editor and Admin of the Reptile Report.  Any nominations would be greatly appreciated!  :worship:




Hey Michael, hoping all is well. Couple things for you...

We have started the nomination process for the Reader's Choice Best of 2013 Awards. There is a Photographer of the Year category- https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...432.1073741834.159931317452086&type=3&theater

You should absolutely be in there! The top 10 nominees move to the voting round in December, and I would love to see you in that round. But you gotta get folks to nominate you in there. 

You are a fit for other categories as well, take a look at the whole album- https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.452174494894432.1073741834.159931317452086&type=3

Invert Image of the Year especially, perfect for you. 

Post the links on the forums you hang in and ask folks to support you with nominations. You absolutely deserve the recognition! While they are nominating you, they can nominate in other categories as well, like Forum of the Year, and a bunch of other species categories. Young Herper, Herp Society, Best Online Store, etc. 

Hoping to see you in some of those categories!

Robyn@The Reptile Report

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## concrete

Nominated you and Chad in Photographer of the Year as both of you guys motivated me to start photographing. Going to nominate you in Invertebrate Image of the Year as well as soon as I decide which photo to pick. Gonna be a tough one.

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## papilio

concrete said:


> Nominated you and Chad in Photographer of the Year as both of you guys motivated me to start photographing. Going to nominate you in Invertebrate Image of the Year as well as soon as I decide which photo to pick. Gonna be a tough one.


Thanks a lot Mirza!  :worship:

Robyn and his staff have been so diligent in browsing all the forums and sharing our images (with credits) on their site.  Even though I'm not all that comfortable with the self-promotion stuff, his encouragement has always meant a lot.  





Just a couple more focus stacks of the GBB exuvia, and one quick shot of my new _A. geroldi_.

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## Alltheworld601

I voted for you twice so far...

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## JC014

Woooow you have a lot of great shots here, seeing it makes me green with envy, btw can i use this photo as my cover pic?
and what camera did you use? Avicularia diversipes sling, 0.75-inch, soft light by _papilio, on Flickr

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## Storm76

So...when are you getting some gorgeous C. fimbriatus for your collection, Michael? Or more Avics?

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> I voted for you twice so far...


Thanks a lot Jacqueline ... and to all who were kind enough to vote!  :worship:  It's quite an honor that four images made it into the top ten voting round.  



JC014 said:


> Woooow you have a lot of great shots here, seeing it makes me green with envy, btw can i use this photo as my cover pic?
> and what camera did you use? Avicularia diversipes sling, 0.75-inch, soft light by _papilio, on Flickr


Thank you JC014!    Sure, feel free to use any images you wish, thanks for asking!
My photos were taken with a Nikon D7000.



Storm76 said:


> So...when are you getting some gorgeous C. fimbriatus for your collection, Michael? Or more Avics?


Done!    I've got two tiny C. fimbriatus slings and just got three A. diversipes and a couple of A. geroldis.  I've been neglecting Avics for too long!  :sarcasm:






Without a camera for a little while, I came across these in the archive which I like but hadn't processed yet.


_Psalmopoeus irminia_ sub-adult female, 5-inch

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## Storm76

Aww! So precious! Got a little bit annoyed there to the end, hm?

Sweet! I can't wait to see what kinda pictures you snap of those new additions, especially once they attained their full adult colorations! And to read on your experiences with the fimbriatus. Mine started to become really defensive with 2"-2.5" onwards

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Aww! So precious! Got a little bit annoyed there to the end, hm?
> 
> Sweet! I can't wait to see what kinda pictures you snap of those new additions, especially once they attained their full adult colorations! And to read on your experiences with the fimbriatus. Mine started to become really defensive with 2"-2.5" onwards


Thanks Jan!  This P. irminia always makes nice images.  





Wow, I hadn't realized how long it had been since my last post.  I've been practicing my stacking technique on a tine S. triangulosa which I found in my home.


Here are some various shots I've taken in the past few days.


_Hapalopus_ sp. Colombia large, 0.4-inch sling

















_Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens_, GBB sling, 0.6-inch

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## Storm76

What a cutie! Mine is now ~1". Merry christmas Michael!

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## papilio

*Some GBB focus stacks*



Storm76 said:


> What a cutie! Mine is now ~1". Merry christmas Michael!


Thanks Jan!  :biggrin:

I really like the "Columbia Large"!  





_Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens_ sling, 0.75-inch

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## papilio

_Ephebopus uatuman_ 0.75-inch sling

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## Alltheworld601

So nice to see one of these.  I never got a good look at mine, and I raised it from sling to mature male.

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> So nice to see one of these.  I never got a good look at mine, and I raised it from sling to mature male.


Yeah it's funny, I've had a couple of these for months but hadn't till now tried to get some decent shots ... I suppose partly because they're quite skittish and fast.  But I was amazed by how the gorgeous metallic abdomen showed up here.  Of course at least two of the Psalmos are similarly colored but it seems to take more work and attention to getting the lighting just right to bring it out on them.

I had the pebble it's on surrounded by a moat about three inches wide.  At one point I could see that it was preparing for a base jump, normally I would have tried to get the shot right then but instead I took my eye from the camera so that I wouldn't lose the sling.  No problem for it to clear the moat and rim of the bowl!  Hahaa!  But I had that surrounded by a flokati rug so it didn't get far.  

Overall it took me pleasantly by surprise to see what a pretty little sling this is.


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## papilio

_Encyocratella olivacea‏_ sling, 0.75-inch, exuvia -- focus stacks





Yeah, it's subtle, but you can just make out the venom hole on the right fang.

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## Intermedius

amazing pictures!

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## papilio

Intermedius said:


> amazing pictures!


Thanks a lot Intermedius!  





_Encyocratella olivacea_‏ sling, 0.75-inch, exuvia
















_B. emilia_ adult female, exuvia
Urticating hair above right-center.




Fovea, inspired by Chad.  :worship:
Reminds me of Monument Valley in Winter.



Thanks for looking!

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## papilio

And back to live spiders.  



_Lasiodora difficilis_ adult female, 7-inch

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## papilio

Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli juvie female, 4-inch

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## kean

Those are Amazing Pictures! Excellent Work!

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## papilio

kean said:


> Those are Amazing Pictures! Excellent Work!


Thanks much kean!  






