outstanding camouflage

[doto]

I just got my minolta 0, and went out to try it out on some bees in the garden. It took a while to get the hang of it, and the bees were not cooperative at all as they did not stay on one flower more than a few seconds, making it nearly impossible to focus. Then I saw a lazy one which stayed on the same flower for a few minutes. Only when seeing the shots on the pc did I understand why, there was a very well camouflaged small spider between the flowers, and it had caught the bee.

here it is inside the cluster of flowers



a little closer




I was so amazed I went out again and it was still there, I took another couple of shots with a flash because it was already night time, so there is a bit of glare but I think it was worth it, and also learned you can do Macro shots with the minolta in pitch darkness




A real find (the minolta and the spider)

Dov

[wanelad]

The spider was not obvious in the first couple of shots at initially but the last one did the job then was able to make out the spider in the others. Very interesting like the last one best

[daft_biker]

Cracking find!!! Some sort of crab spider. I've heard different views as to whether it is camoflaged or not....I've seen stuff showing these kind of spiders on flowers with an IR camera(I think!) used to simulate how insects see and the spider stood out clearly. It was suggested that the colours on the spider may positively attract other insects to them. Clever beasties

[doto]

Originally Posted by wanelad

The spider was not obvious in the first couple of shots at initially but the last one did the job then was able to make out the spider in the others. Very interesting like the last one best

that's the whole point! that's why the bee fell for it

Thanks for commenting

Dov

[magote]

Very interesting story about the spider and the bee. But getting back to photography, those are some very good shots. In the first picture, the DOF is large enough to keep all the flowers in focus. I might want to crop out some of the dead space to the right.

[xxpinballxx]

great catch and eye for finding it!

[redthedunns]

Wow what awesome shots!! It feels great to capture a bee like that doesn't it? I had to go back and look for the spider in the photos. I hadn't even noticed it. Lol. It is really obvious in the last photo though. Amazing photos!! Great job.

[zannster]

That's freaky. I really like the colors best in the first one. Too bad the bee met it's end there.

[Beverly5876]

Not only is this great photography but it also shows the handy work of an almighty creator who gave the spider the ability to camouflage itself, amongst the flowers, in order to capture its prey.

Thanks for sharing the photo.
Beverly

Originally Posted by doto

I just got my minolta 0, and went out to try it out on some bees in the garden. It took a while to get the hang of it, and the bees were not cooperative at all as they did not stay on one flower more than a

few seconds, making it nearly impossible to focus. Then I saw a lazy one which stayed on the same flower for a few minutes. Only when seeing the shots on the pc did I understand why, there was a very well camouflaged small spider between the flowers, and it had caught the bee.

here it is inside the cluster of flowers



a little closer




I was so amazed I went out again and it was still there, I took another couple of shots with a flash because it was already night time, so there is a bit of glare but I think it was worth it, and also learned you can do Macro shots with the minolta in pitch darkness




A real find (the minolta and the spider)

Dov

[doto]

Originally Posted by magote

Very interesting story about the spider and the bee. But getting back to photography, those are some very good shots. In the first picture, the DOF is large enough to keep all the flowers in focus. I might want to crop out some of the dead space to the right.

thanks for your remark and suggestion

Dov