on Two-Striped Jumpers

What I like about Jumping Spiders is that I find them in the oddest places. I found a few in the window sills, the screen door and the carpet. They go exploring a lot since they have such good eye sight.

I found a pair of Two-Striped Jumpers (Telamonia Dimidiata) about a month ago and did some research. These jumpers are distinguished by the long legs and two bright stripes around the back. Most females have bright rings around the eyes and males are dark colored.

And apparently I unknowingly found a male and a female.

Female Two-Striped Jumper found in our garden.


Male Two-Striped Jumper found clinging to the wall.

These are very skittish jumpers, unlike the common ones I find in the garden. They react to movement and run away when possible. I find them difficult to photograph because of this behavior. They do apparently have short term memories and when I stay still for some time they seem to forget I'm there. I just wait around for them to forget me after I have my camera pointed at them; very minute movement is key to taking pictures of these spiders.

Hopefully in the coming days I find more of them so I can learn more on how to handle or take photos of these jumpers.

on Lenses, Grain and Portrait #31

I got an AF Nikkor 50mm 1.8D recently because I wanted to have a portrait lens with auto focus. Although I still love the Tamron 90mm 2.5SP for portraits, I find the focal length too limiting for my taste. And I had a recent shoot with Dawn to test out how I'd do with the 50mm focal length.

Well, for me it turned out great. I had fun with the group and Dawn was so easy to work with. She knew her angles and didn't need much directing for her poses. I'm glad we had a successful shoot because we have been talking in Facebook for a long time about a shoot. It was also good timing that our schedules were free last Saturday because she will be away for three months. But we do have plans for another shoot once she returns from her vacation.

There is really not much difference when shooting portraits with the Tamron 90mm or the Nikkor 50mm for me. It probably has something to do with my style of shooting but I adjusted quite easily to the new focal length. The main difference in the two lens is in sharpness and bokeh. The Tamron is a better performer in both areas but I really wish that it had AF. I am still happy with my 50mm since it does what it's supposed to and it's cheap too.

And at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what lens I use as long as I get the output that I want. Ordinary people won't really ask me what lens I use as long as they like my photos.

Before I forget, if you've noticed there is a theme for the photos aside from the B&W conversion. I purposely added grain since I really want to shoot a portrait in film in the near future. Grain is good in my book.

Portrait #31: Dawn