_
Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens_, sub-adult
























































Thanks for looking!

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## bloodred1889

Hi papillos.
Your photos are amazing. I read on one reply you use a Nikon D7000 (Nikon are great) I have a Nikon d70, and was wondering what lens you use for the extreme close ups... in fact, what other lenses do you use aswell. my best lens for tarantulas at the moment is an 18-50mm lens, i really want to get into macro photography, and i like what im seeing in your photos.

thanks, keep photoing

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## concrete

http://thereptilereport.com/pe/2013/?nomcat=invertebrateimageoftheyear2013

Grats man! Well deserved

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## Storm76

Geez! Man, your pics got even a tad bit better once again...how the hell do you do it

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## Oreo

Stunning photos as always! I noticed the urticating hair you captured on the B. emilia, have you had any luck snapping a photo while a T is flicking some hairs? Would prob need to use a mask and goggles.

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## papilio

bloodred1889 said:


> Hi papillos.
> Your photos are amazing. I read on one reply you use a Nikon D7000 (Nikon are great) I have a Nikon d70, and was wondering what lens you use for the extreme close ups... in fact, what other lenses do you use aswell. my best lens for tarantulas at the moment is an 18-50mm lens, i really want to get into macro photography, and i like what im seeing in your photos.
> 
> thanks, keep photoing


Thank you bloodred!  

I was using the D7000 until about a month ago when, half-way through shooting a stack, the shutters somehow bent and scratched the sensor, totaling the camera. I went with a FF Canon 6D this time, largely because Canon has its unique Electronic First Curtain Shutter. But as soon as I began using the camera I was amazed by how much better the images looked than they did with the D7000, really rich colors and great dynamic range. The improvement is likely due to this being a current generation camera rather than a Nikon vs. Canon issue, since I'm seeing the same rich images coming from Chad's new D7100.

On the D7000 I was using the Nikkor 105mm macro, plus the Raynox dcr-250 and msn-202 for 2:1 and 4:1. The higher-powered of the two Raynox lenses was dreadful to be honest, but the 250 was quite good. This new MP-E 65mm is magnificent up through 4:1 but falls apart at 5:1.  So I'm still using the Nikon CFI60 microscope objective on a 100mm macro lens for 5X, and it will give me 10X as soon as I find a cheap 200mm telephoto to attach it to.




concrete said:


> http://thereptilereport.com/pe/2013/?nomcat=invertebrateimageoftheyear2013
> 
> Grats man! Well deserved


Many thanks Mirza!  :worship:



Storm76 said:


> Geez! Man, your pics got even a tad bit better once again...how the hell do you do it


Thanks Jan!  I'd love to think I'm getting better, but if you're seeing any improvement it's probably the new camera.  



Oreo said:


> Stunning photos as always! I noticed the urticating hair you captured on the B. emilia, have you had any luck snapping a photo while a T is flicking some hairs? Would prob need to use a mask and goggles.


Thanks a lot Oreo!   

I rarely encounter urts since my collection is almost entirely arboreal.  With the few kickers I do have, I've not yet developed any sensitivity to their urticating hairs, happy to say.  





Here are a few focus stacks I've taken in the past few days ...

_Lampropelma nigerrimum_ sling, 1-inch















_Psalmopoeus irminia_ sub-adult female, 5-inch

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## Storm76

L-o-v-e the irminia shots and the claw one!!! Stunning, Michael!

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## papilio

*The rig with a friend*



Storm76 said:


> L-o-v-e the irminia shots and the claw one!!! Stunning, Michael!


Thanks Jan!  I've got a bunch more irminia pics from the shoot, I'll get them up soon for ya.  







_Heteroscodra maculata_ adult female, 5-inch




Here's the 6D on the rig with three lens setups.

Below the camera are ...
Arca plate and clamp
Cognisys Stackshot automated macro stacking rail
Manfrotto geared head
Velbon horizontal boom
Velbon Ultra Rexi L tripod

Of course when shooting single shots of Ts and slings I always just go hand held, this is all for taking stacks at high mag.



Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro








Canon MP-E 65mm Macro 

At its most compact position for 1:1



Extended to about 3.5:1


Nikon CFI60 10X microscope objective

On a 100mm macro lens this gives me a very sharp 5:1
I just ordered a 200mm tele which will give the nominal 10:1 with this objective






Canon 320EX speedlight for when I'm away from home ... the big white light in the pics is a 16-inch beauty dish diffuser on a studio strobe.
A lens collar rotated to the side makes a great attachment point for the flash.

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## papilio

_Heteroscodra maculata_ adult female, 5-inch






















_Psalmopoeus irminia_ sub-adult female, 5-inch

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## Alltheworld601

That mac makes me cry in my soup.  Is there a more perfectly constructed spider!?

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## viper69

Few things.

1. I need Pap's bank account so I can get this gear, you know I love it, ESP the tripod

2. Insane colors off the irminia

3. How were you able to get the H mac, out of home, on camera, off camera and back in home??! Did it take a nap in the fridge? Hah

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## concrete

Amazing detail on that hmac! I like how you added a spider to you gear photos to give us a look at your gear but still stay within the rules

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## CEC

Very nice, Michael! I can't wait to see what you do with those new additions. Keep'em Com'n!

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## papilio

concrete said:


> Amazing detail on that hmac! I like how you added a spider to you gear photos to give us a look at your gear but still stay within the rules


Thanks twice Mirza!  




Alltheworld601 said:


> That mac makes me cry in my soup.  Is there a more perfectly constructed spider!?


I agree, there's really nothing quite like an H. mac -- one of the finest Ts IMO.  




viper69 said:


> Few things.
> 
> 1. I need Pap's bank account so I can get this gear, you know I love it, ESP the tripod
> 
> 2. Insane colors off the irminia
> 
> 3. How were you able to get the H mac, out of home, on camera, off camera and back in home??! Did it take a nap in the fridge? Hah


lol Chris!  

I know that it's fairly unusual, but my H. mac is extremely docile ... at most she just wanders casually around, and usually I have to give her a little nudge to get her into the pose that I want.




CEC said:


> Very nice, Michael! I can't wait to see what you do with those new additions. Keep'em Com'n!


Thanks Chase ... I don't expect that I'll be quitting anytime soon!  





