Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Lycosidae

CHECK THIS OUT!!! I am extremely proud of these two pictures because these spiders are notoriously skittish. Unless you're looking carefully, finding a spider's burrow is difficult unless it's been raining. I've found many of these cool-looking tubes, but I never see the spiders. The second they feel Godzilla Janet stomping along, they are down the tube! A week or so ago, I noticed a few of these burrows and saw a spider just as it was disappearing into its burrow, and for the first time I got excited. I decided to look carefully for these burrows with a very light step and see if I might get lucky enough to get a picture. A couple of days ago I went on a walk and saw a large one, and stopped instantly because there was a spider there!! I started taking pictures and couldn't believe it was still there! I slowly moved closer and closer until it finally had enough and disappeared. I was so excited! It wasn't until I looked at the pictures on my computer that I realized why it hadn't moved! It must have just caught a spider and was distracted while tending to it, and I got pictures!! I'm so happy! Not only did I finally get a picture of this skittish spider, but it has a spider victim in its mouth!! What a prize!! HOORAY!!! :D

[best appreciated at full size against black] First of all, I think these spiders should be called "Speedy Gonzalez Spiders" or perhaps, "Tasmanian Devil Spiders"...boy do they know how to run FAST! I can't believe how quickly these guys move over whatever terrain they're on, whether that's the forest floor, a meadow with tree-like grass, or the ceiling of our home. They really know how to boogie! :D However, they also stand perfectly still--which this one did for a moment--and then it's almost impossible to see them in their natural habitat because they blend in so very well! In the case of this stunning little spider, which measures about 1/2" in diameter, it took some serious Photoshop mojo to get him to pop out of this scene! However, I was pleased at the clarity and wonderful details, so I was up for this challenge! :D I carefully selected him with the polygonal lasso tool and put him on a separate layer, tweaked his color so he was a little bit more rust-colored, and used a filter or two to sharpen and enhance his details. The background was darkened, desaturated to near grey-scale, and I added vignetting and additional darkening around the image to soften and tone down the sticks and leaves. There's no way to get any bokeh to help with the subject is on the ground and photographed nearly overhead, so the only way to bring this little beauty out was to tone down the background very carefully, while still trying to maintain a natural look. I hope I did a good job, what do you think?! :D By the way, if you would like to know more about wolf spiders, Wiki has a great page here: Wiki: Wolf Spider This image was taken in March, 2012.