outdoor photography

Golden Silk Orbweaver with Green Darner Golden Silk Orbweavers amaze me. First, they're giant; second, they're gorgeous. And third, they're really good at killing bugs. Over the last couple weeks I've seen a couple of them that had captured dragonflies.  I'm not absolutely certain of the IDs for these dragonflies, but I think I'm pretty close.  Golden Silk Orbweaver with Carolina? Saddlebags

Golden-silk Orbweaver Since moving to Florida, I've had the opportunity to see some pretty enormous spiders.  Golden-silk Orbweavers and Black and Yellow Argiopes are pretty large, and they're spectacular-looking as well.  Black and Yellow Argiope Of course, not all our spiders are huge.  But whenever I have the chance to get close enough to them for photographs, I'm always struck by the beauty of these creatures. I know spiders freak some people out, but when you have the chance to look at them carefully, they really are a wonder to behold. Red-femured Spotted Orbweaver Crablike Spiny Orbweaver Leucauge Argyra

Yellow-throated Warbler I went to Lake Lotus this morning.  It was a pretty slow morning for birds.  I did find four warbler species, though: a Yellow-throated Warbler, a Louisiana Waterthrush, a Northern Parula, and several American Redstarts.  I also found an Eastern Kingbird, which is the first I've seen in Seminole County.  Since birding was somewhat slow, I turned my attention to butterflies, spiders, bugs and flowers.  Zebra Longwings are my favorite butterflies, and Monarchs are always nice to find.  Golden Silk Orbweavers are plentiful there--they are fun to see if their webs are not spread over your path.  I also found one Katydid, and I think it's very young--it's wings are extremely small, and one of its legs appears not to be fully formed yet. Eastern Kingbird Monarch Butterfly Monarch Butterfly Zebra Longwing Scarlet Hibiscus Golden Silk Orbweaver Katydid

Golden Silk Orbweaver A few days ago I was reminded of how important it is to be mindful of your angle of view.  I apologize in advance to any of you that don't like photos of spiders, but I found a couple Golden Silk Orbweavers and had some fun photographing them.  When I found the first one, I shot the spider head on, since that's the angle I had available to me with a clean background.  But the lighting made the webbing all but disappear, so I had to leave some of the spider's "leftovers" in the frame to give the photo some context. Golden Silk Orbweaver Later that day I found another one, and initially, I began photographing it from a similar angle, happy to have the web somewhat more visible.  But then I noticed that the spider was in the process of eating breakfast, and a different angle might allow the spider's prey to be more visible.  And from a different angle, the spider's web also became wonderful.   Golden Silk Orbweaver G...