It's been a while since I posted, I just put together a 10X setup and have been shooting only exuviae and pinned specimens so far to work on my technique.  Besides these H. mac shots I did a few beetles, see them at [post=2251904] Focus stacks of two beetles shot at 10X.[/post]



_Heteroscodra maculata_ adult female, 5-inch, exuvia




Underside




Here's a stereogram of the outside.  
I know that a lot of people have trouble with this, but try to cross your eyes here to get the two images to merge for the 3D view.  You'll see that there are at least three distinct layers to the internal structure of the eye.

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## papilio

View 3D 1080p rocking video HERE.
Click the full-screen icon on the far right.
Hit ESC to exit.


_Heteroscodra maculata_ adult female, 5-inch, exuvia

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## viper69

papilio said:


> View 3D 1080p rocking video HERE.
> Click the full-screen icon on the far right.
> Hit ESC to exit.
> 
> 
> _Heteroscodra maculata_ adult female, 5-inch, exuvia


WAY TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL!!!

How long did it take you to process that? I know for the work I do the processing is quite variable to generate such projections due to a variety of variables.

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## papilio

viper69 said:


> WAY TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL!!!
> 
> How long did it take you to process that? I know for the work I do the processing is quite variable to generate such projections due to a variety of variables.


Thanks a lot Chris!  

Overnight.  The vid is 30fps so I generate 30 separate stacks, ranging from +/- 5% image skew.


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## lordhero3k

Wow. Those macros that are really close up are very cool.

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## Micrathena

Please stop posting such great photos. Your sheer awesomeness is making my ears bleed. 
That's a compliment, FYI. Don't stop posting photos.

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## thistle

Wow.......just.........WOW! 
.
.
.
.
.
.
Wow!

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## mcluskyisms

Fantastic yet again man, really love love the _Heteroscodra maculata_ photoshoot pics!

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## Storm76

Stop it already, Michael! I'm starting having trouble to find words describing your insane pictures, doing them justice! 

Kidding aside only one word: Awesome!

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## papilio

lordhero3k said:


> Wow. Those macros that are really close up are very cool.


Thanks lordhero!    I just put together a 10X setup, really fun!




Micrathena said:


> Please stop posting such great photos. Your sheer awesomeness is making my ears bleed.
> That's a compliment, FYI. Don't stop posting photos.


lol My profound apologies ... and thank you!  




thistle said:


> Wow.......just.........WOW!
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> Wow!


Thanks a lot thistle, much appreciated!  




mcluskyisms said:


> Fantastic yet again man, really love love the _Heteroscodra maculata_ photoshoot pics!


Thanks Chris!  I was happy that those were so easy to take ... she's such a cooperative girl!  




Storm76 said:


> Stop it already, Michael! I'm starting having trouble to find words describing your insane pictures, doing them justice!
> 
> Kidding aside only one word: Awesome!


lol  Thank you very much Jan!  :biggrin:








_Avicularia bicegoi_, female juvie, 3-inch


















































Thanks for looking!

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## viper69

papilio said:


> Thanks for looking!



I've never seen a bicegoi this red before. These pictures would make me change the common name from Brick Red, to Cherry Red Pink Toe 

Then again I have never seen one this young either. Mine was older. I wish I could find them again

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## papilio

viper69 said:


> I've never seen a bicegoi this red before. These pictures would make me change the common name from Brick Red, to Cherry Red Pink Toe
> 
> Then again I have never seen one this young either. Mine was older. I wish I could find them again


I just had this beautiful girl passed on to me from a friend in our local T club, looks like I got pretty lucky!    I've never seen a bicegoi with these colors either, and I don't believe that it's age-related as I've seen much younger ones which are also the usual brick-red.  

The camera I use has surprisingly good AWB, but when I first saw the colors in the images I thought that perhaps it had gotten them wrong -- maybe too green a color cast, which if the case would also make the reds a bit too orange.  So I calibrated a white balance preset against a white card and took some more shots ... same vivid colors!





If I may switch briefly from the beautiful to the nastier side of Ts, here are a couple of stacks which I shot a few days ago.

_Acanthoscurria brocklehursti_ urticating hairs @ 10X
150 stacked images shot at 4-micron focus steps

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## viper69

They look just like the pics from the primary scientific literature.  4um step size..NICE, how low can you go?

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## jbm150

Oooh something nasty fo yo eye

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## lagomorphette

This bicegoi really lights up under the camera, doesn't she?? Wow!  Of course, she doesn't look that way when you view her, sans-(great)camera.  I'm the person who sold this T to Michael, and I've had her since she was a sling (purchased in 2012). For what it's worth, here are pics from her dated 8/29/14. They were taken with the camera on my Samsung Galaxy 3 android phone.  






-Jeni

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## papilio

Thanks Jeni!

To me these shots, particularly the first, seem to pretty clearly establish her as a  genuine bicegoi, one which appears to have developed some interesting characteristics in her later instars.

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## viper69

papilio said:


> Thanks Jeni!
> 
> To me these shots, particularly the first, seem to pretty clearly establish her as a  genuine bicegoi, one which appears to have developed some interesting characteristics in her later instars.


Now THOSE pics remind me of my bicegoi. I may have to send Papilio's pics to the NSA's Image Analysis group for chromatic "aberration" analysis 

Those colors are the strangest phenotype I've observed for bicegoi Papilio! AND the coolest!

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## papilio

viper69 said:


> Now THOSE pics remind me of my bicegoi. I may have to send Papilio's pics to the NSA's Image Analysis group for chromatic "aberration" analysis
> 
> Those colors are the strangest phenotype I've observed for bicegoi Papilio! AND the coolest!



This is indeed a tantalizing mystery!

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## papilio

viper69 said:


> They look just like the pics from the primary scientific literature.  4um step size..NICE, how low can you go?


Thanks Chris!  

Officially it goes down to 1.5um, but there are hacks which can get it to microstep to somewhere below 0.5um.




jbm150 said:


> Oooh something nasty fo yo eye


I've had a hard time getting urts to photograph ... my whole collection is arboreal!    But I got this spider at our last MinnVerts party.





My first attempts at shooting a T at 10X ... who'd have guessed that my most cooperative sling would be one of Chad's new _ornatas?!  _ 
The depth of a focus stack increases with higher magnifications, these are each ~100 stacked images.


