In 2015 I visited Costa Rica to photograph the massive variety of wildlife the country offers some of which are featured in my Gallery pages. Costa Rica is home to some pretty scary-looking arachnids, but of the more than 20,000 species of spiders in the country, only a handful pose any danger to humans. Of this handful, some are the most dangerous on the planet but fortunately, I did not bump into them.
In this blog I wanted to share with you, photographs of three very diverse species.
Spiny Orb Weaver
These can be found all over the world and the females are the colourful ones. They are also called crab spiders and come in many shapes and sizes. The two photos below demonstrate the use of two very different lenses to capture a similar photograph and in this case one is a male and the other is a female. Accuracy of focusing is crucial and in both these photos I was able to use a tripod to control the camera.
Spiny Orb Weaver
F6.3 1/30s ISO 400 Canon 100mm Macro
Spiny Orb Weaver F5.6 1/80s ISO 1000 Canon 70-200mm Mk2 Lens with extender @ 280mm
Golden Silk Orb Weaver
The golden silk orb-weaver is named for the yellow color of the spider silk used to construct these webs and glows a golden colour in the sun. They are large spiders with the females reaching between 1.5–2 inchs in length and dwarfing the smaller males. The female is shown in the lower photo is shown feeding and while she is distracted male takes his opportunity to mate.
Golden Silk Orb Weaver
F5 1/50s ISO 1000 Canon 70-200mm Mk2 + 1.4 Extender @280mm
Golden Silk Orb Weaver
F6.3 1/15s ISO 800 Canon 70-200mm Mk2 @192mm
Costa Rican Orange-kneed Tarantula
I spotted this very large tarantula sitting right in the middle of a path I was walking. This was about 15 cm long and is harmless unless you are one of the following: a cricket, an insect, a small frog, a small lizard or even a mouse. The female spends most of her life in a burrow and may live up to 40 years whereas the male, like the one pictured, will do all the hunting and live only 10 years.
Many of the photographs I took in Costa Rica were taken in the rain forest and consequently there was usually limited light. Therefore, I used either high ISO setting and / or Flash to compose many of my pictures. I was unaware that this particular spider was harmless so hence, in these two photos, a long focal length was used.
Orange-kneed Tarantula
F11 1/200s ISO 3200 Canon 70-200mm Mk2 + 1.4 Extender @280mm Flash
Orange-kneed Tarantula
F6.3 1/160s ISO 3200 Canon 70-200mm Mk2 @180mm Flash
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