Black Widow

Don't think I'd care to find one.  Great macro.

Oh my gollygeewillikers! Eewwww.... I normally don't hate spiders and when I find them inside, I take them out to play - but not these guys (gals)! I annihilate them! Call it protective instinct in me, I go into mother mode to protect my babies (even though my babies are grown and the ones I refer to as babies these days are my cats)! I hope you got rid of this thing before Winston gets hurt! Thanks for sharing, btw, great pic, but creeps me out! :O

Thanks.  Trisha, Winston was actually the one who found it.  He had his nose against it sniffing it and since it was rolled up in a ball I thought it was a beetle or something and gave it a flick with my finger to see what it was....I won't do that next time.:)  It is currently in a container doing quite well and eating flies.  I'm going to have a black widow/mantis showdown in a couple of days with camera in hand.:)  I'm going to use a Ghost mantis for the job and since sometimes they are hard to feed and are nonagressive, I want to make sure it's hungry, so I need to let the mantis go a couple of days without eating.

Maybe the fact that it is dead and under glass makes the picture look artistically! I usually put them on my hand (from a jar) to surprise them, they freeze and I take the picture! Haven't done a black widow so far though and I can't because they are too small and I don't have a micro lens!

Best regards Scott!

PDE

Thanks, Pierre.  Read my comment above and you'll see that it is not dead.  I put it in an empty 10 gallon aquarium, hung the aquarium from the ceiling, set up my camera on a tripod underneath and focused on the exact spot where I wanted the spider, placed an extra flash in the aquarium facing up so that it would be bouncing off of the ceiling just a couple of feet away so I would have a total white background, stood on a ladder and manipulated and moved the spider with a stick to the spot I had picked out, took the shots with a remote cable.

Here's a shot I took with the remote cable and stick in one hand and I was using my other hand to make it look like I was going to pick it up.  Getting my hand and spider positioned right was a very difficult task.....that sucker was moving around very quickly.  As you can see by all of the silk on the glass, I had been at it awhile.  I actually even cleaned it up quite a bit in Photoshop.  I never did get one I was really happy with, especially with the dirtied up glass towards the end of the shoot.

Thank you for your thorough description of the whole process Scott, sorry I didn't see your comment cause I could hardly scroll with about 60 tabs opened, my browser stuck!

PDE

No problem, Pierre.  You were doing good to make it to that many without it sticking.:)

100% with Trisha on this one!!  Get your photos quick and then send this lady on to the great spider web in the sky.  While loathing for spiders is tops on my psycho list, I must admit that the Black Widow is one of the most beautiful of spiders; elegant and always dressed in a shiny tuxedo.  Excellent shot... Mike

Scott: Just get rid of the thing...don't put the praying mantis through that...it will lose! You are playing with fire. I wouldn't suggest the photo shoot you have planned...do you have a hospital down the street?

Pierre: Black widows are hardly small spiders unless babies...and very deadly! Not to be reckoned with for sure.

B-b-but Moommm....I'm really bored.:)  Seriously, Trish, Google "mantis vs black widow" and there are tons of videos showing the match up and I have only found one where the mantis lost and that was because it was caught in the spider web.  There won't be a web and I'm going to shoot it with them in the aquarium so it doesn't run off or I get bit.

It's an excellent image, and thanks for telling us how you did it.  Really well done, and the "pose" is fantastic, too.  This is a big-time winner in my books.  thanks for sharing!!!

LOL... ok, I'll take your word for it because by no means am I going to google mantis/black widow show downs! Just be careful...I can't help it, my mom instincts come into full power when a black widow is viewed! :O

Creepy!  Great macro.  Outside, OK, but not at my house....