Spider Macro Looks Larger Than Life

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Here is one of my personal favorite photos I've snapped. It was an October night in 2011 when my then girlfriend and I spotted two large spiders in my front yard on our way in. They were in different parts of the yard so we couldn't get any photos of the two together without disturbing them. This particular one was hanging under the eaves by my bedroom. Legs and all it would cover perhaps a 50 cent piece or perhaps a silver dollar if you're generous. Pretty large for a Southern California suburban arachnid.

Lighting was limited so I grabbed the SLR and put it into flash photography. Like most I prefer not to use flash unless it's absolutely necessary and I wasn't in the mood to light the scene on a whim. The photos were coming out pretty good with my telephoto lens. That's when my then GF said, "Get under it and shoot." The gauntlet was thrown so what choice did I have? Knowing that if that spider dropped while I was under it's web would have sent me into a frenzy I steadied myself under it and caught this image of it nearly head on. Mind you it was hanging downward on it's web so I was right under it!

If the image isn't worth 1,000 words the story of how it was acquired is!

All told this photo needed some help. Captured with a Canon 30D 200-300mm F5.6 lens in low light with flash.

Lightroom helped correct some under exposure, clear some haze, bring out more detail while taming glare from the fibrous hairs reflecting the flash. Also had to fight a lot of grain in the background.

I'm not a professional and this was my first go processing a photo in Lightroom. I feel like I might have over processed some but I'm pleased with the results.

Thanks for looking. Life should be fun and sharing these moments brings me much pleasure!