Underlying

It had just rained and the colours in the flowers looked really good so I decided to take a few shot of the flowers in the garden but I ended up taking a shot of bugs and spiders instead.

Fitting In

This little spider tried it's very best to hide and it almost lost me.

I thought the brick looked weird and it was only when I got really close that I realised why it looked weird - it had eyes!

Nature is amazing at camouflage and it always amazes me how we can miss beautiful things that are sometimes right in front of us simply because we don't look close enough.

The Trap Is Set

When I was little I wasn't really terrified of spiders even though we had some really huge and scary looking ones. Sometimes we'd watch a giant spider weave it's web across our roof as we fell asleep.

My parents told me that if a spider went from one spot to another and then back to the previous spot a few times it was building its web. They were right of course and that always amazed me.

This particular spider had one of the most elaborate webs I have ever seen. It was actually built between three trees that were spread very far apart. I have no idea how it did it but it was actually beautiful.

Watching it weave its web wasn't boring either. Sometimes a strand would break because of the wind and so it would quickly scurry over and fix it before it got worse.

The Stones Have Eyes

I was out shooting this fly which seemed quite docile so it was a pretty uncommon opportunity which I just couldn't let go of. The fly turned out to be quite the uncooperative subject but I didn't notice the cement on one of the bricks moving.

On closer inspection it was actually a tiny spider that was really well camouflaged. I just love it when these tiny spiders look back at you. Now I know that may be weird but I kinda like it and find it interesting.

The spider stayed still long enough for me to get a quick shot.

The SX50's macro capabilities aren't really great so I had to crop in tight but I was pretty happy that the eyes are clear in this picture.

Just Hiding

I love a surprise and I was really surprised when I saw this spider. The rose looked pretty so I wanted to photograph it but when I went close to it I saw this tiny little spider. I didn't expect to see an insect there let alone a spider so that was a pleasant surprise.

Anyway I had to take a quick shot because the camera (look at me blaming the camera when it was actually me) spooked it and it kept moving around really really quick. I was quite pleased with what I was able to finally get after many blurred pictures.

Make Hay In The Moonlight

I hope the quote "Make hay while the sun shines" isn't copyright or something because then I'd be in big trouble for today's title.Yeah! Yeah! It might sound cheesy but that's what I came up with.

The first proper Daily Post on this blog was when I shared a picture of a spider in its web. Some found it creepy and some loved the picture. Either way thanks for your feedback because today I'm sharing another spider picture which I don't think I've shared before.

This spider disappears during the day and magically reappears in the night. It's as if it goes into a magic portal to another dimension and then returns after it has rested because when I do see it, it is always as busy as a bee. This is cool but it also makes it difficult to capture because of the continuous movement.

Thankfully the moon was pretty bright that night and I was able to get a good silhouette of the spider. Yes, that is the moon - not a street lamp of light from a torch. Many get confused and some don't even believe me.

I hope you've had a good weekend and had loads of fun.

Robert Bruce Moment

I just though I'd start off with a post about something that amazed me.

If you are arachnophobic, look away NOW!

The trap is laid; the hunter waits patiently.

I never thought I would ever say this but I was amazed by this spider. I've been observing it for the last few days. It appears out of nowhere almost like part of a magical performance everyday around 6:15 p.m. and starts working on this elaborate and massive web. The web itself is surprisingly large, given the spider's tiny size.

It weaves it across three different trees that are about 4 meters away from each other. This in itself is an amazing feat. I have no idea how it gets across these trees, then again I don't know much about spiders.

The first time I saw the spider I took a silhouette of it against a street lamp. I shared the following image a couple of days back on Google+ and Facebook.

When I saw it again yesterday I just knew I had to try and capture the spider ad its web. It was late when I finally got down to taking pictures as I had to wait for everyone to leave and then lock the gates. The people here think anyone with a camera is weird. They just stare and stare and stare until you feel so uncomfortable that you can't wait to get away from their gaze. So I let the dog loose (a real watch dog) and got my tripod out and set it up.

I didn't expect to get good pictures because I don't think the Canon SX50 HS is the best for night photography. I expected focusing to be a real pain. I was wrong. Surprisingly auto focus worked well - thanks to the AF Assist Beam. 90% of the time it focused right where I wanted it to. Of course I had to use the on camera flash due to lack of a better option. One great thing about the SX50 is that you can shoot RAW which made the task massively easy.

Waiting. Watching...

While taking the shot part of me expected the spider to get mad and come down from its web and bite me. Another part of my mind was on the dog that kept running past me at full speed. I was worried he would knock the camera over. Thankfully that didn't happen. Yet another part was thinking how great it would be to get Spiderman's powers :D

At one point the spider suddenly moved and I literally jumped when I should have run away. Turns out it wasn't interested in me but rather in a strand of webbing that the wind had broken.

To make matters worse (seems like there are always things that do) the mosquitoes really wanted my oh-so-sweet blood. I'm guessing it was sweet since I had eaten a few pieces of cake prior to this photo shoot.

I was pretty satisfied with the pictures that I managed to get. I also managed to get quite a few mosquito bites but that's something I can ignore...for now.

I'm waiting for the spider to come out again tonight. If it does I'll be waiting to shoot it...with a camera, that is.

This somehow reminded me of Robert Bruce (hence the title of this post).

For all these shots I just set the camera to Aperture Priority mode.
For the shots where you can actually see the web, I used the on-camera flash.

I'm sorry if the pictures spooked some of you. I do hope this doesn't stop you from viewing my future posts. Don't worry there will be very few pictures of spiders...if any. :)

Take care.