_Poecilotheria ornata_, 1-inch sling

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## viper69

papilio said:


> Thanks Chris!
> 
> Officially it goes down to 1.5um, but there are hacks which can get it to microstep to somewhere below 0.5um.


Time to HACK!

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## papilio

viper69 said:


> Time to HACK!


Since my rig -- cantilevered off of the top of a tripod and pointing down at the hair specimen -- is rather unstable in such a configuration, the 4um step size was selected so as to be redundant.  Diffraction theory at this magnification/aperture/NA predicts no focus banding with a step size of 8um.  So I've still got, under normal applications, plenty of breathing room before I'll need those hacks.   
But I truly have no idea how the guys cope who stack at 100X!!  


I've received comments on these photos that they're too dark.  Hey, I was just excited to have been able to get 10X tarantula stacks at all!!  lol  To be honest they look pretty good to me, though I'd prefer some fill light on the foot shot.  But it's true, lighting of living subjects at these powers is going to prove to be a challenge as I can't wrap the subject in a diffusion cocoon the way it's often done with dried specimens.  I don't know, maybe I'm chasing down a blind alley expecting to shoot live subjects at these powers ...


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## viper69

papilio said:


> But I truly have no idea how the guys cope who stack at 100X!!


I stack at 100x regularly, just not with a camera

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## papilio

viper69 said:


> I stack at 100x regularly, just not with a camera


lol  Oh yeah, I forgot Chris!  Makes 10X seem pretty wimpy.  






_Euathlus pulcherrimaklaasi_

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## Alltheworld601

One of my favorites.  Beautiful!!

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## viper69

Ive never seen that species look beautiful WOW.

Nah, not wimpy, just different

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## CEC

Very nice new pics, Michael! Those A. bicegoi pics are nutz! It looks just like my bicegoi in person but with a little "Michael Magic" it looks a lot different.

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## Protectyaaaneck

Wow, that girl is gorgeous!  Unreal shot of the eye field.   :clap: :worship:

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## Mike41793

This thread is awesome, great pics! 

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

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## Storm76

Oh my god - you just caused tears of joy seing this awesome species photographed by you! Is this yours? Such a beautiful tarantula!

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## David VB

This is by far the best picture thread i ever saw about T's!!! I'm fairly new here and i'm not much of a reader, so threads with 50+ pages are not something i open most of the time, but for this one i make an exception and will look at all pages to be sure not to miss any of those awesome pictures you make/made

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## Rick McJimsey

You have the most amazing spider images I have ever seen!

I've been looking through your pictures for the past few days, non stop.

Simply amazing photography.

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## papilio

Alltheworld601 said:


> One of my favorites.  Beautiful!!


Thanks a lot Jacqueline!  It really is beautiful!




viper69 said:


> Ive never seen that species look beautiful WOW.
> 
> Nah, not wimpy, just different


Thank you Chris!    I was amazed by the way the blues showed up ... they were even nicer when held in the sunlight, very glittery.




CEC said:


> Very nice new pics, Michael! Those A. bicegoi pics are nutz! It looks just like my bicegoi in person but with a little "Michael Magic" it looks a lot different.


lol  Thanks Chase!  




Protectyaaaneck said:


> Wow, that girl is gorgeous!  Unreal shot of the eye field.   :clap: :worship:


Thanks very much Jason!  




Mike41793 said:


> This thread is awesome, great pics!
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk


Thank you Mark, very kind of you!  




Storm76 said:


> Oh my god - you just caused tears of joy seing this awesome species photographed by you! Is this yours? Such a beautiful tarantula!


Thanks a lot Jan!    She is beautiful, belongs to a friend of mine.




David VB said:


> This is by far the best picture thread i ever saw about T's!!! I'm fairly new here and i'm not much of a reader, so threads with 50+ pages are not something i open most of the time, but for this one i make an exception and will look at all pages to be sure not to miss any of those awesome pictures you make/made


Thanks David, very much appreciated!  




Rick McJimsey said:


> You have the most amazing spider images I have ever seen!
> 
> I've been looking through your pictures for the past few days, non stop.
> 
> Simply amazing photography.


Thanks so much Rick, that means a lot!  






_A. diversipes_, 0.5-inch









_Brachypelma emilia_

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## viper69

WHOA, that's some bright orange/red banding on that last pic. Impressive! as usual!


I TRULY enjoy the subtle details your photography pulls out that I cannot see on my own w/normal human eyes. It's a joy, no doubt.

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## jbm150

Gorgeous emilia

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## papilio

viper69 said:


> WHOA, that's some bright orange/red banding on that last pic. Impressive! as usual!
> 
> I TRULY enjoy the subtle details your photography pulls out that I cannot see on my own w/normal human eyes. It's a joy, no doubt.


Thanks Chris!    I used the green channel plus the highlights of the blue for the image luminance.  This darkens the reds thereby making them more vibrant.




jbm150 said:


> Gorgeous emilia


Thanks Jeff!  





The bloom on the carapace is not yet very evident, and the brightness and hues of the carapace appear to be highly dependent on the viewing vs. lighting angles.
I believe that the concave portion on the eyes indicates that she is very near a molt.

_Pamphobeteus_ sp "Platyomma"

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## journeys and scorpions

Whoa...Pamphobeteus is my favourite kind of Spider.

Your Macropics are so strong and clear...hot hot hot!

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## viper69

papilio said:


> used the green channel plus the highlights of the blue for the image luminance.  This darkens the reds thereby making them more vibrant.


I had a feeling you did some computer magic, it just seemed a bit too bright. That touch certainly made them pop!

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## dactylus

Michael what size is the Pamphobeteus sp "platyomma"?  Large enough to sex yet?  Nice spider!!

David

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## papilio

viper69 said:


> I had a feeling you did some computer magic, it just seemed a bit too bright. That touch certainly made them pop!


Part of the secret sauce.  




Johnny Spadix said:


> Whoa...Pamphobeteus is my favourite kind of Spider.
> 
> Your Macropics are so strong and clear...hot hot hot!


Thank a lot Johnny!   




dactylus said:


> Michael what size is the Pamphobeteus sp "platyomma"?  Large enough to sex yet?  Nice spider!!
> 
> David


Thanks David!  
Definitely large enough to sex at ~4 inches, just waiting for molts.  The previous owner labeled this one as 'suspected female', another I received is 'suspected male'.





