A mama Wolf Spider with her egg sack.
For field super-macro work I’m accustomed to using a reversed lens with flashes mounted to friction arms. It’s a heavy setup with DOF so thin that your own heartbeat can make you lose the plane of focus. To make it even harder, there’s no auto aperture control to keep the viewfinder bright. So it’s a vacation when I get to use a naked 105mm macro lens and natural light. Such an opportunity comes with a subject that looks “super macro”, but is actually large enough for the 105mm to handle without any of the reversed, tubed tedium. So what brings about such decadence? Wolf Spiders; big, pregnant mom ones!
In mid April 2016 I visited Missouri for Herp photography, which generally means patrolling the glades and forests with my Nikon D810 and Nikon 105mm Macro Lens. Spring in the American Midwest is literally expelling life from every crevice of the countryside, which makes for opportunistic nature photography.
A pleasant surprise was these large female Pardosa spp Wolf Spiders beneath rocks carrying egg sacks. In one instance I caused one of the Spiders to drop her egg sack while I corralled her to take the picture. I felt awful, not knowing if she’d abandon it. When I rolled it in front of her she darted towards it to collect it up, and slowly positioned it at the back of her abdomen where she’d clasp it with her spinnerets. What a good mum.
All of these photos were shot handheld with a 105mm macro lens, lying on my belly.
