Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

Covid lockdowns have resulted in the macro lens being brought out more often than usual. This shot of a jumping spider was taken at home when I found it perched on a branch at eye level. Lighting was form high camera right using a speed light defused with a small soft box. 

Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

This is the third jumping spider I came across at home. I hadn't realised there were so many until I pulled out the macro lens during the covid lock down and started  photographing them. Identification is not easy as there are over 75 species of jumping spider in Sri Lanka. Facebook spider interest group to the rescue!

Lynx Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

As the Covid-19 lockdown continues, I've found myself using the macro lens on a regular basis. The kids were playing in the garden last afternoon and called me when they came across this tiny Lynx Spider. I managed to get my gear ready and photograph it for about 30 minutes. I was able to get a number of shots that I'm quite happy with. It was a decent way of keeping myself occupied for a while.

Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I came across another Jumping Spider at home yesterday. Ended up photographing him for about 20 minutes and got some decent shots. There are more of them on my instagram profile. The setup was similar to last time with a flash in a small softbox positioned to the left of the camera. The lens was a 100mm macro.

Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I found this Jumping Spider in the garden this morning. I'd been keeping an eye out for one of them to photograph and ran for the macro lens as soon as I saw it. I was able to fire off a few frames before it decided to hop away and disappear into the foliage. Overall I'm happy with this image but would have liked to have had a bit more time to photograph the spider.

Kerengga Ant-like Jumper - Colombo, Sri Lanka

This is actually a spider that mimics the weaver ant in terms of both morphology as well as behaviour. It's not the easiest to sport amongst a number of weaver ants. This one is actually a female and its front legs resemble the feelers of a weaver ant. The males are about 3 mm larger than the females and resemble a larger and carrying a smaller ant.  They mimic the ant in order to remain close to the colony and gain protection from predators.