Delicately woven between between the tips of a rapidly-growing vine shoot and the chestnut pole upright of a pergola in my garden in Tuscany, this crop of newly-hatched crop of tiny spiders were flexing their legs and navigating their way around the threads of their home. When I came across the nest, there were around 3-400 of these little fellows – each about 2-3mm long. The weather was deteriorating and there seemed to be a group decision to move to another part of the nest that was higher up the pole.
The challenge with this shot was that the spiders were very small and the group about 3cm deep. Added to that, the numerous threads gave a translucency to the subject that affected the definition of many of the spiders. Not only that, the lighting levels were lousy.
Canon EOS 40D with Canon f2.8L 28-70mm lens at 48mm with Canon 25mm extension tube; ISO800 f5.6 1/160