In need of a molt and looking pretty war-torn, but it suits her temperament.

_Haplopelma minax_ juvie female

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## Formerphobe

Wow! You've got me drooling over the E. pulcherrimaklaasi shots, Michael! Fantabulous!  I would like that one done as a mural on my wall.

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## Storm76

Formerphobe said:


> Wow! You've got me drooling over the E. pulcherrimaklaasi shots, Michael! Fantabulous!  I would like that one done as a mural on my wall.


Yeah! Totally agree! And the best part about it: Michael proves 100% with those shots just -how- beautiful these calm, rather docile, terrestrial are! So underrated in my opinion that species, it's a shame.

Awesome shots again, Michael - so how long from getting her out to being in position?

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## awiec

Is it just the angle or does that H.minax have a snub fang? She definitely has a lot of personality though.

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## mcluskyisms

Excellent as always Michael!

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## papilio

Formerphobe said:


> Wow! You've got me drooling over the E. pulcherrimaklaasi shots, Michael! Fantabulous!  I would like that one done as a mural on my wall.


Thank you Joyce!  




Storm76 said:


> Yeah! Totally agree! And the best part about it: Michael proves 100% with those shots just -how- beautiful these calm, rather docile, terrestrial are! So underrated in my opinion that species, it's a shame.
> 
> Awesome shots again, Michael - so how long from getting her out to being in position?


Thanks Jan!  
She's easy, maybe a minute or so.  The H. minax on the other hand, that's another story ... probably the toughest of any in my collection!




awiec said:


> Is it just the angle or does that H.minax have a snub fang? She definitely has a lot of personality though.


Thanks awiec!
Is this the view you're referring to?  Here it is at full-res, I added some fill flash to brighten the shadows, the fangs look normal as far as I can tell.

Notice also the mite.  I had suspected them upon seeing the worn carapace, luckily it's not a heavy infestation.






mcluskyisms said:


> Excellent as always Michael!


Thank you Chris!  :worship:






_Haplopelma minax_ juvie female


10X focus stack, 80 images 






_Chilobrachys dyscolus_, MM, 4-inch


































_Poecilotheria subfusca_ juvie female, 4-inch

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## awiec

papilio said:


> Thanks awiec!
> Is this the view you're referring to?  Here it is at full-res, I added some fill flash to brighten the shadows, the fangs look normal as far as I can tell.
> 
> Notice also the mite.  I had suspected them upon seeing the worn carapace, luckily it's not a heavy infestation.


Yup that is the one, granted I do have astigmatism in one of my eyes so my view may be a little off and I noticed the mite but wasn't sure if it was my eyes playing tricks on me. Those little nike swoosh on the pokie has always convinced me that they had to be closely related to psalmos at one point in time.

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## Storm76

I was referring to the H. minax, yes. The Euathlus spp. - yeah easy to guide where you want them to. 


Great pics as usual, Michael.

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## mcluskyisms

Breathtaking ocular tubercle photos! Seriously impressive.

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## papilio

awiec said:


> Yup that is the one, granted I do have astigmatism in one of my eyes so my view may be a little off and I noticed the mite but wasn't sure if it was my eyes playing tricks on me. Those little nike swoosh on the pokie has always convinced me that they had to be closely related to psalmos at one point in time.


Yes, that strong similarity really makes me wonder about that too ... not only that, but Psalmos' primary defense mechanism of striking is relatively unique for a NW spider.




Storm76 said:


> I was referring to the H. minax, yes. The Euathlus spp. - yeah easy to guide where you want them to.
> 
> Great pics as usual, Michael.


I've got quite a few minax pics ... very good exercise!  




mcluskyisms said:


> Breathtaking ocular tubercle photos! Seriously impressive.


Thanks a lot Chris!  




Putting slings on twigs is a little trick I discovered which tends to work well with the spiders who hate to sit still.  This sling is normally in almost constant motion, but once it found a comfy place on the twig I managed to get away with about 20 relatively deep focus stacks.


_Augacephalus ezemdami_ sling, 1.25-inch

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## jbm150

^wow, just wow!

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## papilio

jbm150 said:


> ^wow, just wow!


Thanks very much Jeff!  




More sling-on-a-stick

I've been on the hunt of these for years, finally available to the US hobby.  Attain the size of _A._ sp. 'amazonica' and perhaps even furrier. 

_Avicularia_ sp. "Kwitara River", Giant Green Pinktoe, 0.5-inch sling
























Photos of adult
HERE
HERE



Thanks for looking!

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## CEC

I like the long, shaggy hairs on the abdomen. Very cool shots.

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## papilio

CEC said:


> I like the long, shaggy hairs on the abdomen. Very cool shots.


Thank you Chase!  




10X Focus stacks

_Avicularia_ sp. "Kwitara River", 0.5-inch sling




Tarsal pad setae

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## papilio

_Avicularia diversipes_, 0.75-inch sling

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## Storm76

These shots are truely phenomenal, Michael! Almost electron-microscope like! (Well, not really - but it's getting close to that level of detail IMO)

AWESOME!

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## viper69

papilio said:


> Avicularia sp. "Kwitara River"k
> 
> I've been on the hunt of these for years, finally available to the US hobby.  Attain the size of _A._ sp. 'amazonica' and perhaps even furrier.



Cool pics, but WHO found those for you, huh who, who who?

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## papilio

viper69 said:


> Cool pics, but WHO found those for you, huh who, who who?


hehe  

_Thank you Chris!!_

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> These shots are truly phenomenal, Michael! Almost electron-microscope like! (Well, not really - but it's getting close to that level of detail IMO)
> 
> AWESOME!


Many thanks Jan!  :biggrin:







_Phormictopus_ sp. "purple", 1-inch sling

















_Lampropelma_ sp. "Borneo Black", 0.75-inch sling

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## viper69

Neon orange setae, now that is cool!

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## advan

Awesome _Lampropelma_ shots!  Is it one I hatched?

P.S. Happy belated birthday!

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## Alltheworld601

Wow, I've missed a lot!!  Lovely as always.  I've been slacking.

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## awiec

Nice to see some P. sp Purple love. I'm not sure why more people don't have them, they aren't very expensive or hard to keep.

