Close-Up Spider Photography In A Box
By Joshua Blankman
1 Apr 2008
Why did I even bother with such a random elaborate setup?
Today I found a spider :-) I named him Jordan. I brought over my cat to play with him, which he did for a while until he got bored. So I decided to be inventive and figure out a way to shoot the spider up close and personal.
Setting up the container:
First thing I had to do was catch the darned thing. I don't know which species of spider this is, but it was very fast. I used a paper cup to capture it and put a piece of broken glass over the cup to keep it in place while I figured how to shoot it. I tried inside the paper cup but it was too small and too dark. Since I don't have a "macro" lens currently I needed something that gave me a little more room. I opted to put the spider in a tall glass (the size of the glass should be appropriate for the minimum focal length of your lens), but I knew reflections would be horrible in the glass so I needed a way to soften the light and block reflections. I decided a simple piece of paper cut to the form of the glass would be perfect. The slick glass is too tough for the spider to climb (at least this spider) so I felt it safe to take off the broken glass "lid" while shooting.
Focusing:
For people with a macro lens this isn't as much of an issue, but I brought my tripod as low as it could go and even tried to sandbag the end of it tilting it as far as I could. Still, I couldn't get close enough for a good angle and view of the spider. I opted instead of bringing the camera to the spider, bringing the spider to the camera. This serves multiple purposes.
Lighting:
The way I chose to bring the spider closer to the lens was to place the glass on top of a flashlight. This not only helped to achieve closeness but also, by turning on the flashlight, it provides nice lighting. The only problem with this method is the glass straight on the flashlight was waaay too bright. To resolve this, I used multiple pieces of paper to diffuse it to a better intensity (I used 4 pieces of paper). For additional lighting, I opted to use another flashlight handheld on the side of the glass using the paper around it to diffuse.
Conclusion:
This I found to be the easiest and most effective way to capture a small insect/bug using simple and common household items. There are an infinite number of variations in construction and design so be creative and let's see what you can come up with.
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