Orb spider

Leucauge.

A sunny but breezy morning. I often find myself complaining about the cloudy weather recently, well now that I have a sunny day, I think I prefer the cloud. I suffered from flare and dark shadows as with many of the subjects I could not avoid the sun in the foreground.

This was one of those subjects that I had to dance around to at least get the flare away from the body. I quite like a bit of flare sometimes, I think it can add a bit of character to an image, even though it is not realism. Photos are more than records, they are entertainment, I don't go to the cinema to see realism.

This is a new spider to my safari arena, a most colorful orb spider. Definitely leucauge, but I have not nailed the ID yet.

Spiders are easy to photograph in that they don't fly off or move around and if you don't get your shot, you can always come back tomorrow. Sometimes you can persuade them into a better position with a piece of straw, even get them to flip sides.

If you want to ID a spider, it is important to get as many views as possible. Take the available shots first and then have a go at repositioning as a shot to nothing, but don't damage the web!

Dave