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## papilio

viper69 said:


> Neon orange setae, now that is cool!


Seems like quite a few slings have them, they really pop under the strobe.  




advan said:


> Awesome _Lampropelma_ shots!  Is it one I hatched?
> 
> P.S. Happy belated birthday!


Yep that's yours.   

A _very_ belated thank you, Chad!!  :worship:




Alltheworld601 said:


> Wow, I've missed a lot!!  Lovely as always.  I've been slacking.


Thank you Jacqueline! 

lol So have I!!




awiec said:


> Nice to see some P. sp Purple love. I'm not sure why more people don't have them, they aren't very expensive or hard to keep.


I need to get some fresh pics, it's a lot more colorful since its last molt.





Wow, hadn't realized how long it had been since I posted to my thread!  :O
I've been getting used to some new equipment, working on stacking technique ... and have become totally obsessed with mantids!!  :biggrin:

A couple of my mantis threads ...
[thread=263165]New Idolomantis diabolica, L2[/thread]
[thread=265223]Idolomantis ... insane growth! Feeding-time series[/thread]




My little Pampho molted a few days ago, really quite a stunner suddenly.


_Pamphobeteus_ sp. "Platyomma", juvie male

















































Thanks for looking!

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## Storm76

Very velvety colors. Great pictures as usual, buddy!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> Very velvety colors. Great pictures as usual, buddy!


Thanks Jan!    These have really lovely textures.






... and here's the male Platy's girlfriend.


_Pamphobeteus_ sp. "Platyomma", juvie female










































_Poecilotheria subfusca_ exuvia

10X focus stack, Mitutoyo objective, 230 images

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## papilio

_Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens_, 1-inch sling

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## papilio

I figured I'd better make an appearance here before my thread gets too buried!  I've been much more focused on taking photos and videos of the incredible mantids which I've recently gotten into.  



These are just a few shots I took for a friend who brought some of his Ts by.


_Grammostola pulchra_














_Avicularia metallica_








Thanks for looking!

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## CEC

Very nice, Michael! I'm sure you will have many more pics to share after the meet next weekend. I hope you bring a mantid or two, so I can see how they've grown.

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## awiec

I know tarantulas do not have "true hair" but those pictures made that pulchra look so fluffy and cuddly.

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## Storm76

Premolt Avic or MM?

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## papilio

CEC said:


> Very nice, Michael! I'm sure you will have many more pics to share after the meet next weekend. I hope you bring a mantid or two, so I can see how they've grown.


Thanks Chase.  I guess this reply is a bit late, but it was a great weekend!  




awiec said:


> I know tarantulas do not have "true hair" but those pictures made that pulchra look so fluffy and cuddly.


I thought the same, very nice T!  




Storm76 said:


> Premolt Avic or MM?


Not sure Jan, I took those pics for a friend of mine,  







_Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens_, 1.25-inch sling













The GBB pics above were taken using a monopod, and I discovered that with this support, while the view may move around the frame a bit from shot to shot, the viewing angle remained constant enough that many of the images were stackable.  So I shot this first pulcher sling intentionally as a stack of about 30 images and it worked fairly well.  

All of the photos following it are normal single images shot at f/32.


_Psalmopoeus pulcher_ sling, 1.25-inch

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## Storm76

LOVE the shot with the webbing coming from the spinnerets!

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## advan

Very nice Michael! I need to get back to shooting slings!

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## Fyrwulf

Your pics are like 'shroom trips without the 'shrooms. The colors are just incredible and that fact that you can make a 2D image look almost 3D is even more so. Professional grade work, sir.

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> LOVE the shot with the webbing coming from the spinnerets!


Thanks a lot Jan!  




advan said:


> Very nice Michael! I need to get back to shooting slings!


Thanks Chad!  Glad you did, those H. incei photos are unbelievable!!  




Fyrwulf said:


> Your pics are like 'shroom trips without the 'shrooms. The colors are just incredible and that fact that you can make a 2D image look almost 3D is even more so. Professional grade work, sir.


Thanks much Fyrwulf, very nice of you to say!  




Here's a new, very pretty T I picked up last weekend at our MinnVerts party.  


_Poecilotheria ornata,_ 5-inch female

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## Biollantefan54

Your pictures are amazing, the quality is just astounding! Do you have any amblypygids? I would love to see pictures of this quality of those invertebrates! (well......any invertebrate....and more tarantulas!)

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## viper69

First shot of the pulcher..WOW.

How'd you get that ornata to sit still for a bit, and transfer her out/in etc?

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## Azarath

papilio said:


>


You simply MUST tell me what camera you use.

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## Biollantefan54

papilio said:


>


This is my favorite picture so far lol

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## viper69

Azarath said:


> You simply MUST tell me what camera you use.


He uses a Kodak Brownie.

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## awiec

Biollantefan54 said:


> This is my favorite picture so far lol


The claws even have claws

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## Biollantefan54

Claw-ception

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## Azarath

viper69 said:


> He uses a Kodak Brownie.


...Really? You're not just pullin' my leg?

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## papilio

Biollantefan54 said:


> Your pictures are amazing, the quality is just astounding! Do you have any amblypygids? I would love to see pictures of this quality of those invertebrates! (well......any invertebrate....and more tarantulas!)


Thanks very much Biollantefan, kind of you to say!
I'll have to check our local club to see whether anyone in our club has an amblypygid, it would be great fun to shoot!  




viper69 said:


> First shot of the pulcher..WOW.
> 
> How'd you get that ornata to sit still for a bit, and transfer her out/in etc?


Thanks Chris!  
I see you know your ornatas!  This one is actually the most mellow I've encountered, by far.  Was as manageable as any other poeci.




Azarath said:


> You simply MUST tell me what camera you use.


I'm using a Nikon D800E with a Sigma 150mm Apo OS Macro lens, usually adding a clip-on Raynox DCR-250 diopter lens.




Biollantefan54 said:


> This is my favorite picture so far lol


Thanks!  I think that one turned out the best as well.  Really tough to tell while shooting a stack what it will look like.




viper69 said:


> He uses a Kodak Brownie.


hehe




awiec said:


> The claws even have claws







Azarath said:


> ...Really? You're not just pullin' my leg?


