A Tarantula showing a little leg…

We did a little macro photo shoot a couple weekends ago, with plenty of interesting subjects to get a close look at.  OK, I confess… shooting flowers and butterfly wings bores me to tears.  Yes, they’re pretty and have nice detail, but the live stuff is much more interesting to me.  As a result most of my shots were of spiders and other bugs.  The lead shot hardly even qualifies as a macro shot since a tarantula is a pretty good size critter.  This one was about four inches across as he was posing, probably another couple of inches bigger if he was trying to go somewhere.  He was very docile, pretty much taking a nap which made for easy photographs.

This colorful little guy was pretty cooperative.

The Tiger Gecko was a little more mobile and made for a little challenge for a good capture.  I decided to not worry about the tail going out of focus to get a natural looking shot.  It seemed more interesting than a view from the side.

He kind of reminds me of Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street.

I would have never thought of a spider as being cute, but the Jumping Spider did have some personality.  It was quite animated and seemed to be almost posing for me.  It was quite fascinated with its reflection in the lens, and seemed almost puzzled by it at times.  The two large eyes in front which are its main vision are mobile, the other six eyes are apparently more for warning.