The Widow

“The black widow, who had dispatched a lover or two, was sought out for her wisdom. The young spider asked her, “Did you keep his harmful secret under the threat of danger, or did you spin a web so confusing that he didn’t know if you were friend or foe? Did you release him from the web and your presence or will you give another the venom in which to finish him?” The black widow was quiet and then said, “All of the above.

– Donna Lynn Hope

When most people see a black widow they freak out, run away, or do the most logical thing and burn whatever building you are in down. Don’t get us wrong we went through that list of things too, but as photographers we also thought “let’s get macro shots”!

Funny thing is even though she was no longer alive, we still did not want to touch her. The thought of holding her was…..not going to happen.  The depth of field on a specialty macro lens like the MP-E 65 is extremely shallow, thus requiring this image to be focus stacked with 15 separate images to get the clarity you see. This allows those big beautiful eyes to remain in focus alongside each terrifying hair. Go ahead, zoom in. I dare you.