Maybe I might as well be.  This rig is sharp enough, with such a massive sensor, that I find I can get away with shooting at f/32 for nice DOF despite all of the diffraction that generates.  On my APS-C sensors I'd rarely go above f/16.

But Chad is right ... I'm using a very expensive pinhole camera.




Here's one of April's tiny _H. gabonensis_ slings, very cool!   Focus stacks taken at 5:1 through Canon MP-E65mm @ f/27.

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## Storm76

What a cutie!

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> What a cutie!


Thanks Jan!    Yeah, I think it's a pretty fun little sling.




Since losing my P. subfusca this is now my favorite poeci.  Hadn't photographed her in a while, used to be a lot more bluish-silver in color.

_P. tigrinawesseli_, juvie female

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## Storm76

What happened to your subfusca?


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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> What happened to your subfusca?


She finished her last molt with badly crippled front legs and evidently was unable to capture prey.  She also remained extremely lethargic, I had to place her face into the water dish myself and I sprayed her enclosure quite heavily.  If she'd been taking the drinks I might have had some hope of her making it to the next molt and regenerated her legs, but she died about three weeks after the bad molt.  I'm inclined to believe that it was our unusually dry Winter that caused the trouble as I also lost a number of slings, most of them dying right after molting.  I've since installed a humidifier in my inverts room,  it brings the ambient humidity from 20% up to about 50% and I haven't experienced any losses since.





_Pterinochilus murinus_, adult female

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## Kees Hood

Looks like the OBT took out that poor dinosaur. Not surprised.

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## papilio

Kees Hood said:


> Looks like the OBT took out that poor dinosaur. Not surprised.


hehe  I know, poor little T-Rex.  






Here are some focus stacks of a 1-inch _Nhandu coloratovillosus_ sling.














_Cyriopagopus schioedtei_ sling, 1-inch

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## Storm76

I just love what world Chad and you take us into - so alien, so wonderous, so great to see with your own eyes.

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## jbm150

papilio said:


> Since losing my P. subfusca


!  What happened?

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## papilio

jbm150 said:


> !  What happened?


Very dry Winter, bad molt, much sadness.


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## jbm150

Damn man, I'm sorry to hear that

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## papilio

jbm150 said:


> Damn man, I'm sorry to hear that


Thanks Jeff, she was my #1.


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## jbm150

She was a beauty for sure.  Were you able to do anything with the male?


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## lalberts9310

My gosh I wish I was this talented at taking pics!


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## papilio

jbm150 said:


> She was a beauty for sure.  Were you able to do anything with the male?


I decided to wait until she molted again before trying with him, sadly he didn't make it that long.  Such a disappointment, he was spectacular!!




lalberts9310 said:


> My gosh I wish I was this talented at taking pics!


Thank you lalberts!  







I picked up eight 1i versi slings from April several days ago, and I'm hoping to catch at least one of them making the molt to 2i so that I can video it.  In the meantime here are a few focus stacks which I took a couple of days ago, and the last one just today ... that's a lot of blue, should be popping any time now.

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## Mako16

that is amazing photography, good job!

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## papilio

Mako16 said:


> that is amazing photography, good job!


Thanks a lot Mako!  




_Avicularia versicolor_ sling, molting from 1i to 2i

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## RegallRegius

Beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL shots.

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## Storm76

One word: STUNNING!


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## dactylus

Wow - I love those shots Michael!!


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## Sana

I can't come up with a better word than WOW!


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## jbm150

papilio said:


> I decided to wait until she molted again before trying with him, sadly he didn't make it that long.  Such a disappointment, he was spectacular!!


Damn, I'm sorry to hear that.


For some reason, most of your pics are not showing up.  Those that are....are insane!  Amazing stuff Michael!


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## papilio

RegallRegius said:


> Beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL shots.


Thanks a lot RegallRegius!  



_A. versicolor,_ 2i sling




















Thanks for looking!

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## Storm76

Cutiepie!


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## louise f

OMG this is absolutely magnificent.


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## papilio

louise f said:


> OMG this is absolutely magnificent.


Thanks very much louise!  




Storm76 said:


> Cutiepie!









Here's a motion slideshow created from all of the images of my _A. versicolor_ 2i molt project.


[video=youtube;pQ0APZW4y7A]http://youtu.be/pQ0APZW4y7A[/video]
Music credit: "Ground Swell" from the "Diva" soundtrack, Vladimir Cosma.

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> One word: STUNNING!





dactylus said:


> Wow - I love those shots Michael!!





Sana said:


> I can't come up with a better word than WOW!





jbm150 said:


> Damn, I'm sorry to hear that.
> 
> For some reason, most of your pics are not showing up.  Those that are....are insane!  Amazing stuff Michael!



So sorry guys, somehow I missed all of your kind comments last time I posted!  

Thanks a lot everyone!!  :biggrin:





_Avicularia_ sp. "Kwitara River"













_Hapalopus_ sp. "Columbia large"

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## papilio

An update on the _A. versicolor_ slings, still 2i

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## Wasabiroot

Your photography is some serious next level stuff. Some of the finest macro work I've ever seen!

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## papilio

Wasabiroot said:


> Your photography is some serious next level stuff. Some of the finest macro work I've ever seen!


Thank you Wasabiroot, very kind of you and I appreciate it very much!  




_Nhandu coloratovillosus,_ 1-inch sling

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## papilio

Sheesh, guess it's about time I update my thread!  



_Avicularia_ sp. "Kwitara River" sling
















_Avicularia versicolor_, 2i

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## viper69

Nice Avics - wonder how you learned about the Kwitara... [emoji6]

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## papilio

viper69 said:


> Nice Avics - wonder how you learned about the Kwitara... [emoji6]


Just some guy I know told me about them.


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## papilio

This first is Chad's rare and very unusual _Pachistopelma bromelicola_.  It's tough to see in a photo but in real life the very flat carapace is quite striking.











One of my favorite terrestrials, I shot this juvie female _Brachypelma albopilosum_ at a local pet store.








And one of the 2i _Psalmopoeus pulcher_ slings I picked up from Chase, these playful little guys will always be a favorite to photograph.

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## louise f

Your photos are just stunning. Love the P.pulcher

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## viper69

Truly Talented Michael..Truly!

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## Fyrwulf

Dat Pachistopelma do...

Wonder if he keeps them with a Bromeliad in the cage as a hide.

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## OliverWhatever

Absolutely amazing, all of them! Got enough wallpapers now to last me a lifetime

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## owlbear

Love the p. pulcher, psalmos are so photogenic, especially with such great camera work.

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## micheldied

Just went through all 59 pages, and I'm lost for words.

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## Storm76

micheldied said:


> Just went through all 59 pages, and I'm lost for words.


One of the most awesome photographers on here imo.

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## papilio

louise f said:


> Your photos are just stunning. Love the P.pulcher


Thanks very much louise!  Pulcher slings are some of my favorites to photograph.




viper69 said:


> Truly Talented Michael..Truly!


Thank you Chris!  :worship:




Fyrwulf said:


> Dat Pachistopelma do...
> 
> Wonder if he keeps them with a Bromeliad in the cage as a hide.







OliverWhatever said:


> Absolutely amazing, all of them! Got enough wallpapers now to last me a lifetime


Thanks a lot Oliver!  And glad you like them for your wallpaper.  




owlbear said:


> Love the p. pulcher, psalmos are so photogenic, especially with such great camera work.


Thanks much owlbear!  Yes, they're beautiful!




micheldied said:


> Just went through all 59 pages, and I'm lost for words.


A generous compliment, thank you very much micheldied!  




Storm76 said:


> One of the most awesome photographers on here imo.


You're too kind, my friend!  :worship:










Here are some images of one of the _P. rufilata_ slings from Chad.  They're monsters!  

At 2i, one of the slings displayed an almost versi-like blueness!  The second set shows the same sling soon after its molt to 3i.























































































And for a little variety, my pretty _H. mac_ is now next to me at my desk, just a quick shot through the 1/4-inch acrylic.















Thanks for looking!

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## Storm76

So, I'm talking about still passing on H. macs and you go and throw those couple shots at me? I see how it is...:laugh:

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## papilio

Storm76 said:


> So, I'm talking about still passing on H. macs and you go and throw those couple shots at me? I see how it is...:laugh:


hehe

It's inevitable Jan!  :roflmao:

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## papilio

_C. elegans _sling, ~2mm BL


26 stacked images


30 stacked images



Even this scale shot makes it look bigger than it does in real life.

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## Bugmom

papilio said:


> _C. elegans _sling, ~2mm BL
> 
> 
> 26 stacked images
> 
> 
> 30 stacked images
> 
> 
> 
> Even this scale shot makes it look bigger than it does in real life.


I still say it looks like hairy jello.

Once again though, your photography has amazed me.

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## papilio

Bugmom said:


> I still say it looks like hairy jello.
> 
> Once again though, your photography has amazed me.


lol  Thank you Bugmom!  





_A. versicolor_















_M. robustum_, 1.25" sling

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## viper69

Those A versi pics are really impressive!! It's nice to see some whole body shots that aren't slings for a change, esp of this species. The colors are very very good.

I would rate the first shot your best of these IF you have a version that is not cropped, assuming you cropped off the abdomen a bit?


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## papilio

viper69 said:


> Those A versi pics are really impressive!! It's nice to see some whole body shots that aren't slings for a change, esp of this species. The colors are very very good.
> I would rate the first shot your best of these IF you have a version that is not cropped, assuming you cropped off the abdomen a bit?


Thanks Chris!  
What ME, take specimen shots???    hehe


Figured it's about time I get caught up on my photo thread ... sick to death of posting to FB!


_Poecilotheria ornata, large juvie female_













_Lampropelma violaceopes, large juvie female_






_2-inch sling_

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## advan

They look much better here than on FriendFace.

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## BobBarley

papilio said:


> _Poecilotheria ornata, large juvie female_


Let me take a selfie!  Lol, these are figging spectacular shots!!!!

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## OliverWhatever

I may or may not have cheered like a little boy when I saw this thread get updated.
That P.ornata is stunning, is it from your personal collection?

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## Araneas

Wow- great Pictures! Just beautiful

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## papilio

advan said:


> They look much better here than on FriendFace.


Thank you Chad!    I know, what was I thinking.



BobBarley said:


> Let me take a selfie!  Lol, these are figging spectacular shots!!!!


Ha!!  Nice one BobBarley.    I was shooting with a Laowa 15mm Wide Angle macro, and she was constantly trying to climb up on the lens.
Thanks a lot!



Araneas said:


> Wow- great Pictures! Just beautiful


Thanks so much Araneas!  



OliverWhatever said:


> I may or may not have cheered like a little boy when I saw this thread get updated.
> That P.ornata is stunning, is it from your personal collection?


You do know how to make a guy's day Oliver!  
Yes she is, I just picked her up a couple of weeks ago.  She'd just molted and I couldn't resist!












_Heteroscodra maculata_, adult female
I'd have to guess she's just about the most docile H. mac ever.

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## BobBarley

Those are incredible pics!!  So much detail. :wideyed:

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## papilio

BobBarley said:


> Those are incredible pics!!  So much detail. :wideyed:


Thank you BobBarley!  




_Monocentropus balfouri_, female juvie

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## papilio

Cyriocosmus sp. "hati hati"

1-inch sling




















2-inch juvie

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## papilio

Sorry, brain freeze on that last one!  
Should of course be Cyriopagopus

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## papilio

_Avicularia variegata_ (hobby "amazonica"), from 3i sling to 2-inch juvie

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## grayzone

Man youve gotten better and better with time. Been away a while now and decided to pop back into this pic thread, as this was one of my favorites.

Amazing shots!

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## papilio

grayzone said:


> Man youve gotten better and better with time. Been away a while now and decided to pop back into this pic thread, as this was one of my favorites.
> Amazing shots!


Thanks a lot!  Always experimenting with ways to improve the images, very nice to know that it's sometimes noticeable.  



_Caribena versicolor,_ mature male

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## Leila

Wow!! These photos are breathtaking!  Thank you for sharing them!

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## papilio

Leila said:


> Wow!! These photos are breathtaking!  Thank you for sharing them!


Thanks Leila!  Always nice to hear that others enjoy the photos just as I love taking them.  




A few attempts to emulate Melvyn Yeo's magnificent backlit images ... difficult!! 


_Avicularia avicularia _morphotype #4, 1.25-inch




















_Lampropelma violaceopes_, 2-inch

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